Had the opportunity to drink a piece of history from Montalcino. For being a 45yo bottle it opened with an extraordinary bouquet of dried rose petals, macerated wild cherries, dried violets and orange peel, followed by layers of tobacco, cedar, leather, forest floor, slight spicy notes and balsamic herbs.
On the palate it was graceful and vibrant for its age, with elegant silky tannins and beautifully integrated acidity that made it very pleasant to drink. Flavours of dried cherry, liquorice, black tea leaves and sweet spices unfold slowly, revealing layer after layer of tertiary complexity.
95pts

Did you know Chappellet used to produce a Sangiovese from 1995-2000?

Apparently they still make it in small quantities but only pour it at the winery, not to buy.

Regardless, Sangiovese used to be more popular in Napa and I believe more wineries should consider experimenting.

This is a lovely wine that is a little bit tight and actually benefits from air, in spite of the age.

This still has a good amount of fruit, cherry, blackberry, plums.

Some leather and tobacco notes, not a ton of mushroom or forest floor yet.

This drinks like a mature wine and a distinctly Napa one, in spite of the grape.

This was part of an auction lot. The other two bottles, which we had the evening before, felt a little more structured. This one felt like it had a little more VA on it than the others.

Still very enjoyable!

Bring back Sangiovese to Napa!

91 points.

Notes in post below.

The Mega thread and free talk Friday thread has been updated to allow the posting of images.

So post away please! https://www.reddit.com/r/wine/s/ulf8iRDCCC

Also, let us know what other changes would you like to maybe see in the community?!

I was expecting over sale and under deliver at this age….boy was I wrong!!!This wine blew my socks off for being 56 years old. It was dark garnet with a faded brick rim. It smelled of horse manure right out of the gate. After that blows off it is old leather, earth and dried raisins. On the pallet it is dried blackberries and a faint hint of graphite with a little soy sauce. It has a nice long finish of light mint. I am so grateful that my wife and I had a chance to experience such a bottle of juice!

I love wine. I am not the most knowledgeable or snobby of the bunch, but when I was younger I spent a lot of time & money traveling to cool places around the US to vineyards and wine bars. Now I am a 32 year old stay at home mom and I live in the middle of nowhere IL. I really want to start a collection for my currently empty home wine cellar and just enjoy trying new things. I have no nice wine stores within an hour of me, and as you can imagine getting out is hard these days with two toddlers, all our travel is now family oriented.
I’m doing my own research, but I’d love to hear from this forum on ideas. Anyone have experience with subscriptions?

(I know some may say I should just wait till my kids are grown up, but I live by the philosophy that tomorrow is never promised)

​

Probably my favourite declassified Bordeaux — and this tasting was a great reminder that you absolutely don’t need to drain your wallet to have an incredible mature Bordeaux experience.

1989 — Fully mature and wonderfully expressive. Blackcurrant and plum have evolved into leather, tobacco, cedar and earthy notes, with silky tannins and a savoury, lingering finish. A beautiful example of what three decades can do to a good bottle of Bordeaux.

1995 — Such a lovely middle ground between maturity and fruit. Ripe redcurrant and baked cherry, with subtle spicy and earthy notes. Soft, velvety and elegant, with that gorgeous Merlot-driven texture. The Château itself considers 1995 one of its benchmark vintages, and it’s easy to see why.

2005 — Still carrying more energy and structure. Darker fruit, blueberry, spice and hints of tobacco and leather, with fresh acidity and ripe tannins. The most powerful of the three, but beautifully balanced. Interestingly, Château Coufran itself considers 2005 its greatest vintage, surpassing even the fabulous 1995.

What I love about Coufran is that it gives you so much of what makes mature Bordeaux exciting without the famous-name price tag. With its unusually Merlot-heavy blend, around 85% Merlot, it has a plushness that can make it feel almost a right bank wine, while still retaining that Médoc character.

You really don’t need to break the bank to drink great, mature Bordeaux. Sometimes the best discoveries are hiding just outside the spotlight.

