GaryWEdwards

9.6

Wow! This is still a broad shouldered , yet elegant, wine with smoke and dark berry led. Still has a long life left. — 9 days ago

Stuart Pollack

9.9

Beautiful wine. So earthy, leathery, and powerful. This wine still has years of life left. A nearly perfect Cabernet Sauvignon blend with a Mediterranean twist. It tastes like an extremely high-end Chateauneuf-du-Pape dominated by a high-end Napa Cabernet. Perfect with my Greek lamb chops. I wish I could have left it open longer but I consumed it at my favorite BYOB Greek restaurant. If you find this wine at a reasonable price, buy it. At $90 a steal. — 2 months ago

Conrad Green

9.6

Structured and balanced. Very in place and lightly sophisticated. The fruit is all in check as is the alcohol. Still a long life ahead, but very god right now. You need to lean in a bit to feel it — 3 months ago

with Peter and Gregg

Victor Hsu

9.0

1949 vintage (!!!). Very special half bottle, but more than half the volume lost to evaporation. Opened this gem at Totoraku yesterday to go with two full bottles of Chateau Lafite Rothschild, 1996 and 1952 (!!). This Temple of Beef demands special occasion wines. Cork fell apart in the bottle so we poured it all in a decanter but did not wait to sip. Pale strawberry-orange color, surprising tart fruit nose, supremely delicate taste with just a bit of fruit and life left. Not the best bottle on the table but certainly not the undrinkable. Interesting experience. Would gladly do it again in the name of science. Oldest Red Bordeaux I have ever tasted. — 5 months ago

Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

9.5

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. — 21 days ago

Jay Kline

9.5

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. — 2 months ago

Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

9.4

2005 vintage. Decanted and tasted immediately and through 3 hours. Great fill/appropriate aging cork. Medium sed. Noticeably dark color. Any trace of the usual Cos baby fat for the first decade+ after release long gone geek. Interesting. This was a lean, mean, street-fighting machine with "minerality" to spare. Intense. Compact. Unsure if it will continue to menace in the next decade of life or retreat into a reclusive, "turtling" period. Best guess? Street-fighter par excellence. Regardless of taking the high or low road, it's not devolving into a drink 'em if you got 'em any time soon scenario. Thanksgiving 11.23.23. — 5 months ago

Daniel veit

9.9

From magnum, this was a beautiful wine with still many more years of life ahead. Showing black currant, tobacco, dried thyme, squid ink and Chinese 5 spice. Stunner. — a month ago

Jay Kline

9.4

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. — 2 months ago

GaryWEdwards

9.7

42 years with big shoulders still in need of a generous decant . More than ample fruits and still has long life on front of her. Cork in great shape and very little sediment. — 4 months ago

with Logan