Stage Left Cellars

Château Léoville Barton

Saint-Julien Red Bordeaux Blend 1990

1990 vintage. Excellent fill and halfway saturated cork. Used a Durand but surmise a regular waiter's friend, wielded carefully, could have done the trick with the cork. Decanted and tasted after 30 mins, one hour and two hours. Some obvious sed but not troublesome or overtly noticeable. Original owner-château direct on original release. Super cold cellar because this was lagging noticeably behind other '90's and LB's. Bigger tannic structure (for a generally feminine-styled house) than anything save a Latour, Mouton, Ducru Left Bank property. Even more guts than Lynch-Bages or Pichon-Baron '90's currently stored above 55 or so degrees. Surprising but made sense. Light-medium body. Appropriate color. 3-4 years left in this stage unless larger format in play. Slight, fleeting burst of richness in the frontal palate and a tad brickish and then it just flowed on, without speed bumps. A little cocoa powder and cedar/tobacco. Suspect 750ml specimens not stored as cold/religiously will be showing more in the 9.0-9.1 range and farther down the backside of the bell curve. 10.26.24. — 9 days ago

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Ron R

Ron R Influencer Badge Premium Badge

Good notes, mate.
Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

@Ron R Hey there! It's been a spell.

Penfolds

Bin 389 South Australia Cabernet Shiraz 2008

Cassis and oak - the latter quite noticeable. From a ripe year where the fruit should be apparent but at the moment the oak dominates - mocha notes, but then again still has a huge future. Amazing what a solid core of self contained full body this has for 16 years of age, but still of profound intensity - dark chocolate and black currant. Will go on for literally decades - only have 2 left. Penfolds “Rewards of Patience “ say through to 2050! That is not as crazy as it sounds. This wine is close to immortal Next one in 10 years. — 4 months ago

Scott@Mister, Anthony and 25 others liked this

Château Cos d'Estournel

Saint-Estèphe Red Bordeaux Blend 1995

Opened around 8pm the evening prior, double decanted and left in room temperature until service on Friday evening. In total, this was opened 24hours before service. The 1995 pours a beautiful garnet with transparent core; medium viscosity with moderate stating of the tears. On the nose, the wine is developing with surprisingly boozy dark fruit. Brambles, cassis, bell pepper, licorice, spearmint and baking spices. On the palate, the wine is dry with medium+ tannins and medium+ acid. Confirming the notes from the nose. The finish is long with great acidity. Overall, remarkably youthful. While it’s certainly ready to go, it will likely continue some positive evolution over the next couple of decades. Drink now with a long decant through 2045. — 4 months ago

Jan, Douglas and 15 others liked this

Ridge Vineyards

Monte Bello Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Blend 2001

Supremely elegant with plenty of life left, but likely peaking (if it hasn’t already) - loamy soils, dried tobacco, interesting and subtle spice and chocolate on the palate. — a day ago

Dominus Estate

Dominus Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Blend 2001

I had this a week ago but didn’t take any notes at all at a friends tasting last Sunday afternoon. Have always been a huge fan of Dominus and this was from an exceptional vintage. I recall an excellent left bank Cabernet dominant style but presented as a Napa style - rich and plush but not overly so. Thoroughly enjoyable. — 22 days ago

Jan, Tom and 27 others liked this

Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande

Pauillac Red Bordeaux Blend 1989

1989 vintage. Last tasted 3.28.24, 5.5.23, 4.4.23 and 12.9.22. Solid fill and cork. Recommended decanting but was denied. Mmkay. Eventually got clearance to decant after the bottle had been open for 1.25 hrs. Tasted after being open 5 mins, 45 mins and 2 hrs. Light-medium body throughout. Wine was funky and super tight initially. Had to talk a few of the “participants” down from their “this wine ain’t nothing” perch by telling them it needed at least an hour in the glass (since it hadn’t been decanted at that point). Wine threw expected sed on the decant. Started to loosen up at the 45 mins open stage and fairly exploded at the 2 hrs open (45 mins decanted) point. Dude that didn’t want to decant it gave me a wistful, regretful look at that point (since it blew the other 4 reds at the table away and was getting better) and it took waay too much willpower on my end not to say “Congrats on minimizing a fantastic wine experience, bro.” It wasn’t the best 1989 P-L specimen tasted semi-recently but feel this coulda delved into the 9.4 range without the unnecessary power trip from someone that didn’t even bring this wine to the shindig. Hopefully, this individual learned their lesson. 7.6.24. — 4 months ago

Shay, Ted and 9 others liked this
Norman Gennaro

Norman Gennaro Premium Badge

Can’t imagine declining a decant. Been too lazy to decant and generally regretted.

Spottswoode

Family Estate Grown St. Helena Cabernet Sauvignon 2010

Deep color, balanced acidity and palette, with an extraordinary bouquet. Black currents and other dark berries, smokey, toasted vanilla oak - with mellowed tannins. Lots of cellaring time left for this vintage! — 10 days ago

Château Lynch-Bages

Grand Cru Classé Pauillac Cabernet Sauvignon Blend 2016

Okay. Again the same dilemma. If a wine does not meet expectation is it basically bad (for me)? 🤔 because in life everything is relative, right? Any thoughts on puzzling matter??The wine was well balanced, dark red fruit flavors, polished, smooth tannins, good intensity and concentration, but limited length and lacking any meaningful complexity… Eight year old left bank Bordeaux. A fourth or fifth growth winery, maybe not, can’t remember for sure. Do remember what I paid though, $120. Definitely too much for what we experienced this evening…. as to our expectations. — 2 months ago

Tammy de Weerd
with Tammy
Jan, Andrew and 12 others liked this
Dawn E.

Dawn E.

@Jan de Weerd from reviews not personal experience. Most let this wine age twenty plus years?

Château de Beaucastel

Châteauneuf-du-Pape Red Rhône Blend

2007: Wow. Phenomenal Chateauneuf with tons of character. Viscous, very rich, nicely concentrated with plenty of minerals and funk to balance the still-persistent purple fruit. Can’t imagine this getting any better with more age but plenty left. — 4 months ago

Neyers

Left Bank Red Napa Valley Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon 2020

First impression of lush dark fruit that transitions to strong, earthy gravel with a dry and spicy finish. Really impressive. — 5 months ago

Erica and Laura liked this