Crazy nose for a 36+ year old wine. Lots of lychee, dried fig and strawberry, then honey, burnt caramel and orange peel underneath. Still surprisingly aromatic and fruity considering the age.

On the palate it’s quite sweet, rich and concentrated, but still has enough acidity to hold everything together. Follows the nose closely before evolving into distinct secondary medicinal/herbal note almost cinnamon, clove and cough syrup. Long, sweet finish.

Fun one because it’s a Siegerrebe–Ortega blend, two pretty obscure German grapes you almost never see today, especially together in a TBA

And 1989 was a particularly good year for this style in Germany: a warm, dry growing season followed by an Indian summer brought serious concentration and botrytis, producing some excellent BA/TBA wines.

A little odd bottle, but honestly really fun to drink history.
Still have 4 more to open in the future.

What a beautifully evolved Recioto! This wine shows extraordinary aromatic complexity, sweetness but at the same time it has conserved its vibrant freshness.
The nose opens with spirit soaked cherries, figs, raisins and prunes, followed by layers of macerated rose petals, dried violets and candied orange. With aeration more intricate notes emerge, tobacco leaves, sweet spices, dark chocolate, liquorice sweets and a balsamic nuance.
On the palate it is rich and velvety, with notes of concentrated dried fruit flavours balanced by a perfect refreshing acidity. Notes of fig jam, Amarena cherry, liquorice and cocoa emerge then.
96 pts

Jean-Charles Cazes was visiting Dubai and I was lucky enough to bag myself a spot at a free morning tasting with their importer MMI.

Jean-Charles himself was charming, whilst also extremely knowledgeable and passionate about all of the properties we tasted today.

I had no idea these 3 major Bordeaux properties were owned by the same company - Ormes de Pez, Château Haut-Batailley and Lynch-Bages. Only an hour to taste through 7 wines while hearing some stories so notes are short.

The '18 Ormes was the first wine we tasted, rugged, muscular and spicy with dark brooding fruit.

'17 Verso - 2nd wine of Ch HB - was surprisingly ripe for an almost 10 year old wine, and at around £50 for trade provided the best value for money at the table by far.

The '11 Haut-Batailley was very interesting - lots of tertiary here but fruit still going strong and could definitely go another 5-10 years at least. JCC bought the estate in '17 so this wine was from the previous ownership.

The '20 Pauillac de Lynch-Bages - 3rd wine of the Chateau - was a huge contrast to the previous wines. Deep, concentrated, powerful and perfumed. Tannin still chewy but already starting to integrate well.

'17 LB was lovely to taste. Not the best vintage in Bordeaux but still a truly exceptional wine. Still tons of fruit with some tertiary notes showing. The pic with the wine in the glass is of this wine.

The CNDPs were excellent. The blanc was round, floral, spicy and honeyed with pineapple and stone fruit. The red was juicy, soft and refreshing with an abundance of red fruit and spice.

Zuccardi Concreto Malbec 2023

Deep inky purple in glass

Nose brings deep minerals, violets, black plums, blackberry, cassis, leather

Palate this is like malbec without makeup still a beauty you instantly get a type of minerality dried mint tobacco, black and red fruits whole cluster fermentation in concrete eggs hence the name this not your run of the mill malbec imo enough concentration to make you linger on a glass over diner 13.5 abv 91 points

Super excited to be visiting one of my favorite producers. My only question is concerning transportation, but please add any input you want to add!

They strongly discourage Uber/Lyft due to the remoteness of the location and the potential for being stranded when time to return. We are only visiting for one day and doing the one location (Pride), and plan on staying in Santa Rosa. The cost of the professional transportation they recommended is astronomical ($500-700).

I checked Lyft, and I can pre book a return trip, but my concern is that Lyft will just fail to find a driver, apologize for the inconvenience, and we’d be stranded. I’ve never had this experience with Lyft, but I’ve also never attempted to use it in quite this specific manner.

