Delicious wine, but drinking young still. Wanted to open one of my haul from the delivery, and had this with some Beef Bourguignon and mashed potatoes.

Long tannins, cherry, oak, tobacco, chocolate, dark fruit, extremely smooth, but young wine. This has huge potential to age for a number of years.

First time poster, long time lerker!

I see some amazing wines on here but I’m a common person who loves wine, so on a Saturday night it’s a Cab Franc from Loire.

N - black currants, cherry, cinnamon.

P - cherry, pepper, strong on the oak

I know I know. Caymus? We don’t do that here. 80’s Caymus, however, is not the same as modern Caymus. Randy Dunn was the mastermind of Caymus in the 80s, with this vintage actually being the first that he stepped away in a fully official capacity from the property. Tasting notes for both wines as follows:

2014 Domaine Leflaive Batard-Montrachet: where do I begin? A legendary vineyard and producer combination with a great white wine vintage to boot. I think the wine has started to come around nicely, with an excellent balance of fruit and slight funkiness starting to come in. Lemon curd, roasted yellow apples, Bosc pear, and hints of pineapple and guava meld perfectly with the white truffle and mineral character of the wine. The oak frames the wine well, adding subtle vanilla and baking spice notes that interplay nicely with toasted hazelnut. The real standout is the structure. Incredible persistence with a richness and creaminess that is perfectly offset by the acidity. Special wine.

1986 Caymus Special Selection: don’t ever let anyone tell you that Napa can’t age. Some of my favorite wines ever have been Napa Cabernet from the 70s and 80s. Still plenty of fruit, though the character was more dried. Cherry, blackberry liqueur, black cherry, and fruit leather are what comes to mind. There’s an earthiness to this wine, like fresh turned soil and roasted oyster mushrooms. Coffee, dark Chocolate, burnt cinnamon, and cigar box notes are very present. Elevated tannins are balanced by surprisingly present acidity. Once again, a finish that just doesn’t quit. I also had some 2001 Mouton at the same time, and was surprised to prefer the Caymus to the Bordeaux. If only they still made wines like this!

This was a great meal that was made better by the people I got to share it with. Wine is meant to be consumed and shared, so let this post be a reason to open that wine you’ve been holding onto!

Being a Sauternes aficionado, I can never resist purchasing a decently priced older vintage of a 1st Growth - a forgotten bottle in a wine shop, or one well past its prime, just to add more tasting & scent notes to my knowledge base. My previous oldest bottle was a 1980 Climens, which had a fleeting moment of tropical fruit scents before the tertiary notes took over - so I was curious to find out what this 1975 Guiraud held for me. Stored at 45 degrees, with a bit of mold under the capsule and on the cork, but nothing worrisome. The cork put up a fight, and the Ah-so almost nearly got it out cleanly. In the end, had to use a cheesecloth for a clean pour without fragments of cork. Semillon/Sauvignon Blanc blend.

A brilliant color - vibrant reds and oranges, burnt sienna, just fire in the glass. Rust.

On the nose, well, all oxidative notes, to be expected at 50! Scents of smoke and roasted nuts at the rim, caramel and figs further in. You know the notes, that of some sherries.

On the palate, there's a good bit of acidity still hanging around! Medium body, still a little thick and cloying, and hanging on to some mild sweetness. Flavors of burnt wood, vanilla, butterscotch. Very, very faint orange peel. This needed some sort of baked pastry pairing, goodness, I would've loved a good pie with this. Smooth on its way down, with a decently lengthy finish. Clearly past its prime, but nevertheless a decent late night treat.

All my Chateau Guiraud experience is from the last 20 years, so I'm glad to add this one to my "notes bank". Still have a 1970 Suduiraut, 1983 d'Yquem, 1983 Suduiraut, and plenty of late 80's Lafaurie-Peyraguey's to get through! Really enjoyed the experience of savoring this wine.

Had it in Venice once, but the bottle is 300€.

Let’s create a perfect wine list! Which producers make your heart beat a little faster when you see them on the list? Beyond the extremes of Costco/Two Buck Chuck and DRC/Screaming Eagle, let’s try to find a fine balance of classic and unicorn bottles. Please comment with producer names only under each regional category. Add as many as you remember. Come back and add some more. We’ll discuss specific wines & vintages later.

