Jeremiah Diaz

9.0

Deep purple in color; cassis, black cherries, and graphite on the nose; medium minus acidity; high tannins; tastes like black currants, blackberries, and eucalyptus with a long finish. — 11 days ago

Jay Kline

9.3

Popped and poured; enjoyed over the course of two days. Equally enjoyable on both nights however, the nose was most powerful on Day 1. “Ampodium” (formerly Classique) is 100% Syrah sourced from a dozen or so vineyards and made in a largely traditional style; plenty of whole cluster and a very judicious use of new French oak. The 2010 “Ampodium”pours a deep garnet color with a near opaque core; medium viscosity with moderate staining of the tears and signs of light sediment. On the nose, the wine is vinous with notes of ripe, some desiccated and some tart, black and blue fruits: blackberries, blueberry pie, fields of lavender, black pepper, bacon fat, iodine, and granite earth. On the palate, the wine is dry with medium+ tannin (mostly integrated) and medium+ acid. Confirming the notes from the nose. The finish is long and laden with rocky minerals. Totally in balance and at peak. Lovely. Drink now through 2035. — 25 days ago

Jeremiah Diaz

9.2

Medium ruby in color; plums, blackberries, and dried herbs on the nose; medium plus acidity; medium tannins; tastes like plum sauce, strawberries, and white pepper with a long finish. Nellie likes it. I like it too. — 2 months ago

with Nellie

Sipping Fine Wine

9.1

Crafted by Joseph J. Wagner, 4th generation winemaker, with winemaking roots in the Napa Valley since 1906. Deep Ruby with red berry fruit aromas, tea and sweet spice notes. On the palate flavors of jammy blackberry and cherry with pronounced sweet vanilla oak, cacao and pepper spice notes. Soft tannins and bright acidity, well balanced, with mineral tones on a long finish ending with toasty spice! Nice! — 2 months ago

Tom Garland

9.4

From MAG

2 hour decant. A striking purplish dark garnet color. On the nose: beautiful notes of dark fruit, pencil shavings, herbaceous, vanilla, cloves. Taste: creamy, polished, structured wine with blackberry, dark chocolate, minerals, bell pepper, leather, and a decent herbal/potting soil finish. Drinks surprisingly well with the decant at this age, and of course a few more years it will improve. YUM! — 18 days ago

with Brenda

Jay Kline

9.3

Decanted about an hour in advance and enjoyed over the course of a few hours. The 2022 Cuvée Réservée pours a deep ruby color with a near opaque core; medium+ viscosity with light staining of the tears. On the nose, the wine is developing with powerful notes of ripe and tart bramble fruits: blackberries, Marionberries, raspberries, “Oops All Berries!!”, garrigue, red and purple flowers, black pepper, licorice, a balance of cool and warm spices, river rock. On the palate, the wine is dry with medium+ tannin and medium+ acid. Confirming the notes from nose; particularly the power and quality of fruit. The finish is long. Early days for the 2022 Cuvée Réservée but holy smokes is it already pretty special. The ABV is a scorching 16% but you would never know it. The power and freshness of fruit with the titanic structure keep everything in balance. Drink now through 2042. — a month ago

Jay Kline

9.2

This bottle had been opened the night before. The 2021 pours a deep ruby/purple color with a near opaque core; medium viscosity with significant staining of the tears. On the nose, the wine is developing with notes of tart and ripe black and red fruits: mixed brambles, purple flowers, olives, black pepper, stony earth and a mix of cool and warm spices. On the palate, the wine is dry with medium tannin and medium+ acidity. Confirming the notes from the nose. The finish is medium+ and peppery. True to the vintage, this is a cooler expression of Chave’s Saint Joseph and I really dig it. Drink now through 2041. — 2 months ago

Shay A

9.4

My contribution to a large Rhône dinner. Standouts were ‘07 Chapoutier Le Meal Blanc, ‘89 and ‘90 Jaboulet La Chappelle, ‘11 Guigal La Mouline.

An over-generalization, but what I love about Cornas is the rusticity and sometimes feral nature of the wines (which I don’t find in Hermitage or CR) and this ‘05 is in that vein. I followed this from pop (after all, we are at the almost 20yr mark) and over the course of three hours.

Interplay of red and black berry fruits, black pepper, slightly herbal (maybe closer to potpurri floral) aromatically. Bright and nimble on the palate, nothing about this is ripe or soft. Energetic acidity all the way through surrounded by notes of iron (sanguine-like) and rocky minerality. Crunchy red and black fruits (whole-cluster?), hint of gaminess but not in the meaty-style I semi-expected. Clean and pure style of Syrah. Big structure at the finish…hard to imagine drinking this 10+yrs ago. Acidity and tannin will carry this a long time, but I think this is peak window for getting depth of fruit and complexity. — 5 hours ago

Ron Siegel

9.3

When 1st opened this was all black & blue fruits, inky, graphite that opened with air revealing dark cherry, berry fruit, bacon fat, black olive, pepper, spice & violets — 2 months ago

Matthew Goldenberg

9.1

My first experience with a bdx with this type of age. It had a note of green pepper on the nose and had a lot of life left. — 2 months ago