Range Life

Craggy Range

Te Muna Road Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2023

Lots of tropical fruit along with grapefruit. Delicious with food - reminded me of when I visited the winery nearly 20 years ago. — 17 days ago

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou

Saint-Julien Red Bordeaux Blend 1982

Wow! This is still a broad shouldered , yet elegant, wine with smoke and dark berry led. Still has a long life left. — a month ago

Jan, Andrew and 3 others liked this

Craggy Range

Te Kahu Gimblett Gravels Vineyard Merlot Blend

Mon M
8.9

Cattail creek wine dinner. Characteristics of pencil lead, tobacco, black cherry, and liquorish. The palate has a lifted acidity and spicy tannins but don't obscure the fruit expression. Paired with petite ribeye en persillade. — 2 months ago

Storybook Mountain Vineyards

Mayacamas Range Napa Estate Zinfandel 2018

Truncated dinner party notes. This ‘18 is uncommonly open and friendly for a Storybook Zin, which typically take years to unfurl. Really nice ripe flavors and perfect balance. — 4 months ago

Ray, Douglas and 15 others liked this
ESF

ESF

Classic producer
Angelo Casagrande

Angelo Casagrande

Shaaa-wing.

Château Cheval Blanc

St. Émilion Red Bordeaux Blend 1986

Drinking well can’t see this getting better with a long life ahead showing red fruit, graphite, spice, earth, mint & tobacco — 8 days ago

Juan, Bob and 13 others liked this

Louis Roederer

Cristal Brut Champagne Chardonnay Pinot Noir Blend 2002

Medium lemon yellow , persistent fine perlage . At first quite shy , needs a bit of time to get going . Then buttered pastry , confit lemon and roast nuts , quite bold and rich , just a hint of chalky minerality . On the palate the richer , deeper theme continues , those pastry and buttery notes , confit lemon and a creamy mouthfeel . Long balanced finish , the chalky acidity really helping to cut through richer , mouth filling profile . Coming back to this at the end of the meal , having sat 6 hours in the glass , this still shows remarkable freshness and life. This seems young to me still , certainly has everything for a long life ahead , better in 5 years perhaps and will show well a further 10-15 perhaps . — 12 days ago

Jeroen, Andrew and 14 others liked this

Dominus Estate

Dominus Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Blend 1997

Flight #2 of our 1997 Retrospective and these were the thoroughbreds. Presented single-blind; no formal notes. Wine #1 had great color, was developing, and probably the earthiest of the group but still had a lovely fruit profile. A really nice balance of fruit and non-fruits. Robust structure. Notably, this was the only bottle in the flight that had Brettanomyces…and while I found it to quite charming, this is what ultimately got me hung up on whether I thought this was the Dominus or the Monte Bello. Ultimately I called the later. I really dig this and wish I could afford more Dominus in my life. Drink now and through 2035. — 3 months ago

Juan, Paul and 19 others liked this

Château Latour

Premier Grand Cru Classé Pauillac Red Bordeaux Blend 1983

Birth year Latour for our 700th wine on Delectable! Very mature but still with lots of life. Leather, graphite and earthy notes and still so much power. A great pleasure to drink! — 13 days ago

Paul, Ted and 6 others liked this

Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande

Pauillac Red Bordeaux Blend 1989

1989 vintage. Tasted 5.5.23 (9.5), 4.4.23 (6 different btls-avg 9.4) and 12.9.22 (9.6). Above average fill for the age and impressive cork (about 70% saturated). Decanted and tasted over the course of two hours. Threw a decent amount of powdery sed. Medium nose slightly muted for the first 10 minutes or so but then came roaring to life. Yes, still the hallmark blueberries and cocoa powder along with a dash of raspberry but bigg graphite with this bottle. Drank consistently great for 1.75 hours, then seemed to lose a little steam at the very end. Not improving but still think cellar dwellers need to be popped in the next five years to enjoy the magic before it fades. 3.28.24. — a month ago

Andrew, Paul and 16 others liked this

Ridge Vineyards

Monte Bello Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Blend 1997

Flight #2 of our 1997 Retrospective and these were the thoroughbreds. Presented single-blind; no formal notes. Wine #2 had great color, was developing, fresh, focused, balanced; great structure. One of those glasses of wine you didn’t want to end and, for me, a tough call for favorite of the flight along with Wine #1. I vacillated between this being Dominus or Monte Bello; ultimately calling the former. This is in a beautiful phase of life. Monte Bello is one of those wines that needs decades to show its best. Drink now through 2040. — 3 months ago

Tom, Paul and 18 others liked this