Lively and effervescent. Strawberry, raspberry, tart cherry — fruit forward, balanced by acidity and herbal notes. Picking up bay leaf, dried herb, general green notes. Fun and unexpected. — 3 months ago
2011 might be a forgotten vintage but this CB is really memorable. Did a pop and pour and it had great aromatics straight away. Medium to full bodied. Velvety. Layered. Dark berries, herbs, black tea, licorice, bay leaf. First wine on the trip to France. Great start! — 3 months ago
The 1966 Giscours is a wine I have drunk twice or three times before, though never from magnum. This was a golden age for the estate. It has a classic nose for a 1966 Left Bank: black fruit, freshly rolled tobacco, antique bureau and maybe just a hint of curry leaf. Still fresh and unashamedly conservative in style, the palate is beautifully balanced with fine weight and density. It has lost its florality, perhaps now a little more delicate than I recall, yet tremendous in terms of length with veins of blue fruit toward the finish. Utterly divine. Tasted at 67 Pall Mall for The Complete Bordeaux Vintage Guide dinner. (Neal Martin, Vinous, December 2023)
— 4 months ago
#AgedWineTuesday
Dark ruby in color with a wide brick rim
Earthy nose with light oak, black fruits and tobacco.
Medium plus in body with medium acidity.
Dry on the palate with red and black fruits, wood, earth, vegetables, spices, tobacco leaf, dark coffee, licorice, dark chocolates, black tea and black pepper.
Medium plus on the finish with round tannins and tangy raspberries.
This 35 year old is still drinking beautifully. This Second Growth Bordeaux is nicely balanced and complex.
Peaking now, and will continue to drink nicely in the next 10+ years.
Good right out of the bottle, and better after 4 hours. I did not decant it, but let it open up in the bottle.
Wine Spectator 96 points.
A good food wine that I paired with beef brisket. Gorgeous.
A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc.
13.5% alcohol by volume.
93 points.
$275. — a month ago
Dark fruit, smooth rich complex tannins. Always a pleasure. $250. — 4 months ago
Last Sunday lunch with Roast Lamb. A 20 year old Rioja fitted the bill nicely. A blend of 85% Tempranillo, 10% Graciano and 5% Mazuelo. Aged in new French and American oak for 24 months. Aromatics of tobacco leaf, plum, ashphalt and a bit of tar. A medicinal note the following night. The palate is medium to full bodied with berry, plum and liquorice. Resolved Tannins - quite fluid. This was Wine Spectators No. 1 wine for 2013 and now drinking at its peak but could go on for another 5 years on the evidence of this superb wine. — 2 months ago
Exceptional for a third bottling. A roaring beauty. Length and depth with a regal, grainy texture on the mid-palate. Blueberries and scorched earth present with fruitcake notes. Tannins and acid suggest a hold for many years. I’m impressed. Will only further improve. — 3 months ago
The 2015 Viña Ardanza is only the third vintage of this wine that I’ve tasted, yet it has quickly become perhaps my favourite Rioja - for quality, value, style, and sheer pleasure. This is a match for the brilliant 2010, with an outrageously pure and beautiful nose of balsamic paste, bitter orange, black cherry, fig and vanilla. The palate is supple but firm, quite dark in character, with a gorgeous medley of black and red fruits, perhaps slightly fuller bodied than the 2010, and carrying through to a long, bitter orange, tar and tobacco-laced finish.
This is just such superb stuff, and to say it sells for around £20-30 a bottle, it’s a cellar must. — 4 months ago
Ron Siegel
This had the classic LB nose showing mostly black fruits with currant, cedar, leather, menthol, spice box, cigar ash & tobacco leaf. — 22 days ago