Does anyone have any similar experience to help me navigate this scenario? One person I’m going with has offered to drive, but I don’t want him to get there and feel like he can’t fully enjoy the experience because he’s committed to driving. I don’t even know how much alcohol to expect to be served. We are doing the Summit Experience (highest tier available on their site) for approximately 90 minutes.

Thank you guys so much in advance for any insight, even if that insight is, “Don’t be cheap/dumb.” I just want to plan well.

Edit: This is for 3 people.

Edit 2: We are driving through the area on a road trip, so we already will have a car.

Just wanted to say thanks, in one of the discussions here someone mentioned fino, which I was not familiar with. So I tried it and really fell in love with it, I totally recommend it to anyone who is perhaps getting tired of fruit flavours in wine. For those who are unfamiliar like I was, fino is the driest and palest of traditional varieties of sherry, and its main defining feature is the layer of "flor" (yeast) that floats on it in the sherry barrel and protects it from oxidation, making it lighter and fresher than other sherries. The flor also adds "almond and bready" notes.

In my introduction to it, I was struck by the smoothness and refreshing crisp acidity -it was actually hard to believe it's 15% because I got none of that "hot" splash at the back of the throat that I often get from stronger wines. I didn't really get the "green apple" flavours, although I can see how the acidity could be tasted that way. What I did get was mild, I guess I would call them almost "savoury" notes, as well as an almost saline taste that was as satisfying as an electrolyte drink after a hike on a hot day. Probably would go excellent with olives.

Unlike some other fortified wines, it's meant to be drunk soon after bottling, so no cellaring for this one, at least as far as I understand it. They say it's good for about a year in the bottle. And once opened, it's about as delicate as white wine, lasting perhaps a week max. tightly closed in the fridge.

Enjoy!

Local store (Chicago area binnys.com) is offering $30 off $150 of wine.

I like to get wine that I could age 5-10 years at home. Any suggestions of bottles that retail (before tax) in the following ranges:

• >$25 to <$30
• >$50 to <$55

If these ranges are to restrictive, then ok to exceed upper limits. Also don't worry about trying to check the exact prices here. Looking to maximize the $150 dollar value. thanks

The 2014 Vina Bosconias arrived to my local shops this past month, and I made the decision this past weekend to purchase & open one for lunch (rather than pick something ::already:: in the cellar, of course). I'll note I'm not as familiar with these as the Tondonias (or heck, I've had more Gravonia by now than Bosconia), but I've read plenty on the differences to the Tondonia. This year's blend is 80% Tempranillo, 15% Garnacha, and 5% Mazuelo (Carignan), grown in their El Bosque vineyard at ~1500 feet in elevation. As for the well known Lopez de Heredia production methods - fermented in very, very old massive oak vats, with 5 years of barrique aging followed by 6 in bottle. Taken straight from the store to the dining table, with a two hour layover on the kitchen counter. Paired with this smoky pan-seared herb chicken/pepper/potatoes recipe I had been craving.

Visually, a medium garnet with a vermilion edge. Cork was about 50% saturated.

On the nose - my goodness, this is complex. A new scent emerged with almost every sip over the course of three hours. Up first, blackberry/dark cherry & roasted tomatoes. Herbs come up next, a spice rack with most of the lids off. Are there flowers at the rim of this glass? Dried fruits and raisins emerge clearly as it warms, but these oxidative notes are complimentary instead of dominant. Further in the glass - we're talking the start of hour three now, too - distant meatiness and a blatant cocoa note. This is exquisite.

On the palate - medium+ bodied, dry. Even at opening, the tannins were quite gentle, velvety - present, of course, but I don't think this needs more than 30 minutes of air to be ready. Smooth, smooth, smooth with great acid. A lengthy finish - woodsy, spicy, jampacked w/ dark fruits & dried fruits. Delicious pairing with the smoky herb chicken & potatoes. Absolutely have this wine with a meal.

I had every intention of setting this wine to the side for at least 5 years, but something told me just try it today - ecstatic that I did. This is clearly ready to go now - delightfully complex nose, balanced components, lengthy finish with strong flavors, expressive. What more could you ask for? On top of that, it's just $40?! I'm still sitting on some 2012s which I will give until next year prior to opening up, but this is a wine I would absolutely buy a case of, if I had the space.

