I love the Passpiscario Etna Rosso, but sadly the NZ importer dropped it a few years ago due to some issues and hassles with the winery. My last vintage is the 2019. For my taste they are best from 5 to 8 yearas from vintage
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I brought a couple bottles to a friend’s as we are nearing departure:
Louis Michel Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos 2022
Initially too cold, it still gave waves of iodine and tight citrus on the nose. With air and temp came a little more richness in the fruit profile but still great salinity and freshness. Not the longest finish for this vintage but nice balance on saltiness. A little atypical for Les Clos but very enjoyable.
Château Tronquoy-Lalande 2016
I bought a couple cases of this following a @Robert.A.Jr alert a while back. This is my best bottle yet: all kinds of slate, dark berries and earth tones. Medium acidity, integrated tannins in the ripe fruit vibe and a pretty long mineral finish. Bordeaux on the rocks. Very enjoyable as well.
We finished with 2 bottles of Listrac-Medoc (I’ll look for the label tomorrow) and a bunch of Speakeasy Mentha X Piperita (from Bretagne, no sweetness, much better than other mouthwash digestifs out there).
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Been away for 5 weeks and inspired by @Kent_Comley I opened this. At 7 years it is drinking very well. Medium to dark red fruits, mineral notes and a silky palate. Very good indeed.
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Good to see Auckland still shining! Thanks for the note, just received an offer on the Contrada quartet today:- you may have tipped me over the edge.
Thibault Tassin’s Blanc de Noirs (base 2020) from the Côte des Bars. 2nd bottle tasted six months apart. The wine is evolving beautifully. Still showing bright energy and finesse, with deepening pastry notes and a more layered, savoury finish.
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Mine too! One of these days, we have to sit down and open some bottles together.
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The bottles were already opened . . .
I had the opportunity to have a sip/taste of 28 white wines from Burgundy. Most were from the 2022 vintage and the tasting was put on by a local wine shop. A wide range of wines and price points were included. Other tasters were more discriminating than me and focused on several bottles that interested them for buying. I took the opportunity to taste the whole range. Not a bad wine to be found, many excellent. Some of my particular favorites from three different points on the price spectrum were:
-2022 Domaine Andre Bonhomme Vire-Clesse Cuvee Speciale
-2022 Francois Lumpp Givry Clos des Vignes Ronde Blanc
-2022 Justin Girardin Meursault
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How were the tannins on the Dunn? Have a bottle but holding off for now…
How was the School House?
This bottle was a little tired. Not oxidized, just fading. Other bottles better, including the 2000. Drink up!
An ethereal beauty. Silky palate with tobacco and a touch of mushroom flavor providing contrast to the sweet cherry and citrus notes.
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BEAUNE Les Prévolles 2022
A feminine, elegant expression of Pinot Noir, with that signature strawberry Tagada note I adore in Catharina’s wines. It carries a sensation of weightless weight, and a gentle sweetness with no sugar, pure finesse in a glass.
They were pretty resolved with some tertiay developments. '07 was a more fruit forward year, if I recollect properly. You could certainly continue to hold, but I recommend drinking within the next 5 years.
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Domaine Coton Chinon 1997
Still at my FIL’s. Family lunch today and he pulls out three bottles of completely unknown Chinon. All bottles have different foil and the vintage is only found on the side of the corks. I love these “mystery bottles”!!
All three were acceptable with the first one feeling a little diluted and the last one having more presence. Light, red berried (griottes, cranberries), slight green bell pepper, a bit of dusty soil, medium acidity, very little fine grained tanins and short finish. Still enjoyable and a pretty decent pairing with meatballs in tomato sauce, ratatouille and gratin dauphinois.
Some family members mentioned not knowing Chinon so i pulled one from my emergency stash when the first trio was emptied:
Bernard Baudry Chinon Le Domaine 2021
Both tart red berries and darker ripe ones, light pyrazines, wet soil, some florals. Medium+ acidity, fine tanins, decent length. Easy to drink and it achieves a decent balance. Could benefit from more cellaring. Better to upgrade to Les Grézeaux, La Croix Boissé or Le Clos Guillot though.
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Baller alert:
You landed your helicopter at the winery to pick up that Tronquoy, didn’t you?
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You know it. The jet was in the shop.
- 2010 Château de la Bonneliere Touraine Ante Phylloxera Clos de Maulevrier - France, Loire Valley, Touraine (7/27/2025)
Much better than previous bottle, I think age has mellowed this wine and opened up the fruit, and what gorgeous fruit it is. Nose of sweet plum, lychee, macerated strawberries and hints of dry earth. Has hardly any pyrazine notes, just clean, light yet powerful fruit. Typical iron fist in velvet glove moment, wine goes down really smooth, tannins are so fine and almost ethereal. Too bad this is my last bottle (94 points)
Posted from CellarTracker
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2022 White Walnut Dundee Hills Chardonnay
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