Tom Garland

9.4

Decant and pour.  On the nose:  dark fruit, pencil shavings, green bell pepper, leather, mushrooms.   Taste:  a brooding, still austere, structured wine with dark fruit, cassis, smoked earth, cigar, minerals, crushed stone.  Some pronounced tannins want you to give it more time for a better score in the future.

At Cote, Last Vegas — 11 days ago

with Brenda and

Austin Hohnke

9.3

Such a beautiful wine leading with a zesty charge of cracked pepper, grilled citrus, and barnyard, while not shying away from fruitiness. Gains weight with air and a darker, more serious stewed intensity of fruit leather and earth. Drank with a friend who really appreciated it, and we both returned to our glasses repeatedly waxing poetic with our expressions. Purchased at Astor. — 2 months ago

Anthony Kluska

9.1

Lighter body then I would prefer but super aggressive pepper finish perfect with filet mignon — 3 months ago

Debra Copeland, WSET3, CSWS

9.0

Colour is very pale with just the lightest hint of coral pink. It’s off-dry with lots of ripe tropical fruits on the noise and palate - cantaloupe, peach, and a hint of floral. It’s a very interesting blend of grapes. — 4 months ago

Jay Kline

9.6

Splash decanted immediately before service; enjoyed over the course of an hour. The 2018 pours a deep ruby/purple color with an opaque core; medium+ viscosity with significant staining of the tears and some sediment. On the nose, the wine is developing with gorgeous notes of blackberry, fig, black pepper, bacon fat, lavender, aromatic wood resin, warm spices and minerals. On the palate, the wine is dry with medium+ tannin and medium+ acid. Confirming the notes from the nose. The finish is long. This is already an absolute banger and hides its 15% alcohol as well as any wine I have ever encountered. I almost gasped when I saw the ABV on the label because I couldn’t believe it. This is beautifully balanced, and I feel privileged to try this wine in its relative youth. Drink now with a splash decant and through 2052+. Bottle No. 15902. — 2 days ago

Inseon Hwang

9.2

1980 Mag. Cigars and green pepper. — 2 months ago

Kapyrick Wine

9.2

v15. Don’t know why I still had this, but I’m glad I did. Toasted barrel and hand crushed fruit nose. Fresh, rich, dark, blackberry and blueberry fruit. Long, dry, pleasantly chewy, chocolate and black pepper finish. So good! — 2 months ago

romo

9.4

Anti-roast, all tart cherry and white pepper, gentle tannin, faint horse hair. Wow. — a month ago

Jay Kline

9.2

First pour of this and I was like, “uh-oh”. It was clearly full of flaws (Brettanomyces, VA and maaaaybe some slight TCA) but would they be too much to appreciate the wine? Only time would tell so into the decanter it went. After a lot of air, it became clear this was Brett and VA. The wine pours a deep ruby/purple with a near opaque core; medium viscosity with moderate staining of the tears. On the nose, the wine is developing (still) with notes of blackberries, umeboshi, animale, purple flowers, black pepper, red Flintstone vitamin, horse blanket, wood varnish, and sous bois. On the palate, the wine is dry with medium+ tannin and medium+ acid. Confirming the notes from the nose. The finish is medium+. An elegant, complicated bottle. This is my second time with the 1997 vintage and due to the flaws, a different adventure than previous. That being said, this decidedly grumpy, Burgundian expression of Clape’s Cornas paired really well with the dry-aged steaks. Drink now, with a lot of patience, through 2037? — 7 days ago

JKT

9.1

At Mark Paul NYD Party old Cab series. Continuing with old Cab series. Equally surprising as the McDowell but a totally different profile, with more oxidative notes as expected for such an age and with rounder texture and shorter finish — 4 months ago