Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

9.2

2018 vintage. Graphite, cherry and ripe dark plum in the nose. That tantalizing P-L perfectly medium body. Dill, rosemary, cedar, mint and sandalwood adding to the plum and cherry on the finish. “Devolving” a bit as the evident showiness of the last six months is retreating. Wine is a living thing so it’s allowed to have attitude. Crawling back into its’ shell for now. — 3 years ago

Heather Danskin

9.2

So delicious. Tart and crisp. Lemon and green apple. Perfect summer wine for a warm day. Vegan and sustainable. Yum! — 3 years ago

Matt

9.5

Lithe, perfumed, graceful and yet ample in its delicious fruit and length. Unlike most wines made in the style, Gauby always manages to have this tannic framework and structure that is tense and fine boned yet yielding at just the right moment. Dried red cherry, crushed berries, blood orange, chaparral, wet leaves, black tea, potpourri, rose petal, candied apple, cinnamon, clove. Has some natural leanings but pleasantly so. — 3 years ago

Jay Kline

9.4

The first of my small tranche of 2019 Cuvée Reservée’s and I figured it would be fun to share with the Tasting Group. Popped and poured and presented double-blind. The wine pours a translucent, deep ruby with magenta rim, near opaque core, medium+ viscosity. On the nose, the wine was clean with macerated raspberry, cranberry, and pomegranate fruits. There were purple flowers, some black pepper and rocky minerality along with a slightly gamey note which was quite charming. Both the fruit and non-fruit characteristics were confirmed on the palate. The wine finishes dry with medium+ tannin and medium+ acid. There’s a compelling sense of power and energy in this wine. Everyone was in the Rhône but most were in the North; from Saint Joseph to Cornas, citing that they believed this was Syrah. However, two in the group called Châteauneuf du Pape and one actually called producer (!!) but missed on vintage (2016). Universally, the wine was fawned over and the dude who called Pagaü thought he actually favored the 2019 over the 2016 he had a while back. While I’m not sure I would go that far, the 2019 is truly quite stunning already and seems to have the guts to see a very long and wonderful life ahead. These are currently enjoying their customary early drinking window however, that window will likely close within a year or so and then I could see this shutting down pretty hard until 2025 — 3 years ago

Will Stanley

9.5

My first time trying a wine from Daniel-Etinne Defaix, a Chablis winemaker known for releasing some of his wines very late to the market (this 2006 is on release now, a full sixteen years after the vintage).

How it looks: A flash of green through the amber hue already drops this into Chablis for the blind taster.

How it smells: seduction in a glass, everything you want from Chardonnay with age. From primary to tertiary, every aroma sits in perfect balance with the others in the glass. There’s bitter lemon, burnt butter, vanilla, peach and that delightful hint of honey that Chardonnay shows with age.

How it sips: lean, intense and complex on the palate, with great tension and acidity, and a fantastic sense of water on rock. Surprisingly, this showed better on the second night - by some margin, too. It fully opened up on the palate, with tremendous width and shocking drinkability.

Ultimately, this is an incredibly pure expression of Chardonnay from the Vaillons climat without much intrusion of oak. And heck, this has acidity for days - so I’d love to try it again in ten years, for fun.

Enjoyed with lemon sole on the second night, which I must say provided great emotion. — 3 years ago

Hillary Johnson

9.7

Lemons, bright citrus, light pear. Pairs well with a salad vinaigrette, summer pasta or chicken. Incredible spring sipping wine! — 3 years ago

Andrew McIntyre

9.4

Two weeks without a decent red wine and now back with a banger. This wine is beautiful in its duplicity. On one side dark cherries, tar, plums and leather but then at the same time light with lovely acidity. A joy to drink! — 3 years ago

Jeff Orlowski

9.5

Beautiful. Purple, oak and leather nose. Full, dry, Moderate tannins and acidity. Can easily age 10-20 more years. Loaded with dark fruit. — 3 years ago

with Michael and Joe

Deborah M

9.2

Such a contradiction, this one. This wine has a fairly subdued nose. Pale color, almost Pinot like in body and color, but there is nothing light about it. Big, expressive, and tannic is how I would describe this one. Next time I will decant for longer. Nice quality, excellent QPR. — 3 years ago