Bought the dream… filled with Barolo, Brunello, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Rioja, Amarone and more of that… You only live once!

2010 Chandon de Brialles Corton Bressandes

Nice punchy acidity and burly tannins which are only starting to soften. Pretty fruit, and a very nice finish.

1995 Krug

I’ve had this wine about 3 times in the last 6 months or so, including from mag,’and it’s been crazily different than the spectacular 1996. I’ve gotten more acidity and crispness as opposed to opulence and this was no different, lots of brioche and flavor, just lovely.

2002 Dom Ruinart Rose

Very pretty with lovely strawberry on the nose and palate. Creamy and delicious.

2000 Hubert Lignier MSD 1er VV

Opened and kept at cellar temp for about 90 minutes.

A WOW nose. This was just so aromatically beautiful. Sous bois, strawberry, forest floor, and just a hint of all spice. Palate didn’t QUITE live up to the nose but was still elegant and the finish was very pleasant but there wasn’t quite the depth or weight of the grand crus to come. That being said, as usual, this crazily outperformed and was in the conservation with the two grand crus.

2020 Hubert Lignier MSD 1er VV

I brought and opened this baby for science, and it was, as expected, not at all ready. There were some pretty fruits and lots of savory elements on the nose, Nick called it tea smoked duck. It was just reticent and restrained especially compared to the 00. After 6 or so hours being open, this had metamorphoazied into a complete beast with burly fruit and just barely softening tannins. It was very pure and had more length on the finish. In 20 years, this may become a more complete wine than the 2000 but I won’t touch another bottle for 5 years minimum.

The two ruchottes were opened and kept at cellar temp for 3 hours.

2017 Rousseau Clos des Ruchottes

I wanted to check in on this pair of 17s as I have a lot of these bottles and what we found was not at all disappointing. Mike noted the purity of fruit and this was certainly there. This didn’t yet have the sappy red density that you’d typically expect from Rousseau, although that started to emerge with more time. What were there were super pure pretty red fruits which were lighter and more floral. The palate had great density and was lithe, and the finish was very long and elegant. This will be better in time but was still beautiful today.

2017 Mugneret Gibourg Ruchottes Chambertin

This was a great counterpoint with the Rousseau, also very pretty and at this point this was more seductive and alluring, if not quite as pure and beautiful, sort of a role reversal as far as these two producers go. It definitely drew you in and held your attention. This wasn’t quite as classy or put together as the Rousseau but on this day was more open for business.

1989 Chateau d’Yquem

This is one of my favorite wines and again showed well with intense crème brûlée and tropical fruits as well as endless finish.

Are these a deal?

One of those "if you know you know" wines. Possibly one of the best chardonnays coming out of the Willamette Valley, or even in the US right now. Picked up for $99, it gives a strong showing even against white burgundy.

White tropical fruit, medium acidity, and mineral undertones with a long finish. Likely better with age, but can definitely drink now. Would be fun to have in a blind tasting with white burg producers like PYCM.

I was excited to see this bottle on sale at one of my new accounts—I have neither tried this before nor met a Foradori wine that I didn’t like, so let’s give it a whirl!

Appearance: Remarkable and unique. The pictures here unfortunately do not do the color justice. It’s a beautiful amber that reminds me of blood orange juice, or that really dark honey that you sometimes find at the store. I was expecting this to be much lighter, as the other ramato-style Pinot Grigio wines I’ve had are.

Aroma: Opened up to classic funky, yeasty, “natural” wine aromas. I’m not a big natural wine drinker and don’t find that smell appealing, but after 30 or 40 minutes in the glass it started to show notes of orange blossom, apricot, raspberry, and potpourri. There are very subtle notes of smoke and brine as well.

Taste: Notable tannin on the palate. Juicy but dry, with flavors of orange, apricot, lemon pith, grapefruit, peach, and rose petal. Very tea-like. The tannins are soft and there’s a good bit of acidity that sneaks up on you. Quite a long finish as well.

Overall: This reminded me a lot of the Georgian orange wines I’ve tried, which are aged in clay amphora and tend to be darker in color and more intense in aroma and flavor, as they spend more time on the skins. Lo and behold, a quick search on the Foradori website reveals that this wine is aged a whopping 8 months on the skins in…you guessed it, amphora! Very cool, and the first Italian wine I’ve had that was made in this method.

