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I visited Bordeaux in late spring 2011, and thanks to the immense generosity of Maison Sichel, I was able to spend 30 minutes or so at Margaux with Paul Pontallier, during what I’m sure was a typically busy day for him. We tried the 2007 Margaux, and quickly hit on a variety of topics. I mentioned t...

I opened two bottles of the 98 late last year and it was amazing. Decanted maybe 1.5-2 hours before serving. The wine was in a great place and I wouldn’t hesitate to open it now. Will surely last at least another 20 years under proper storage. It has not fully integrated the oak, but the oak is not ...

That looks phenomenal. Did you weld that? Or are those shelves held by pins or screws?

I am looking for advice on metal racking for long-term storage of OWC's. I am setting up a conditioned space in my basement for case storage, with a separate room for double-deep bottle racking. The case storage area will be for OWC's and cardboard boxes, mostly wine that needs a lot of time, e.g. r...

Rare Wine Co expecting it late fall/early winter. Would assume the same for east coast importers.

At their best, these are some of the greatest wines ever made in the U.S. The people who bought them on release must feel the same, because there is limited trade in them on the auction market or after-market retail. Probably the one CA producer I wished I had in my cellar, but don’t.

The issue with Lafleur is not quality. I have zero doubt quality is off the charts. The issue is time. More than almost any other Bordeaux wine, Lafleur demands time. There is no other right bank wine, IMO, including Petrus and Cheval Blanc, that is so much in need of time to show what it has. A rea...

Discovery wines, which is a solid retailer in NYC, has the 2017 available for $100. Based on my experiences with prior vintages, the wine fully justifies the price tag, as it is equivalent in quality to a good premier cru burg. I purchased the 2015 Athanor for around $90 or $95. The days of sourcing...

The Defaix is so good right now. I would decant to get full impact. It is made in a traditional style and will age another 20 years under optimal storage. But don’t see any particular upside from here.

In the last five years, the best American Chardonnay I’ve had was a bottle of Ceritas “Porter Bass.” Second best, Radio Coteau “Wingtine.” Third best, 2008 Marcassin.

These are very good wines. Meadows is much closer to the mark than Coates. They are made in a ripe but light style, if that makes sense. They have fine and plush tannins, with a lot of upfront fruit. They have a strawberries with cream vibe. I would not compare them to Bertheau. They remind me more ...

Couple candidates to add to Ryan’s list: 1999 Dunn Howell Mountain 2006 Dujac grand crus 2013 VCC (hard to find, as production was cut by 75 percent, but it is amazingly good for the vintage) 2011 Lafleur 2002 Latour 2004 Angelus 1981 Pichon Lalande 2013 FX Pichler (this vintage gets a variety of ra...

Thank you. Very helpful. Especially with the inclusion of the technical data. I wonder how the volatile acidity compares to prior vintages? Also the reference to “clean cooperage” suggests less brett, albeit that is not a complete solution to excess brett.

Question for those following the Cerbaiona situation more closely than I am. I have gotten an offer for a recent release of the 2015 Rosso for $60/bottle, at normal mark-up. This appears to be a recent bottling, not to be confused with the January and June 2018 bottlings that were released as NV VDT...

Leflaive is back in a big way. Their recent releases are phenomenal, and while time will tell, I have much greater confidence that they will age appropriately. The prices are rich, but finally the wines are at least arguably worth the premium. Among their 1er crus, the Pucelles and Combettes in both...

Not sure exactly why, as I didn’t follow the vintage conditions closely, but Radio Coteau made particularly good wines in 2013. The syrahs and the Lemorel zin are outstanding. I think the 2013 zin may be the best Eric has ever made.

Thank you for checking back in on this thread William. I believe I pulled your score from a retailer site, so it must have been a goof on their end. Glad to hear all is well with the 2017 Corton Charlemagne. It has been one of the highlights of the range for awhile now.

Someone needs to buy HDH out of the 2013 Sorrel Le Greal at $106 per bottle. A great price on a great wine. Currently shows 16 bottles in inventory.

Probably a sign of the almost total collapse of TWA that this news has been out for a couple days but hasn’t generated a thread yet. Broadly, would think it’s a good thing for ownership of TWA to change, in light of the current ownership’s failure to really do anything with the platform and maintain...

The 2015 Brovia base Barolo is available at the The Wine Cellarage for $37/bottle, with the possibility of additional discounts. That is a lot of wine for the money. Currently 104 bottles in stock.

FWIW, I opened the 2017 PYCM Saint Aubin 1er “Hommage a Marguerite” last night. This is a smoking good wine, highly reminiscent of the 2014 En Remilly CNM, but not quite as reductive as that wine. Same cut, structure, and lemony goodness. So that would suggest the 2017 Nicholas et Mathis is well wor...

I will dissent and say I love the Code 38. The most important question is, will you lose it? If you think you can hang onto it, it is money reasonably well spent. It is by a wide margin the best screw pull in the market. And yes, I own and use a Durand as well. But a Durand takes longer to use and i...

Thanks for these notes. The VVF is a fascinating champagne and can occasionally be spectacular (the 1996 being the example that comes to mind). The problem is that it does not even come close to warranting it’s price, IMO. I’m sure Bollinger has little difficulty selling it, but it is odd to me that...

The 2010 Chidaine Clos Baudoin performed better than Roger Federer tonight. Admittedly not a high bar. Let’s hope Roger shakes off the rust in his next match. As for the Baudoin, no sign of oxidation, quite fresh actually. Low to medium acidity, some noticeable but not intrusive residual sugar, sort...

