Opened this thinking it might be more of a summer wine, turned out to be perfect for a cool late spring evening. Can’t compare it to other Picpouls, but as a stand-alone wine this is terrific. Nice melon flavors, has density but light on its feet. Another winner from @Adam_Frisch
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Do yourself a favor and get ahold of one of Hardy Wallace’s wines (dirty & rowdy or extradimensional wine co yeah!). Hardy is the biggest evangelist for the grape in CA and you can listen to him talk about Mourvedre vineyard expression on his episode of the I’ll drink to that
For reference, a few reviews to whet your appetite:
Also check out excellent wines from Desire lines, Sandlands (Mataro), Halcon, and ridge (mataro)!
From Bandol, you can’t go wrong with Tempier, Pradeaux and Pibarnon
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Nice list! Thanks, will start exploring!
A delicious silky perfumed charming middleweight, easy to enjoy now in a vibrant youthful way. Showing the lighter style of the vintage to very good effect. Crunchy red fruits with lots of Pomerol rust and earthy notes and a bit of something exotic and spicy. Needed a 2 hour decant to unfurl and show itself, was a tiny bit grumpy when first opened. Happy to check in it, but I will hold the other bottles another 5 years to get a more mature flavour profile out of it.
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Had a marvelous dinner with great friends. Steak au poivre with potatoes hasselback, baguette and herbed salads with handmade apple gallette for dessert. wines to pair were:
2008 Feuillate Palmes d’Or champagne - incredibly yeasty nose, with a touch of lemon zest. Taste of brioche, yeast, baked bread. fantastic and right up my alley for champagne
2021 Kobayashi Viognier - nose: intensely perfumed, with lime zest, lemon curd, grapefruit. taste of lemon oil, tropical fruit (but subdued) and baguette. my WOTN, universally adored in our group.
1966 Chateau Lafite: nose: mushroom, sous bois, leather, sage. taste cherry, sage, rosemary, plum skin, raspberry. variation by bottle. second bottle more fruit. totally resolved tannins with acid taking its place. A very interesting and thought provoking foray into older wines. Like tasting history. Definitely makes me want to try some of the older unicorn wines.
2015 Grange de Peres - nose black cherry, rosemary, medium body, soft chewy tannin, black cherry, flintstones vitamins? Delicious. My overall #2.
2014 Andrew Will Sorella - didn’t try till the dregs. dark cherry, medium tannin, medium body. Wish I could’ve had more as this wine is usually a knockout.
2007 Vieux Telegraph La Crau - nose: dark fruits, some leather. Taste of red fruits. Medium tannin, well resolved with some chew. For many, this was their WOTN.
2014 Quilceda Creek Palengat - note of light vanilla, stewed fruits. Huge wine. Red and black fruits, with a pronounced blueberry note. sage and rich herbs round out the full bodied glass. very very nice. One person’s WOTN, but definitely an outlier for the evening.
2005 Chateau Guiraud -relatively hot nose, could sense the alcohol, but honeysuckle predominant. taste ranged from cashew to honey. sweet but not cloying. Very nice conclusion to the evening.
2019 Chateau Laville - very sweet. bright floral nose. honey flavor predominant with medium viscosity. Could really benefit from a few years to bring some complexity to the profile.
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Disclaimer: we sell this wine.
Michel Rutat Lignum
2019 vintage. 100% Chardonnay from Vertus. No dosage. 2 years on lees. Disgorged 29/11/2022. Sees some oak.
Nose true to the terroir: initially citrus and chalk but with time some slight smokey, roasted and nutty aromas also appear. Very nice palate with plenty of mineral freshness from front to finish but also nice concentration on the mid-palate. Good finish on chalk and enjoyable bitterness. Good wine.
Joseph Colin Chassagne-Montrachet Vieilles Vignes 2020
This got opened a couple of nights ago thinking this was a white (gosh darn it was in the white section of the cellar!). I had a taste then and wasn’t wowed at all. We revisited it last night and although it had fleshed out a little this was still not in my wheelhouse. Cranberry, griottes, slight earth and hints of dried herbs. Palate is pretty linear, plenty of acidity and the same tart red berries. Somewhat short finish. Rather simple Pinot Noir and easy to find something similar at a much cheaper price point.
Carlo Revello & Figli Barolo Boiolo 2018
Dark berries, rosebuds, damp earth and slight licorice. Nice palate with mostly integrated dusty tannins, enough acidity to keep up with the ripe dark berries and a decent finish where the tannins show up a little. Not sure this has the bones for long aging but it’s already drinking well. A tad ripe and smooth but still fresh and easy to drink. A step up from the standard Barolo.
Christophe Marin Maury Blanc 2017
Complex and wonderful. Not overly sweet, perfectly balanced acidity and such layered aromas going from candied apple, barley sugar, walnuts to dried fruits. Wonderful to close out the night.
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Lou Dumont - Bourgogne Rouge 2021
Now, when things from abroad reaches the shores of the Republic of Korea, they triple in price, and when things are hyped like this then they go six times the price, so imagine my surprise when I saw this at 66.000W(40’ish euros)
This is really nice, and it punches well above “just entry level”, with a sturdy backbone of acidity and tannins. It’s floral, very aromatic and serious. A good earthiness along with cinnamon and clove is lining the finish. I wish it wasn’t so hard to find or expensive in most cases. Despite drinking nicely here I think a perhaps a year or two of aging would soften it a bit.
*my decanter is in another building so I stole a vase from my wife 
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Aaaaaaaah! Can’t unsee 
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I think that is a next level decanter!
I mean, when the decanter is empty, both it and I look equally meh.
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Like… after life, you die next level? lol
Today it’s tomatoes vs. strawberries
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I thought I had a 2013 Xinomavro late release in the fridge, but it was the young regular Rose. Good, but quite different.
Second try:
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Drinking the 2021 Monte Rio Cellars Carignane from the old Jessie’s Grove vineyard in Lodi. Never been a huge Carignan fan, but this whole cluster wine is goodness and freshness in a bottle. Very enticing. I’d say it’s 93pts. And for the money, Monte Rio kills it.
Had a 2021 Lodi Native St. Amant Zin the other night. Lodi Native was/is a way to showcase many local wineries under a common label with less intervention and in a more modern style. Upon opening, a little weird and muted. Pumped and left for 2 days and upon rerevisit it really sang. It needed that time to find itself.
St. Amant as a standalone label is a good example of what Zin can do form Lodi. They’re always solid wines and Stuart who owns it has aimed for balance.
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Pepiere. Always more bang for your buck than a goose from a duck. 2015 Gorges from magnum was quite fire.
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Had 2010 Clisson last week in 750. Was phenomenal. Have never actually had Gorges. Will need to change that.
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I find the Gorges to be fairly tight up until 7 or 8 years of age. Then it blossoms into something Gorgeous. 
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