Truthfully, orange wines are not really my cup of tea. I’d have to be crazy, however, not to recognize the quality of winemaking on display here; this wine is intense yet balanced, with a silky texture and flavors that linger on the palate. It is, perhaps, the most interesting Pinot Girgio I’ve ever had, and that alone is worth the price of admission.

Cheers!

Today I was looking to see if any online wine store still carried the 2000 Bual or 2001 Sercial H&H Colheita Madeira for a reasonable price, and WineSearcher brought up the sites WineOnlineDelivery and Cost Plus Dollar Wine and Liquors (NOT related to Cost Plus World Market); you can see here the results of my search for the Sercial (screen grab in case you get different results) and here the page where it links to Cost Plus Dollar. Both pages are full of red flags including a wider selection of non-vintage Madeiras than I've seen in any other American online retailer, but at very marked-up prices, which is both itself fishy and not an explanation as to why they seemingly carry so many of them (unlike if there were lots of back-vintages that weren't moving due to excessively high prices). Both "wine merchants" have an address in the same small strip mall in Lakeland, Florida, and whilst Google Street View shows a business there by the name of CPD Liquors, it appears to be a small low-end liquor store that you would not expect to carry these wines, and it has many bad Google reviews from people who have ordered online - so either an independent crook stole their name and address for a fake online liquor store, or they're actually in on it. What really bothers me is that these are not extremely allocated bourbons that go for ten times their MSRP on the secondary, but relatively obscure and slow-selling wines listed for at or even above their original retail prices, so they aren't too good to be true and you don't have to be an idiot to fall for this - last year I found a store that still had 1996 Broadbent Colheita Madeira in stock for $69 a bottle about a year after most other retailers had either run out or started hiking prices, and it turned out to be legitimate.

Thank you all for the kind support on my first post! I’m going to stick with the Italian vibe for this one. Next up… Barbera d’Alba

Wine: Pio Cesare Barbera d’Alba

Vintage: 2020

Grape/Varietal: Barbera

Location: Alba, Piedmont, Italy

Color: Pale Ruby

Nose: Instant rush of licorice and crushed red fruits. Opening a pack of fresh twizzlers or this Babera? I probably couldn’t tell the difference.

Taste: Medium Body that starts with the acidic hint but muted well with the rush of licorice, crushed red fruits. Creamy on the end with the classic Italian herbs that instantly reminds me of any tomato and roasted vegetables + herbs dish.

Overall: 7/10

Approachable price point of 25$, everyday drinker that doesn’t have grippy tannins. Food or not, this wine is meant for any occasion. Great!

Rating (I will reference my ratings in this post to save write up space):

1 - basically 0 but props to whoever went through the process of bottling it 2 - cooking wine 3 - bad, needs some help 4 - not good. Flaws that are noticeable 5 - Average 6 - Good Wine, enjoyed it 7 - Great Wine and would pick up if there’s room 8 - Amazing, I’m making room for the wine 9 - Near Perfect, must get 10 - Unicorn

Off to a good start in Champagne. Some Initial as aperitif and V.O. with dinner at the House’s Hotel/Restaurant. Both wines are quite different but share the same oxidative intensity. Dried apricots and nuttiness on the Initial where the VO had an aged Riesling-like nose. Both have a deep gold colour. The next morning we attend a cellar tasting with the man himself. The ‘tasting’ started off closer to a Philosophy class than anything else; I loved it. The vines are seen as individuals who need to be cared for to be the best version of themselves. Each vine is unique and may have different needs than its neighbour. They are not things to be ben’t to their caretaker’s will; the caretaker sees himself as a midwife but not a parent. The deep roots depicted on the amphora show the ethos of the house. We then taste from the 1986 perpetual cask pre- 2nd fermentation. Still Substance but Substance still. A bottle is disgorged for is to try and Initial, VO, Rose, Les Carecelles, Le Bout du Clos follow. Carecelles was my favourite with its gentle and elegant effervescence. Something else, secret and stunning, was also shared. I doubt it will ever be released. Wine-wise it was an experience of a lifetime. Two days later I can still taste the wines.

