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2011 Bordeaux from the Bottle (Jul 2014)

Medium bright ruby. Sappy aromas of black cherry, blackberry, violet and sassafras. Fresh and juicy, with nicely textured, concentrated flavors of dark berries, bitter chocolate and spices. This solidly structured Pomerol finishes with firm but ripe tannins and lovely floral perfume. Well done.

Power and Energy: The 2018 and 2017 Northern Rhônes (Apr 2020)

Bright purple. A deeply perfumed bouquet evokes ripe dark berries, cherry liqueur, incense and potpourri, while olive and exotic spice nuances build in the glass. Intense, alluringly sweet black/blue fruit, spicecake and violet pastille flavors show sharp delineation and a spine of juicy acidity. Closes extremely long and precise, displaying a smoky, intensifying mineral quality…

Rioja: The Past Is Always Present (Apr 2021)

Deep garnet. A highly perfumed, complex bouquet evokes red and blue fruits, incense, pipe tobacco, vanilla and mocha, along with smoky mineral and spice nuances that build in the glass. Sappy, palate-staining black raspberry, cherry compote, succulent herb, candied rose and vanilla flavors show excellent depth and clarity, while a spine of juicy acidity contributes…

The 1990 Clarets…To Have and To Hold (Nov 1993)

Very good medium color. Minerals, licorice, and earth notes on the nose; but two samples showed the slight musty quality that has plagued so many young Ducru bottles beginning with the ’85 vintage. Quite unevolved on the palate; lean for the vintage, but nicely delineated and understated. Firm tannins appear somewhat dry. Impossible to assess,…

Where the Heart Is: Ducru-Beaucaillou 1934-2018 (Jul 2022)

The 1990 Ducru-Beaucaillou was matured in two-thirds new oak for 12 months. Ever a controversial vintage because of the problems in storage that tainted some of the production (not all), this bottle had a clean nose but one that felt a little one-dimensional, with simple red berry fruit and earthy notes, becoming increasingly herbal with…

Servants of the Seasons: Burgundy 2021 (Jan 2023)

The 2021 Chassagne-Montrachet Village has a fresh bouquet, perhaps just lacking a little terroir expression, possibly because around 50% here was lost to frost. The palate is better with a sappy entry, a decent spine of acidity and lightly spiced towards the finish. I suspect the aromatics will open by the time of bottling.