ESF

9.0

Excellent QPR - well made, very bright, varietally correct w/cherries & sassafras, med weight, not overdone but generous. Great Costco find! — a month ago

Carlos Burger

9.2

Whoa. Spices. Reductive. Getting to white burg territory texturally. Slightly oxidized? Is that intentional? Super good but also weird! — a year ago

Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

9.2

2020 vintage. Plenty of spice and fruit…needs a little more tannic structure to vault it into must-have territory. Still delish. — 2 years ago

Ivor

9.1

Good barolo on the verge of breaking into the tertiary territory. Concentrated lush fruits, sticky tar, asphalt and softening tannines. I prefer them a step further down the road so I’ll revisit in two years. — 3 years ago

Ellen Clifford

9.0

Exclusively from their vineyards in the northern part of Vinho Verde, Monção and Melgaço. I’ve been there! That’s where I accidentally got up two hours early cause my clock switched to Spain time and I thought that meant I'dn need to get up an hour early. Contacto has a little more skin contact than average, turning up with a slight texture and friendly bitter bite. On the nose, it’s fresh lemon zest, wet stone and whetstone, with a bit of white flower. The palate is utterly thirst-quenching, veering into dried apricot territory and a bit of (as I said above) fun bitterness countering the fruit. It all wraps up with a sluice of salinity. Fun, fun, fun! — 3 months ago

Ivor

9.0

Beautifully ageing into tertiary territory. Red fruits, cinnamon, caramel and tea leaves. Some time left but missing the 05 magic I really love. — a year ago

Iwan

8.9

Firmly in tertiary territory at first, with mushroom and soy sauce on the nose and palate. After 20 minutes or air time fruit came to life, still with good acidity and chewy tannin. Has plenty of life in in but very tasty right now. — 2 years ago

Aaron Tan

9.1

The last and probably the best bottle from a lot of four purchased from our local importer. There was quite a bit of bottle variation in our Malaysian importer’s 19’ Envinate release - the Migan’s and Palo Blanco’s were quite the rollercoaster ride - but the Vinas de Aldea seemed to have gotten the good side of the container. Like the last bottle, this was full of floral elegance and tangy energy. Super complex aromas of violets, ripe cherries, sweet herbs, pepper, and a touch of coffee and flint. All finesse on the palate, but has depth too. Sweet red fruits, bittersweet herbs, umeshu, and an absolutely lovely, Mosel-esque slatey minerality; finishing sharp with grippy, chalky tannins. For me it was firmly in that red kabinett territory, and downright perfect with our fatty Angus picanha. Loved it! — a year ago

David D

9.0

Dolcetto d’Alba Superiore
Grown in Barbaresco territory and aged in old oak casks – a meatier Dolcetto. Angular with really bright acids, tart raspberry, steely tannins. From Astor Wines. 05/03/23 — 2 years ago

Shay A

9.3

This bordered on “really good” and “exceptional”. With being so young for a white Rhône, I’m sure this will push in to exceptional territory rather easily within 5-10yrs.

A producer I don’t know much about, but being a fan of all things northern Rhône, I wanted to roll the dice. 100% marsanne. I opted to open this early as I have the opportunity to buy a few more bottles, so I wanted to check in.

The aromatics and palate are quite different. Channeling a kiss of that nutty and rich profile on the nose up front, but the palate sports quite a bit of bright lemon zest and almost more reductive like notes (smoky) before the finish fans out with honey roasted cashews, almond skin, and some wax. Orange blossom type notes are here, but faint.

This changed immensely with 2+hrs of air in the bottle, so the rollercoaster is just beginning. Delicious. — 3 years ago