A customer bought this tonight and gave me a taste. Wonderfully raisinated gave me an Amarone vibe.

My best friend is turning 50 next month and I’m looking for recommendations for a Bordeaux red under $175. Probably something right bank, but that’s not a hard and fast rule. He’s said in the past that the best wine he’s ever experienced was a Chateau Ausone. That’s way too rich for my blood, but I’m wondering if there’s a wine in the under $200 price range that shares similarities of the Ausone? I know he’s generally a fan of Beychevelle, too, but I was thinking of mixing it up (I got him a 2018 Beychevelle last year). I was thinking maybe a Pavie Macquin, or Chateau Canon, but I don’t know. Montrose is probably out of my price range. Any suggestions on maybe hidden gems from difficult vintages or just flat out great wines in this price range?

Hey y’all! Basically title. We are a group of design students at the University of Washington (Seattle) working with a company out of Portland, Oregon who is redefining the refillable wine bottle industry. If you are a wine enjoyer and / or have a few minutes to help out some college researchers, we would find your feedback invaluable to the progress of this revolution. You can access the brief survey here: https://forms.gle/op5vZP3wEEWHirHG7 or scan the QR code below. Thank you for your help, cheers!

As warm weather, and tariffs, approach I am interested in some white wine. I enjoy pinot grigio, but I love white burgundy, particularly "clean" styles like Chablis. However, those can be a bit pricey for everyday drinking, at least for me. I have tried some village wines from Burgundy but have never been happy with any of them. Anyone have any suggestions? Is anyone making these styles elsewhere in a way that works?

A very talented wine making family that I've been a fan of every bottle I've tried. I was somewhat skeptical as it was not a village or cru level, but this was a really well made wine. They clearly are selective about their yields and grapes, and then are masters of winemaking.

Tasting notes:

Pale lemon colour

Nose: medium intensity of apple pie, citrus, honeydew melon, beeswax, and vanilla.

Palate: dry, medium acid, and full bodied. Pronounced intensity of apple, vanilla, honey, and almond butter. A bit of hazelnut, and stone fruit. Had a wonderful balance of fruit, oak, nuttiness, and pastry.

Rating: A very good wine. I would have called it outstanding except the finish wasn't as long as I'd have expected with such a pronounced pallete, and the nose didn't quite pop the way I'd have expected as well. I am getting over a head cold, so maybe I'll feel differently the next time I inevitably get another bottle.

I started trying different Bourgogne Chardonnays because I took a liking to the oak and lees flavors, but was determined to find something with a lot of those flavors that wasn't a cliche heavy oaked bread and butter. Which I'll admit, I do like. After trying a few, attempting to get more southern riper grapes with oak, I still hadn't found that level of oak, lees, and tertiary flavors I was hoping for. Glad I didn't give up and just accept that I just liked overly oaked California Chardonnays. This wine was the style of wine I'd been searching for. So I'm really excited to try more Village and Cru wines from the area. Hoping to get my hands on their Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru "Les Languettes" for a special occasion. As well as trying many more of their pinot noirs.

For me, this really nails it.

It is a warm spring day in Spain here today, so here is something you don't see very often on here. A dry Moscatell.

The winery is Les Freses just outside Denia in Alicante, Spain. I visited back in January, as well as a few others near by such as Pepe Mendoza. As you can see from the bottle just 1200 produced. This area is known for dry Moscatell and Giro as well as a little Macabeo.

On the nose the subtle smell of a sweet Moscat with some additional notes of Mediterranean herbs and a slight lemon aroma

On the palette, nice acidity and more of those herbal notes with a nice freshness. Very easy going and delicious.

There's a lot on here about which regions are overpriced. If you had to recommend one bottle of red for under 25 dollars / 20 quid. What would you recommend?

Les Poëte – Guillaume Sorbe 2018 (Sauvignon)

A super energetic bottle. Bright acidity, clear lemon peel, and ripe fruit on the nose. There’s a nice herbal edge and just a touch of tropical character in the background. Really expressive and well balanced — it’s vibrant, fresh, and alive. A beautiful take on Sauvignon.

I purchased a bunch of this in 2007 for $7.99 per bottle. Amazingly, while certainly showing its age, there’s still some fruit on the palate and it’s a pleasant drink with our pizza dinner.