Freddy R. Troya

9.8

M. Chapoutier “Le Pavillon” Ermitage Rouge 2011, Rhône Valley, France 🇫🇷

Overview
A legendary single-parcel Hermitage Syrah from the Le Pavillon vineyard, planted on granite soils with vines averaging more than 65 years old. Production is extremely limited, with only a few thousand bottles produced.

Aromas & Flavors
Blackberry, raspberry, smoke, licorice, and dark chocolate with subtle notes of spice and tobacco.

Mouthfeel
Deep, powerful, and velvety with extraordinary structure and aging potential.

Food Pairings
Game meats, lamb, venison, or slow-braised beef.

Verdict
One of the most iconic Syrah expressions of Hermitage, combining power, precision, and immense aging potential.

🍷 Personal Pick
An incredibly subtle yet deeply structured Syrah that reminded me why tasting great wines is such a joyful experience. Sophisticated, intense, and beautifully balanced without ever becoming overwhelming. The aging potential is extraordinary.
— a month ago

Austin Hohnke

9.1

No oak. Ten months on lees. Fruit from the Freedom Hill vineyard. Young vines finding their footing. Chenin vibes with wool and honeysuckle. Awesome texture and tension. Great packaging. — a year ago

Paul T, Missing My Beautiful Wife 24/7

9.3

K&L notes, At the very top of the Haut-Médoc, embedded in a sea of gravel just next to the Gironde River north of St-Estèphe, sits the anomaly of the Left Bank: Château Coufran, the "Pomerol of the Médoc," so-called for its high propensity of Merlot vines in a region where Cabernet reigns supreme. While practically all of its Left Bank neighbors are making structured and powerful clarets, Coufran continues to make softer, silkier, classically tailored Right-Bank-style wines. Owned by the Miailhe family since 1924, the wine has been prized by those in the know for its early approachability and fantastic value, which is part of the reason it’s been a staple of K&L’s Bordeaux department for decades. Not only does the wine historically drink well at a younger age, it evolves beautifully over a five to ten year period. The 2009 is currently in a gorgeous spot only eight years after the vintage, showing secondary development and complexity beyond the primary fruit of its youth — 3 years ago

Will Stanley

9.2

A fabulous wine from an average vintage, the 2014 Saintayme, the late Denis Durantou’s Saint Emilion Grand Cru bottling from rented vines, provides plenty of enjoyment with enough AOC character to offer interest.

Not far off the 2016 in quality, the wine sports a rich and decadent nose with a classic profile of dark red fruits, along with subtle wafts of cedar, liquorice, vanilla and a touch of five spice. Very expressive.

The palate is medium to full bodied, and follows on with a gorgeous mouthfeel of supple ripe fruits - the sweetness of which is quite well matched by cherry acidity and lingering tannins.

All in all, this is really knockout stuff from 2014. Though immensely likeable now, I could actually see this going strong in another five to ten years. — 5 years ago

Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.2

Most of the wines I open tell me a story w/ each sip. Most tied to my late wife Sofia. My memories of this producer precedes her.

This is a producer that flashed early in my wine journey. Generally, one you have moved on from today. That’s until, their 2013 is offered at $39 recently. A grand vintage. For me, I wanted to see the wineries progression and experience earlier memories that flood back w/ each sip. It has done that.

I have a Napa history infatuation. This one is kinda of a pleasure-pain thing. While I enjoyed this producer many years ago, the 2020 Glass Fires destroyed 90% of their vineyards, almost all their structures & their 19 & 20 vintages. I can’t express enough what a gut punch that is for its owners & staff. It is an insurance nightmare and let’s not forget that after all the time it takes to re-plant vines, it takes at least 7 years before you get useable fruit to make wine. So…a ten yr plus setback w/ nearly no revenue stream.

The wine tonight w/o a ribeye, showed excellent fruits that the 13 growing season brought. But what followed was a lean mid plate and finish. With the steak, not so.

The palate shows M+ velvety, dry tannins. Ripe, rich, lush, ruby fruits of: blackberries, black plum, baked plum, dark cherries, black raspberries, raspberries, poached & fresh strawberries & an understated array of purple fruits. Moist, grey, volcanic clays, moist tobacco w/ ash, used leather, graphite, dry, crushed rocks/limestone-sandstone, dry brush, dark cola, black licorice to anise, dry herbs-bay leaf, sage, dark, mid spice with some palate heat, sweet tarriness, dark, fresh, candied & withering red roses, lavender & dry violets, excellent acidity with a well balanced-knitted, nicely structured & tensioned, elegant finish that lasts minutes and long sets on dry earth & spice.

