romo

9.1

Expositions 1 & 2 wildly different. 1 is dense young and pure CA while 2 co-ferment is likely past peak and sparse. - at Guille’s — 2 days ago

Shay A

9.6

A bottle I contributed during a trip to Napa’s Premiere Napa Valley week. This was opened at Torc, alongside a ‘97 Leflaive Les Pucelles, ‘11 Leroy Blagny, ‘89 La Chappelle and two young Napa cabs from Simon Estate. La Mouline is always my favorite due to the amount of co-ferment with Viognier.

Deserving of a 1-2hr decant, this got about an hour open in bottle by the time we got to it. I opened the ‘04 La Turque just a few weeks prior, so I had a reference point to work with. Heady aromatics, as expected…dark potpurri, spice, mesquite and mocha. On the palate, the youthful bacon-fat of Cote Rotie was gone and had channeled the classical tangy barbecue profile alongside black olive, peppered red and black berry fruit, and smoked meat at the finish. Whereas the LaTurque was almost Burgundian in profile (elegant, light), this was somewhere in-between the “bigger” LaLandonne and LaTurque…big, but balanced, likely due to vintage. Aromatics and finish here were standouts. Open now with a quick decant or hold another few years. — 2 years ago

Philip Patston

8.9

Only available in Wisconsin, beers from New Gladys have a semi cult status. A decent lager to be fair. — 5 years ago

Sarah Milsow-Guenther

9.3

Lovely Cab. Still so much fruit in this one. Went lovely with steaks. — 6 years ago

"Odedi"

9.3

#AgedWineTuesday

Ruby in color with a wide reddish rim.

Strong nose and full-bodied with medium acidity and long legs.

Dry on the palate and elegant with nice complexity.

Showing black currants, black plums, cooked cherries, cedar, tobacco leaf, coffee, cola, dark chocolates, herbs, peppercorn, mediterranean spices and light earth.

Long finish with fine grained tannins and tangy cherries.

This is a gorgeous Syrah from Sonoma County. Rich and fruit forward. Smooth and powerful, yet elegant.

This 13 year old Single Vineyard Syrah is drinking very much like a Napa Merlot, which is so interesting.

Beautiful right out of the bottle, and so much better after 30 minutes of airtime. The high alcohol is nicely integrated by now, so watch out.

Robert Parker 100 points.

Peaking now, and will continue to drink nicely in the next 5 years.

A great sipping wine that paired nicely with food too.

A blend of 92% Syrah and 8% Viognier.

93 points

$160. — 14 days ago

Shay A

9.5

Opened as part of a 2-day tasting with Alex Macdonald while he was in town. Day two was a small group of us with killer wines (2010 Chave Hermitage, mag of ‘02 Krug, Selosse Substance, 1996 Latour, 2003 Mouton, 1992 Dominus).

Quick one hour double decant to prep this beauty. While La Mouline is my favorite, La Turque still incorporates the co-ferment with Viognier. 93 Syrah/7 Viognier.

Beautiful translucent ruby in the glass. As I get with certain Cote Rotie wines (especially Guigal), barbecue and bacon fat can be overwhelming when young, but this has channeled a really balanced profile. Aromatic notes of smoked meat, cherry liqueur, and espresso. Beautifully rich yet elegant on the palate. Great nerve of acidity with a finish sporting plenty of tannin to carry this a while. Black peppered raspberries, black fruit on the palate with a little bacon and a hint of sweet/tangy barbecue sauce note (delicious). Enjoy now with a short decant or hold another 5yrs. — 2 years ago

Ben Christen

9.4

Cool climate cab. Delicious. One bottle became two. — 6 years ago

with Ellen

Shay A

9.5

One of the wines I supplied for an annual lunch hosting (co-host this time). I was really hesitant to open this given the fanfare of this specific wine, but also how DrCrane can be an in-between wine for me (so explosive young, shut down at 5-10yrs, re-open 10+). Decanted two-three hours.

Classic deep purple-black DrCrane in the glass. Aromatics are immediate with ripe blue and black fruits, baking spices, mocha and graphite. Just a little bit of high-toned EA to make it pop, along with this roasted character I always get from DrCrane wines. Opulent and polished in every way on the palate, this is a tidal wave of flavor with no hard edges. It’s a towering wine in the sense of so much concentration and depth on the mid-palate, but it’s so incredibly polished at the finish…almost shockingly so. The ripe fruits and the dark chocolate linger longer than any Napa cab I can remember. Iron first in a velvet glove.

No need to worry, these are open for business. Plenty of structure to carry a while, but this window seems like it was made for how this wine is drinking now. — a year ago

Katie Fester

9.0

Very drinkable at Love & Salt — 4 years ago

Neil Valenzuela

9.4

Wow! What a treat- real flavors of grapefruit and blood orange- but not overwhelming. — 5 years ago