Stuart Pollack

9.4

Leave this open at least one hour before consuming and consume with steak. Paradigmatic California Cabernet Sauvignon. After one hour, this wine reminds me of a quality Pauillac. Elegant and sophisticated, it accompanies steak perfectly. This wine likely cannot be consumed without steak. The attack is a complex leathery mix of fruit and earth, while the finish is a tannic chewy leather and tobacco mix. Top notch. When first opened overpowering and then too acidic, so you need to wait that hour if you can. Or at least 30 minutes. — a year ago

Adriana Fabbro

8.9

I am solidly in the “don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it” school of thought, so I very much violated my own rules when I compared this wine negatively to the Bedrock Evanghelo Zin earlier this year without ever having tried it. I knew I had to right this wrong ASAP and brought this to my group’s blind tasting. The verdict: guilty pleasure wine.

At $9.99 a bottle (the Whole Foods down the street had a special), this wine was a steal (even if priced 2-4x, I would drink this wine over the Prisoner any day).

If you are like me, you don’t believe Snoop would put his name on anything subpar and rest assured, this wine is solid. At first sniff and sip, you get aromas of bruised black plum and blueberry syrup. It’s verging on Port in ripeness and alc (14.1%) and there’s probably some RS but it’s still seductive and pretty. On the palate, the wine is balanced, with a shocking lightness on the initial attack followed by a sweet cigar note, discrete tannins and a pleasant bitterness (a friend suggested later press factions maybe) on the finish to cut the sweetness perfectly.

Not the wine you want every night with dinner (you’ll wake up with a raging headache), but the wine you want with a blue cheese burger or saucy barbecue. And you’ll gladly pour yourself another glass. Mostly Petit Sirah and Zin.

If this is the bar, I look forward to trying Martha’s Chard. — 3 years ago

MICHAEL COOPER DipWSET

Owner TomeVinos wine shops, WSET Level 3, Blogger www.spanishwinesandmore.com, blog.tomevinos.com

8.9

When I first tasted this with Coravin we were sure it had TCA, but it wasn’t excessively bitter or astringent and it had plenty of rich ripe black fruit...so I uncorked it today and the cork definitely smells of old winery, old church and almost pine trees but I wouldn’t call it corked cork. Even with the cork issue the wine has a smooth oily attack and firm fine-grained tannins. I am thoroughly enjoying it. #bolgheri #tuscany #italy #supertuscan The winery should definitely look into their cork provider. — 4 years ago

with Rosario

Randy Fuller

9.3

This medium dark wine is plenty aromatic. There is big fruit first - blueberry, blackberry, black cherry - met with cinnamon, nutmeg, forest floor, a whiff of smoke and a splash of tar. The palate is robust, to say the least. That dark fruit is there to lead the way, with spices in tow and a strong tannin profile that is more than ready to attack a hunk of beef. This wine is demanding on its own, but at its best when paired with a meaty dish. — 2 years ago

Adriana Fabbro

9.2

Drinks more like old BDX than aged Napa. Soft as silk with an ample but not unpleasant helping of bret.
Pair with getting into a heated discussion with your right wing nut of a father who, when asked him to back up his assertion about “absurdly high public sector salaries” 🙄 with facts, responds with a personal attack. — 2 years ago

Paul T HB

9.4

64% Cab 30% Merlot 3 % cab franc 3 % Petit Verdot 90 points across the board on release, time heals all wounds!
K&L notes as follows.
Another $45.00 Steal

I often imagine the vine as a family tree, stretching back centuries, in this case, to 1550 or so, when La Louvière acquired its name from the many hungry wolves (louves) that roamed the deep forests of the Graves, well before the construction of the elegant 18th century chateau that adorns the label of this flagship wine. This brief history lesson makes me appreciate even more the imposing qualities of the 2005 La Louvière, a wine with a lot of time on its hands. Firm and taut as a young wolf, with the strong heart to endure and improve for a decade or more, gracefully maturing into a benchmark Pessac-Léognan, stylish and fleshier, more supple and savoury as the willful tannins are further seduced by the dark and persuasive fruit. If you really can't wait, then bite the cork, figuratively, and decant for an hour before enjoying with gently-braised lamb shanks. — 3 years ago

Willie Carter

9.1

Pure joy in the bottle. A fun summer afternoon back in the day spent with that girl that you still think about when that song comes on. Clear lemon in the glass with faint green flecks. Big floral aromatics initially with herbs and mint. Ripe pears and lemon curd with a dash of honeydew. Apple juice and fresh cut grass.

Richer and more full bodied than you were expecting with high acidity. Really, really nice texture and mouthfeel going on here. Vivacious and lively throughout. The attack is dominated by memories of her before things fell apart. When life was good and the sun shined a little more brightly. An exciting and lovely wine. — 2 years ago

Aaron Tan

8.9

A very umami wine. While I'm sure this can be attributed to a higher-than-normal level of free glutamic acid, I felt that it was the complex interplay of mouth-coating texture, acidity, savoury and acetic flavours that drove home the sensation. Delicious in its own way, but in typical Delienne-fashion, this all ended in a volatile mess by day three. The wine showed best in day two when the reductive manure-like aromas melded in with the high-toned red fruits, anise and meaty notes, appearing mostly as a savoury olive character. Led with a salty attack in the mouth that gave the impression of having preserved plums. The mid-palate was surprisingly juicy and fruity, considering how savoury the finish was, which left me salivating with the notes of cured meat and chinese olive vegetable condiment. Certainly an interesting wine this Christmas season. — 3 years ago

Tom Casagrande

9.2

Superb value white burg. I love it when you can put the glass to your nose and you know it’s Côte de Beaune fruit. Lemon oil drizzle on wet, limestoney gravel, a bit of apple/slightly-underripe peach. Intense attack, with loads of unadorned fruit, really good flavor concentration, and intense, lip-smacking acids. Clean, bracing finish. Nicely done. — 3 years ago

John Kroft

9.3

This wine is outstanding. So soft and slight, but full of delicate nuance and depth. On the nose there’s that lovely petrol or rubber note that opens you up to the sweetness of the wine, but when you taste the attack is so gentle and the acidity so perfectly balances the rounder fruit notes that you end up with this magically cleansing lively mouthfeel. Ideal for Asian cuisine. This wine is perfect for adventurous curious drinkers to bring to their friends who swear they only like Sauv. Blanc. Dry and crisp enough that they’ll like it, but different enough that they’ll experience something new. — 5 years ago