Interesting notes. I don’t have a lot of experience with Chidaine, but I did stop at their wine tasting counter/retail outlet in either Montlouis or Vouvray many years ago when I was visiting Jacky Blot. I remember thinking the wines were a little “fat” and not likely to age particularly well. I hav...

I have a question for William Kelley and others who have tracked the PYCM wines for several vintages, particularly the Corton Charlemagne. This was an amazing wine five years ago, particularly when you could get it for $80-90 per bottle. Those days are gone. My question is whether quality has slippe...

I agree with Kevin that the waxed Dauvissat bottles with the green French tax stamp glued to the top seem to show fresher. Don’t know why. Maybe it’s just some sort of perception or placebo effect. What I find crazy about Dauvissat is that, as John says, in the last 15 years or so there are some bad...

What's the context of the purchase - is it for immediate consumption? There's a few defining features of each wine. Dom's production is gargantuan. Far outweighs the other two combined. It is typically around a 50/50 blend with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir but it's never formally disclosed. It is majo...

Thanks for the quick response. I did not realize Wine Searcher segregated the “Comtesse de Cherisey” label from the “Martelet de Cherisey” label.

Perhaps underrated in the US because unavailable? Do they have a US importer? I see a single retail listing for any of the wines in the US, for the 2016 vintage.

Pammy’s is excellent. And they have a fun wine program. Book well in advance, as they tend to fill up.

One other wine to throw in the mix. For the first time in 2017, Henri Gouges is releasing an old vines version of Clos des Porrets labeled “Hors d’Age”. Should retail around $135. No tasting notes yet, but I bet it would give the Lignier some real competition. http://winehog.org/visit-domaine-gouges...

I agree that the Lafon Santenots is “blocky.” It is a very rich wine, and so it is often a crowd pleaser, but it often presents as muddy and lacking detail. The 2010 version is an exception, and is probably the best version of that wine I’ve tried (the 2002 and 1999 are also top notch). It might hol...

Just saw an offer come through from Wally’s for this wine at $200/bottle. Looked on Wine Searcher and Wally’s is the lowest retail price in the country. But you can buy it direct from Penfolds USA for $150/bottle. This has probably been discussed before, but how can Penfolds push their wine into the...

My suggestion would be to cook the patties sous vide, and then do a quick hard sear over a burner. More work, but it would limit shrinkage. Alternately, you could start them in the oven on convection at 250 degrees, and then finish with a hard sear, but that will only make a small difference.

I’ve tasted with Kevin dozens of times and never found him to be a sucker for high alcohol wines, or wines that display high concentration. What I have found him to be is open-minded about a range of styles. He calls them like he sees them. A couple of years ago we tasted a bottle of 2003 Pavie blin...

From the tenor of the discussion it doesn’t sound like too many minds are open to change, but let me offer some personal perspective on DDC. I’ll say right off the bat that I think the wines are both good currently, and better than they’ve ever been in the past, at least when you take a multi-vintag...

The details certainly matter here. I agree that a state can likely ban shipment by mail of alcoholic beverages without running afoul of this ruling. States can also impose a licensing fee to in-state or out-of-state retailers, so long as there is approximate parity in the licensing regime. However, ...

The “highly attenuated” language from Alito is very helpful. He is saying that there must be real substance to the purported health and safety interest. It can’t be manufactured to conceal an otherwise protectionist intent.

I am no lawyer, nor smart, but I read this as curbing state powers not only in discriminating against non state players, but also for consumers to be able to ship into the state. Is this a narrow decision or a wide one? In the context of the current Court, which tends to be very narrow gauge in its...

My very quick and superficial take is that the fight over interstate shipment is going to be about whether there is a legitimate health and safety interest in states prohibiting importation of alcohol from out of state retailers. The good news for consumers is that the Tennessee wholesalers and reta...

A big win. Justice Alito uses fairly expansive language in the opinion, and it will provide substantial ammunition to attack interstate shipment restrictions imposed by the states. The big distributors and wholesalers will spend millions defending shipment restrictions, and the fight will not be eas...

Justice Kennedy is a member of the DC chapter of the Tastevin, and hosted Tastevin events at the Court from time to time. Justice O’Connor is also a member.

The main reason I suspect Justice Alito will side with consumers in this case is that, of all the conservatives on the Court, he is the least concerned with protecting state sovereignty. At heart he is a federalist who is comfortable with federal legal supremacy. He sides with the federal government...

ScotusBlog was engaging in reasoned speculation this morning that the opinion will be written by Justice Alito, because he is the sole justice not to have authored any opinions from the January term, and this is the last January case outstanding on the docket. My hunch is that an Alito-authored opin...

“Yes, except priority limit was $2,775 at the time of the bankruptcy filing (and when claims were filed). The trustee has also filed a final report and some other documents, but need a PACER account to access them. -Al” This now makes sense. I was wondering how 2,150 claims could be valued at only $...

Acker also soft today. The German collection went high, as expected due to rarity and provenance. But everything else was notably soft. Not a firesale, but soft. Not sure what to make of it. Need more data points before calling a trend.

1999 Dujac Combottes is a killer wine. I think the best version of that wine I’ve ever tasted.

One other thing I found interesting. The Kasolas declaration defines "Customer Claims" to exclude (1) claims by businesses for undelivered wine, and (2) claims by individuals for undelivered wine intended for non-personal use. Perhaps this is covered earlier in this (very long) thread, but does this...

So I'm just reading through today's filings in the bankruptcy proceeding, dealing with the priority status of customer claims. The declaration of the trustee states that the total value of the approximately 2,150 customer claims is approximately $3.9 million. It further states that the trustee antic...

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