Matthew Cohen

9.6

Needs about a year to be in its groove. I’d do an hour decant. More is better.

Nose: cherry flower. As this opens elegantly intense. Mashed flowers. But mashed by delicate hands.

Palate: bright cherries. Superb balance. Very good intensity although it’s a bit masked at this age. Great balancing acidity. A whiff of spice. Internal aromatics are near elite even at this stage. Delicious but in an elegant way.

More chambolle than gc imho.

Fass selections — 2 years ago

Scott Kahn

9.0

The structure of this wine is masked IMO by its acidity. Fine with food but not up to par without food. — 4 years ago

Severn G

9.1

Confrérie Des Chevaliers du Tastevin Sous-Commanderie d'Albany; 20 September 2020 at New World Bistro, Albany, NY

Physically Distanced 🚧 but Socially Close 🤗 dinner, our first in +8mo. Following the reasonable NY State dining regulations, seated and masked. While a new experience, it was well worth it to see our core group again. — 6 years ago

Joan Hood

9.5

From Plaza - robust and smooth — 6 years ago

Sean Beck

10

Buy, yummy — 8 years ago

TJ Gilbert

9.0

A mild earthy, sanguine note, that is masked by sweet, big red brambly fruit with slight floral notes. Medium acid, good tannins. Cranberry, red apple skins with dirt and tar finish. — 8 years ago

Bob McDonald

9.2

Deep Crimson in colour. Closed to begin with as a result of the Wine Fridge set a little cold. Aromas of currant, blackberry, roast meats, tar and liquorice. As the wine warmed up a hint of violets came through. None of the ashtray notes I have had with previous Spanish Monastrels. Palate is ripe, full bodied and obviously from a warm climate. From near Alicante on the east coast of Spain and therefore very Mediterranean. Ultra savoury with robust tannins. Aged in 500 litres Oak Barrels so the Oak is not overdone. Overall a fairly masculine wine and not particularly liked by my better half! Tasted 2nd and last bottle 107 weeks later on 18th April 2019. Ultra savoury / so much so that the fruit is masked. Aromas of tar and violet with a certain rusticity. Medium to full bodied with fine grainy tannins. — 9 years ago

Aaron Tan

9.0

After reading all the rave reviews on Bessin’s Valmur recently (baby Rav according to some netizens), I was really excited to try this bottle. Sadly, it fell below expectations which was likely no one’s fault other than your’s truly - a little less care during transport left the wine with a nagging honey note that I abhor in young Chards. A touch of premox I believe, which stands in contradiction with another element I found lacklustre - the bottle was so stubbornly primary. Ripe-fruited even, with face-smacking stone fruits that masked the more Chablis-esque characters I so love. This point I can forgive considering the wine’s youth. I just wished it was more mineral and taut. It’s not all grim though as this sample was certainly concentrated, with plush textures that filled every corner of the palate. Definitely a wine to revisit.

NB: I believe WK gave this his highest score for 20’ Chablis. Great value at sub AUD150 in most markets. — 3 years ago

Bob McDonald

8.9

Pale gold in colour. First of 2 bottles. I should have drunk these earlier but had lost them in my cellar. Oxidative notes with apricot and some liqueur like notes. With time it lost some of the oxidative and liqueur characters and gave a saline note. In a masked tasting I would never pick this as as Sauvignon Blanc. I guess I need to taste more oaked Sancerre. The following day still that oxidative note. Still apricot notes on that medium weight mouth filling palate with low acid and a grassy note. Had my last bottle on 11th September 2021 with consistent notes. As mentioned above I wish I had consumed these a few years earlier. Still that oxidative note which lessened after about 30 minutes. Apricot and quince. You would never pick this as Sauvignon Blanc as mentioned before. — 5 years ago

Kyle Zeman

9.2

Vanilla, light, sage — 6 years ago

Daniel Steilen

9.0

Velvety and somewhat voluptuous for a barbaresco. Tannins are starting to be well integrated and masked by the fruit, with only a little noticeable tannin on the finish. Nice and drinking well now, but I’d wait a couple years. — 7 years ago

Bob McDonald

9.4

The winner of the Downs Club Premium Red taste off from 41 masked Reds. Not my final choice but democracy prevailed by 4 votes to 3. This was in my final 3. A nice balance of sweet red fruits with some spice and hint of pepper. Balanced and smooth. Will cellar up to 10 years but overall a little too sweet for my palate. A quality producer in the Barossa who specialises in individual Cuvees of Shiraz from separate paddocks. — 8 years ago

Zeus Fonsi

9.0

Wonderful Pomerol!
The tobacco and wet forest aromas are almost intoxicating. The tannins need a bit more rounding, but still very good. The acidity is masked a bit by the tannins but once they soften, it reveals a beautiful wine. — 9 years ago

Alex Taylor

9.3

Black Lamb Ghost Rider 2009 picked up in Woodstock. Delicious amber wine. — 3 years ago

Nathan Renfro

9.3

Lovely nose of black fruit, fig, plum, tobacco. Unique flavor profile, figs prominent, straight chewing tobacco, blackberry, black licorice, leather. Fruit flavors somewhat masked by the tobacco, licorice and leather. Different but still enjoyable. — 4 years ago

Mark Turner

9.2

Zoom event with Drew Bledsoe and Josh McDaniels. Vertical from ‘07, ‘14, ‘15, ‘16, ‘17, ‘17 estate, and ‘18. All were exceptionally smooth and silky with good depth of fruit. Notes on the ‘18: 90% CS, 5% Malbec, 5% Merlot. Least favorite of the night. Still a good wine but perhaps a bit too young, or just different enough from the others that I liked ones with a bit more age. This wine had a little more density than the others and perhaps a little more earth and graphite coming through that masked the fruit. It still had the classic doubleback elegance of the others but I felt we were not seeing this wine’s true expression. It only had about 1 hour in the glass and perhaps I need to pull another bottle, decant for a few hours and see what it does. — 5 years ago

with Jared, Aaron and 1 other

Sunil Dhaliwal

8.9

I’m a sagrantino fan, but this was still a bit too sharp for an 8-year old bottle. Even as some the tannins have mellowed the complexity is masked by some of the sharpness and the alcohol. — 8 years ago

Yee Lee

9.0

Prune, rice wine — 9 years ago

Al Doyle

9.2

Got an avalanche of craziness for the backstage rider at fujirock, this is gonna be an adventure 😳 — 9 years ago

with jams

Eric Lovalvo

9.6

Surprisingly phenomenal — 9 years ago