Jan de Weerd

9.3

Well this was the shock of the year for me. We had this exact same wine back in October 2023 with our friends overlooking the Fumina valley in the Tooronga Mnts of Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. I rated a 10!!! Top of the top. Couldn’t be better. This wines launched me into orbit and it took days for me to come down. So, with such great anticipation we thought to close out a phenomenal year with another bottle. It was intense, it was super grippy, layered… but the fruit had gone and to me it was totally unbalanced. How is that possible??!! Is it me, is it the wine, what could it be? Oh well. So many more wines to explore. Happy New Year everyone!! — 6 months ago

with Tammy

GV

9.3

For a British brewed Schwarzbier, this is very good. — 2 years ago

Jan de Weerd

9.7

Fantastic. Pure, focussed, vibrant. Layers of fresh dark red fruit carried by smooth tannins slight hints of pepper. Addictive. Beautiful roasted raw, medium/raw prime rib propelled this wine to outer orbit. Boy, life can be good!! — 3 years ago

with Tammy

Jan de Weerd

9.5

Funky indeed. Dirt, earth and dark fruit carried by spice and a tannins. We had it with lamb, Alexia sweet potato fries and a red/golden beet salad. Perfect pairing taking it to outer orbit. — 4 years ago

with Tammy and Todd

Aravind A

9.3

Reduction, but not nearly in the same orbit as my previous btl. Beneath that, stunning: cranberry, rose, olive, rosemary. On the palate: fantastic acidity, rose, cranberry, rosemary, lovely density. Yeah, words...yum. — 5 years ago

Rhonely Boy

9.1

76% Merlot, 11% Syrah, 8% Blaufrankish, 4% Cab Franc, 1% Teroldego.

My first East Coast red wine. Woot! Fantastic semi-uncomplicated (has some dark twist and turns) fruity and tasty Tuesday night pour. Table wine.

Plum, cherry, rose, hint of soil, vine and leaf (?Franc?) light-medium body, 12% ABV.

Reminds me of some young vine wines from the Escondido-Baja region. Happy to start seeing East Coast wines making their way to the West Coast. This is also my first encounter with Teroldego, which seems to be avoiding my orbit.

Good Job! More please! — 6 years ago

Rose’s Cafe

9.5

This merlot has some spice to it! 👍🍷 — 9 years ago

Bobby Gilbane

10

1968...forget tasting notes. This was an epic time capsule that was so much more than just wine. Take a sip and think....
January 14: Green Packers Win Super Bowl II
January 23: North Korea captures the USS Pueblo
January 30: North Vietnam launches the Tet Offensive
April 2: Premier of 2001: A Space Odyssey
April 4: Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated in Memphis
April 11: President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968
June 5: Robert F. Kennedy
assassinated in Los Angeles
July 18: The semiconductor company Intel is founded.
September 30: Boeing introduces the first 747 "Jumbo Jet"
October 16: U.S. athletes Black Power Salute at the Summer Olympics
December 24: Apollo 8 is the first manned spacecraft to orbit the moon — 9 years ago

Jan de Weerd

9.9

This wine is in a different orbit. I can safely say I have never tasted a wine this smooth, this balanced, this subtle… this uplifting. Fine polished tannins take this juicy, vibrant fruit infused with black olive and lifted with earthy notes from the stones of the Rocks District to a finish that stays with you for minutes and can only make you think of one thing: I want another sip…. but I I want this wine to last for ever ….good problem to have 😁. Like Nicholas Joly said. A good wine makes you feel something deeply inside and you can ‘feel’ the wine. This one sure did. — 7 months ago

with RoAnne and Tammy

Pinotman /// Andreas

9.7

At dinner and Sky & Sea in La Jolla were we saw a Falcon 9 rocket blast into orbit. Limited formal notes - Raspberry driven with some herbs. — 2 years ago

Jan de Weerd

9.8

And Yes! There she was, where have you been hiding??? Always great to run in a near perfect wine. That is what we live for, searching every day (actually every other day, try not to drink wine every day 😊). Bold dark fruit framed by angular tannins and a robust backbone, all in an extreme intense harmony, taking over your senses and putting you in a hypnotic trance. We set the palette with a few different hard cheeses, an aged Gouda cheese, a Harvarti and P’tit Basque (all at Costco!) which lifted the wine to outer orbit. I am writing this the next day and still haven’t quite returned to earth. — 4 years ago

with Tammy

Jan de Weerd

9.6

On to the 2012 Pontet-Canet from Paulliac paired with grilled lamb chops and made from scratch boulonese sauce. Fantastic. The wine expressed it selves very well after a good hour and half of decanting at about 60 F. The earthy umami flavors of the food propelled the wine above its weight. But the absolute best ever tasting quartered, seasoned potato wedges/fries from our guests brought the wine into outer orbit. The duck fat tasting fries revealed herbaceous floral notes on the mid palet and created a soothing long finish. With smooth fine grained tannins. — 4 years ago

with Skip and Tammy

Ian Hamel

9.3

2021/5. Just a delicious bottle of mature Nuits. I’m not sure what crus specifically are in this, but still-strong core of fruit, tannin and acidity for the mature, game and forest flavors to orbit around is more than you might expect of a village wine. — 5 years ago

Jan de Weerd

9.5

Yes!! 💃🏻🕺. Isn’t it just the highlight of the day when you get that wine that you cannot leave alone? Spicy cigar box and peat extracts dripped in dark dried fruit of aalbes, currant, pie cherry and tart strawberry. And what a perfect match with Tammy’s soy ponzu steak bowl! Lifted it into orbit!! 😋 — 6 years ago

with Tammy

Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

8.9

2005 vintage. Tasted after being open for approx two hours. Emperor's semi-new clothes. I get that people dig this fruit bomb style but the lack of tannins/acidity leave it rather one-dimensional. The single dimension is really nice, yet not enuff to overcome needed Napa Cab balance. Ditching structure and attempting to reinvent the wheel has obviously pulled plenty of people into this producer's orbit. To each their own-orbit. 12.27.24. — 2 years ago

Jan de Weerd

9.8

Wow. Best wine of the year 😁! An elixer to lift you into outer orbit! Everything is intense. Fine grained tannins soaked in oak spice carried this dark, dark dry concentrated, dense juice on an exhilarating journey from the first touch to the long lasting finish final. Evolving complexity that started with varying layers fresh pipe tobacco and dark chocolate evolving to cigar box, earthy lead pencil minerals, and worn leather. Why is it that these mind blowing wines never have quite 750 ml in their bottles 🤔 — 3 years ago

with Tammy

Byron Fuller

9.5

Poured blind. Nose of cabernet sauvignon. Estate was located in Grignan, ie current CdR orbit (but post-war labeling hilarity / historical reference to classical Kingdom of Burgundy with capital at Arles?). Fascinating, dazzling, unexplainable. Color guesses ran ‘70s (totally clear rim, some super thin hint of browning, but still very pure dark core running almost to the edge before). Great length, but again blind we all called cabernet nose for the minty, cedary character. Body maybe suggested some cinsault, but we were all way off mark served blind. Buy at auction if ever spotted! — 4 years ago

Pat Mead

9.0

First time trying this 2020 vintage wine. 93+ Wine Orbit rating. Fruity, complex and delicious chilled on a hot summer night! I will buy this again! — 5 years ago

Sara Kobilka

9.0

Amazing depth, cranberry and blackberries, wonderful tanginess and even better than previous years! — 6 years ago

with Brandon

Michael Herzog

9.4

Tight tight on the takeoff but opened up in orbit beautifully. I keep going back to ‘14 whites bc they’re so damn special. — 7 years ago