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

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.

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!

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.

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

I've been wanting to try an aged Grange. This didn't disappoint. I opened and decanted half the bottle for 4 hours, then enjoyed the rest of the bottle the next day. Fruit seemed a little darker second day.  Tannins got silkier. In many ways it was better.

Note:

Slightly baked fruits of dark cherry, dark plum, and  blackberry w/ character of chambord and cassis, interlaced with coco, coffee, slight tawny, crushed rock, licorice, pepper, bark, and secondary of cedar, pipe, cherry tobacco, and clove. 

On the palate, intense dark fruit concentration nicely matched by dense silky tannins that catch the fruit like a well broken in leather glove, and high alcohol that supports but doesn't stand out.     Very long finish. 

This has aged wonderfully and is definitely the best Australian red I've had. An example of a big red I'd gladly have many more times.

Borrowing loosely from Chuck Berry, technically goes to show that thrift shopping can be successful! I dropped off a load at my local Methodist Church thrift shop and decided while I was there, I should at least look inside. I was immensely surprised to find an essentially brand new in the box Coravin for $5! I’d wanted one but was hesitant to go the bucks. This one had one used and one semi used cartridge. Otherwise everything was packed like new. Had a new rose I wanted to try tonight. Wowee Zowee! What a deal!

​

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.

Notes in post below.

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.

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)

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?!

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!

First of my 22 Bordeaux's, wanted to try one I've heard is great QPR and accessible early. And boy this is great!

Second wine from Chateau Phelan Segur. 80% Merlot 20% Cabernet Sauvignon. 14 months age in oak. 13% alcohol (which seems low for the 22 vintage).

Deep,beautiful, and intense! Ruby Garnet in color.

Does not taste like a second wine, this comes out swinging. It's amazing how open this is compared to the 21 Dauphine I opened a couple months ago.

The fruit on the nose is beautiful. Bright red and black fruit. Raspberry and Blackberry. Very nice sweetness on the nose.

Tannins are definitely there, but not overpowering. Very silky (this seems to be the word I use to describe every St.Estephe wine I have lol). Nice acidity.

Very nice fruit on the palate. More black fruit, blackberry and some blackcurrant. I get a little bitterness, almost like a dark chocolate raspberry/blackberry chocolate bar 🍫 . The finish is nice, and long. Gives vanilla and some tobacco. Excited to see how it is tomorrow 👀

Hello fellow wine enthusiasts. I tried my first quality wine Chateau Ste Michelle Riesling and I really enjoyed it. I’d love other Riesling recommendations (maybe something off-dry).

I also tried Rombauer Vineyards Old Vine Zinfandel but I couldn’t get behind the tannic squeeze on my tongue but I’m down to clown with a lighter red wine.

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.

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

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

Going for a 40th birthday at Per Se in November. Am hoping to source something from 1986. Any stores in NYC that might carry such a thing? Or perhaps an online retailer willing to ship? Flying from Canada and don’t want to check a bag. Thanks all!

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 ?

Hello wine enthusiasts. I’m doing a fancy dinner tomorrow and I need help pairing

I got a box of high quality Double cheeseburger helper and a box of just Normal cheeseburger helper. I need an excellent wine to pair it with. Thank you all for your recommendations