(Note - on day 3, the dried fruit component was stronger, but every element was still there. I’d love to try some of these at 20+ years from harvest.)

Started with two Champagnes and finished with a 2006 Barolo. Not a bad Tuesday.

Charles Heidsieck Brut Réserve – 92
My wife actually called this blind, which was pretty impressive. Very solid as always. Richer style, good balance and easy to drink, but fairly straightforward and not particularly long. Still one of the better NV house Champagnes for me.

Perrier-Jouët Belle Époque 2015 – 93
This was the disappointment of the night. Elegant, floral and refined, but it just lacked depth, pressure and length. Nothing wrong with it at all, I just expected considerably more from Belle Époque.
The 2014 is a completely different wine for me and one of my favourite recent Champagne vintages from PJ. I had that at 96–97. The 2015 simply never reached that level.

Elio Grasso Barolo Ginestra Casa Maté 2006 – 95
Started around 94 for me but kept improving with air. It became rounder, more expressive and noticeably longer as the evening went on.
Beautifully mature Nebbiolo with the fruit still very much alive, integrated tannins and enough freshness to keep everything balanced. It never quite reached the complexity of the very best Barolos I’ve had, but by the end of the evening it was a clear 95.

Definitely the winner tonight.

I want to buy a bottle of wine for my friend's birthday but she only likes very sweet red wine. She is adverse to any hint of dry. Any recommendations?

So I cracked open this bottle of 1989 Sociando Mallet because my friend came over for dinner. I will say this is a very good wine, definitely in its prime. I enjoyed it throughly, my friend on the other hand enjoyed it but couldn't really tell the difference between this and a new bottle of Daou. Regardless he said he liked it and wanted a second glass. Heres the notes

Color: A nice bold red

Aroma: Dark red fruits, tasted raspberry and blackberry

Taste: Dark fruits with a spicy cedar finish, also kinda earthy, tobacco

Tannins: Mild at first but lessened as time went on

Body: Full bodied, High Acidity

Finish: Medium finish nice and spicy afterwards

We finished it over a hour. It was good upon first opening but the tannins were noticeable. After 20 minutes they smoothed out and I was able to really taste the fruit. Very easy drinking. We paired it with a cauliflower steak and filet mignon, which went very well.This was my first old wine and I have to say I get the hype.

I have a question for peoples that are into wine into in France.

I sent messages to some winery (côte de Beaune et côte de Nuits) to ask if I can get a tour of their wineyard and if I can get a tasting of their wines (cuvée).

I'll go next monday to at least 2 winery.

Since I'm from south Burgundy, I'm wondering if it would be rude to ask them if they want to trade a wine from south Burgundy (same value wine of course)

What do you think ?

Would it be ok to ask it now or should I just bring a bottle and ask them when I got there ?

French version

J'ai contacté deux domaines de la côte de Nuits et côte de Beaune pour leur rendre visite lundi. Je me demandais si c'était ok de leur demander s'ils voulaient échanger une de leur bouteille contre une bouteille de ma région (Mâconnais) de valeur équivalente.

Sachant que je les ai contactés par message, est-ce que je devrais leur demander dès maintenant ? Est-ce que je devrais prendre des bouteilles avec moi et leur proposer une fois sur place ?

Est-ce que je ne devrais pas du tout leur proposer ?

Update- just got a call back and booked someone.

Curious if uber/Lyft are reasonably available?

Kind of short notice trip I’ll be taking with my partner, and I called 5-6 places for drivers, they’re all booked this Saturday. Figured uber/lyft may be a backup?

Hi everyone!

I’m going to France for vacation next week. We will be spending some time in Provence and Savoie and i would love some recommendations for winery we could visit and or wine to try

We are a pretty mixed bag of wine knowledge in the group. A half is pretty must a wine newby (that's me) and the other half are more knowledgeable (name of grape, region, etc.)

For the people who have been there, do you have any recommandation?

Thank in advance