Steve Goore

9.3

Aged well over last 7-8 years. There’s some oak, smoke, ripe berry with rounded tannins. Sharp and smooth simultaneously. Great with food or on its own. — 10 days ago

Sean Sims

8.9

Another yummy Zin from this producer. Nose is fresh and pleasant. Color is purple with a slight brown rim. Tastes is light on fruit but a nice finish. — 10 months ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.4

Wow this is singing! What a nose. Gorgeous lemon inflected minerality. Hints of attractive spicey oak and stunning rocky minerality. Tree bark and herbs. So good. What a screaming mimi of a nose. Palate is rich and ripe but also nervy and tense. Amazing purity buttressed by that awesome Meursault richness. Lovely texture. Awesome mouthfeel and a lovely lemon drop lime zest finish. Wonderful. — 3 years ago

Jeff Hasmann

9.0

Wow! High acidity, medium bodied, and flavorful. The ultimate wine for clams, oysters, and seafood. Made from Catarratto, the indigenous Sicilian grape grown in rocky and mineral-laden soil. Grapefruit and orange peel with hints of volcanic minerality. Lively and fresh. Excellent. 2018 vintage on Jun 7, 2020 — 4 years ago

Brendan Baker

9.1

Lemon oil, pear, med body, rocky and linear 👌 — 7 months ago

Jake Hajer

9.3

Perfectly aged. Bramble and cherries with a floral tobacco. — 9 months ago

John Tan

9.3

Sanshugong.

12% alc. Margalagua is a charismatic parcel of the Taganan vineyard comprising 100- to 300-year-old vines on a uniquely iron-rich seam of rocky volcanic soil. This treacherously steep vineyard site is planted with a mix of mostly indigenous red grapes, such as Negramoll and Listán Negro, with a small amount of Listán Blanco. This parcel is about elegance and depth rather than power: due to the silky character of the wines, it is vinified differently with a much longer (30- to 45-day) maceration and 100% stem-inclusion, yielding a darker, bolder, richer wine.
[Vintage 2018:] “This vineyard has been vinified and bottled separately since 2012 because it has a very strong personality, not surprisingly, because it's one of the most fascinating and exceptional vineyards I've ever seen in my life. . . This is a translucent bright ruby color, and it's aromatic, floral, spicy and mineral, expressive and super fresh, because of the year and because they have new cooler vineyards. It has lots of notes of violets and lilies. The flavors are pungent, precise, clean, symmetric and very elegant, with refined tannins and a tasty, somewhat salty finish. This is the best wine they have produced to date. Truly word-class.” WA 98 (Luis Gutiérrez) — 2 years ago

Darren D’Altorio

9.5

Label nails it. First hit on the nose is mineral earth, lava rock. That fades into flint, graphite, which then fades into subtle lavender and deep fruit. Bright strawberry lights up the tongue, punctuated by a soft tannic finish. Absolutely beautiful wine. — 8 months ago

Jay Kline

9.4

The first of my small tranche of 2019 Cuvée Reservée’s and I figured it would be fun to share with the Tasting Group. Popped and poured and presented double-blind. The wine pours a translucent, deep ruby with magenta rim, near opaque core, medium+ viscosity. On the nose, the wine was clean with macerated raspberry, cranberry, and pomegranate fruits. There were purple flowers, some black pepper and rocky minerality along with a slightly gamey note which was quite charming. Both the fruit and non-fruit characteristics were confirmed on the palate. The wine finishes dry with medium+ tannin and medium+ acid. There’s a compelling sense of power and energy in this wine. Everyone was in the Rhône but most were in the North; from Saint Joseph to Cornas, citing that they believed this was Syrah. However, two in the group called Châteauneuf du Pape and one actually called producer (!!) but missed on vintage (2016). Universally, the wine was fawned over and the dude who called Pagaü thought he actually favored the 2019 over the 2016 he had a while back. While I’m not sure I would go that far, the 2019 is truly quite stunning already and seems to have the guts to see a very long and wonderful life ahead. These are currently enjoying their customary early drinking window however, that window will likely close within a year or so and then I could see this shutting down pretty hard until 2025 — 2 years ago

Jeremy.Buss

9.2

So long since I’ve had a Rockpile wine and loved this!! Black and green pepper along with dark berries (raspberry and blackberry). An excellent jam flavor that just fits so well with bbq ribs. — 3 years ago