This is nice on its own but so much better with a ribeye. 92 on its own with a hour decant. 92-93+ with an hour decant plus a juicy, well seasoned MR ribeye. — 2 months ago

Gilbert Van Hassel

9.6

Mencia grape from 80 year old vines on slate soil. Top wine, very aromatic, red fruit but stony undertone. Surprising, very high quality, Drinks beautifully now but has a good ten years in it. Great acidity and pure balance. — 3 years ago

Martinez

9.0

Delicious Chenin Blanc by Pax Mahle, one of Sonoma Coast’s leading producers – better known for his Syrah. Sourced from Buddha’s Dharma vineyard, north of the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas (that is the actual name of the city) in Mendocino County. Planted in 1944 on gravely volcanic soils, the vineyard had belonged to the nearby Buddhist community and for most of its existence it was used for bulk wine production.

Fermented in stainless steel, cement and oak, with 10-month elevage in neutral oak. Fresh, dry, crispy with notes of apple, pear and chamomile. Mineral, textured, slightly oily, excellent acidity. — 4 years ago

Tom Kobylarz

9.1

Exceptional value and one of the best (was even better before tariffs) qpr under $50 classy grower champagnes.

Fruit is from all premier cru sites in the Côtes des Blancs.

Vintage NV
Terroir: chalk | organic practices
Fermentation stainless steel: tanks | full malolactic

Aging: stainless steel | secondhand Meursault barrels | in bottle under crown cap
Varietal(s) 3/4 Pinot Noir & Pinot Meunier | 1/4 Chardonnay
Dosage: +/- 5g/l dosage

Vineyards & Viticulture
The vines are entirely worked by hand with careful training and thinning in order to aerate and allow for good ventilation of the grape bunches. Stephane does not employ herbicides and places an importance on a culture of high environmental value.

Harvest & Vinification
Vinification begins with selected yeasts, stirring on fine lees, malolactic fermentation done with cold stabilization to avoid any tartaric precipitation, and an aging of 3 and 1/2 years.

Stéphane Coquillette is a fourth-generation winemaker in Champagne. His late father, Christian, ran Saint-Chamant from 1950 until 2020, and he encouraged his son out to start his estate when Stéphane was 25. Mentored by his father, Stéphane was instilled with the desire to be a winegrower- dedicated to working the land and producing authentic, expressive, terroir-driven wines under his namesake Estate. He developed a different style of expression at his own house, creating fresher, drier Champagnes, primarily from Chouilly (Grand Cru), Cuis (99% 1er Cru) for Chardonnay, and d’Aÿ (Grand Cru) and Mareuil/Aÿ (99% 1er Cru) for Pinot Noir. Meticulously committed to organic practices, Stéphane avoids herbicides at all costs. Farming is done by hand, including trellising and pruning, which helps prevent disease and allows for a healthy crop. With more than ten different parcels, he produces several single-vintage and single-vineyard Champagnes — a rarity in this region — and all his wines are small-production. Stéphane Coquillette Champagnes are characteristically precise, fresh and lively.
— 5 months ago

Will Stanley

9.6

Sniffing upon opening, this had me jumping for joy – and I’m not exaggerating. What an introduction! I immediately chose to decant the wine, although in hindsight I don’t think that’s really necessary. The ‘Cuvee Monsignori’, one of the flagship wines from Estate Argyros in Santorini, is 100% Assyrtiko from ancient (~200 year old) vines, the minimal yield of which is then fermented in stainless steel, and aged for ten months on its lees. The island was never affected by phylloxera, hence the vines’ great age. It’s a muscular, chiseled, lean wine with the precision of the very best Chablis and impeccable concentration of fruit. It carries the smoke of the island’s volcanic soils (this is no floral language: it really smells of it), beautiful flinty reduction, depth and harmony on the palate and a long, saline finish. It may count among the world’s finest whites, and all for around £30 (if you can find it). Why didn’t I buy this by the case? I’ll never know. Superb. — 2 years ago

Paul Masson

9.1

Good now, but try again in ten years — 5 years ago