Peter Sultan

8.9

Entry level bottling. On the grapefruit pith & lime spectrum, both on palate & nose. Chew it & the slate & crushed minerals come out more. Drank over two days, with day 2 even better, clearer. On sale for about 13$, so a serious QPR. — 3 months ago

Jay Kline

9.3

Popped and poured, no formal notes. The 2018, Rafanelli is throwing a lot of sediment already in its relative youth. It’s also restrained in the typical Rafanelli, but atypical Zinfandel way. Great balance, and quite delicious however the fruit shows on the slightly under ripened end of the spectrum. That being said, I expect age to be very kind to this vintage. Drink now with a short decant and over the next 15+ years. A lovely pairing with grilled steaks. — a year ago

Matt Perlman

9.2

Light and perfumed, violets and pepper—a nice intro to northern rhone, somewhere in between guigal and the Levets of the world on the polished vs rustic spectrum — 2 years ago

Ceccherini Cristiano

9.9

If you could guess this white wine was 20yo i would be highly impressed
Colour is still pale to gold
On the light spectrum of the SMARAGD(😉) category, being only 13% in alcohol
It has a ripe pear, nectarine
Then moves to hints of marzipan and hay
But what it stands out is the mineral
Chalk and wet stones are extremely pronounced on the nose and on the palate
It drinks still extremely young and i am sure it will flesh out in the future i reckon
Long and too easy to go down
I had another bottle of this wine perhaps 5 or 6 years ago and i think this looked younger and with more potential than that, but i will go and cross check what i am saying now.
Few things i figure out from tonight bottle:
Firstly Hirtzberger IS my favourite producer in Wachau, then that Spitzer is surely a fresher subclimate than, for example, Dursteiner and lastly that light Smaragd and Federspiel are more my cup of tea rather than huge 14-15% smaragd(and in saying that i dont deny the bigger potential of the latter, i just enjoy more the former). Ok, i got it down for future reference so that i can't forget. — 3 years ago

Shay A

9.4

This was given a short 30min decant before being consumed over the next two days.

My note is likely going to be reminiscent of my experience with the 2015 Panek I opened 3yrs ago. Out of the RM Cabernet lineup, Panek is the pleasure bomb. One of the signature traits I get from some of TRBs cabs is his ability to pull the entire fruit spectrum (entry of bright red fruits, mid palate of fresh and sweet blue fruits before a commanding and juicy black fruit finish). From the start, this was uber concentrated, but in an elegant way (not brawny). 2hrs later, this smoothed out and channeled a silky profile. This leans to a more floral, dark cherry, mocha fruit flavor profile up front before an inky, juicy, dark chocolate covered black cherry with mint and savory notes. Still on the upswing. Decant 2hrs or hold another 2-3yrs. However, it’s in a hedonistic stage now with minimal air. — 4 months ago

Jay Kline

9.2

Popped and poured; no formal notes. Consumed over two days and showed its best on day two. I knew when I opened this that I really ought to have waited a couple of years but it’s hard to resist the Chardonnays from Seavey. They are so refreshing compared to the majority of examples coming from Napa Valley. I find that they lean a little bit more towards Chablis in style, while still remaining true to Napa. Tropical fruits that lean more towards the pineapple side of the spectrum with some Kiwi, peach and lemon citrus. Good minerals and acid too. I found this to be a lovely pairing with the whole chicken I smoked this afternoon. Hold for a year or two if you can. Best after 2024 through 2030. — 2 years ago

Delectable Wine

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9.2

The 2019 Sancerre Les Chasseignes has a ripe and open expression. It fills the mouth with a sense of effortlessness, which Stephane Riffault puts down to both the caillottes soil and the ripeness of the vintage. It is in the riper spectrum of Sauvignon aromatics. This wine leaves the variety's green flavors far behind and focuses instead on orchard fruit and almost heads into the realms of tropical fruit, which isn't something you normally associate with Sancerre. Gently refreshing with the caillottes providing a line of chalkiness on the finish. One for the short to medium term due to the vintage's ripe profile. (Rebecca Gibb MW, Vinous, August 2021)
— 3 years ago

Pooneet K

9.3

Just a wonderful alto Piemonte with great age. Lots of sediment, needs a decant for that but not in general. Nose really leaps from the glass. Great acid and some very nice secondary fruit on the red end of the spectrum. Very long finish with just a hint of that slight menthol refreshing note. No need to wait on this. — 9 months ago

Sipping Fine Wine

9.5

Deep Ruby, evolves with spectrum of aromas, berry fruit, dried herb, complex spice, notes of cocoa dust. Blend: CabSauv/Franc/Merlot/Malbec/PetVerdot. Palate, ripe blackcherry/blackberry flavors, rich tones, subtle oak, espresso/black pepper. Graceful/elegant, displays super fine “dusty” tannins, perfectly balanced, pleasing length, complex ending with fruit/mineral edge. Ultra-premium fruit, world class hand-crafting, limited production exceptional wine. Wonderful now, get better with age. Tasting Sample! — 2 years ago

Josh Morgenthau

9.3

Exotic citrus, green, a little wooly, medium body and acidity. Good dry Chenin, showing more on the citrus and herbal spectrum now. Impressive concentration. This started a bit simple, and the open bottle was left in the fridge while I traveled for 3 weeks, and when I returned it was singing! 9.1->9.3 — 2 years ago