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The 2013 Red Burgundies: Fascinating and Challenging (Mar 2016)

Bright medium red. Knockout high-pitched aromas of red berries, peony and orange peel. Boasts compelling subtle density and sharp definition to its taut flavors of blackberry, violet, licorice, spices and minerals. In its juicy sappiness, this is like chewing on a ripe cherry. A classic Bonnes-Mares, offering superb volume without any undue weight. And an…

2012 Red Burgundy: Against All Odds (Jan 2014)

Roumier’s 2012 Bonnes-Mares blossoms in all directions with stunning purity, depth and transparency. A pure, magnificent expression of this great site, the 2012 is simply magnetic in its spherical, multi-dimensional personality. The flavors are dark, spiced and intensely mineral, but that doesn’t do full justice to what is in the glass. An intensely saline, bracing…

Priceless: Roumier Bonnes-Mares 1945 – 2015 (Sep 2018)

After the perplexing 2011, the 2012 Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru restores order – an exemplary wine. The bouquet is still backward, attesting that this Grand Cru deserves a decade in bottle, yet the oak is beautifully assimilated and the terroir really comes through. The palate is knitted together by filigree tannin that almost disguise the intensity…

The 2012 Red Burgundies from Bottle (Mar 2015)

Bright, dark red. Darker but less expressive on the nose than the Amoureuses, offering pungent, soil-inflected scents of red peony, pink peppercorn, brown spices and medicinal menthol. Fat and sweet on entry, then quite backward in the mid-palate, showing less detail than the Amoureuses but desperately in need of oxygen–or long bottle aging. With its…

Brilliance in Napa Valley: 2016 & 2015 Cabernets (Jan 2018)

The 2015 Screaming Eagle is fabulous. Rich and ample on the palate, with soaring aromatics from the Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2015 is a drop-dead gorgeous beauty. Ripe red plum, pomegranate, mint, kirsch, lavender and sweet spice notes are beautifully delineated in the glass. In this tasting, the Cabernet-based Screaming Eagle is quite a bit more…

Cleaning Out the Cupboard: Bordeaux 1943-2020 (Jan 2023)

The 1978 Grand-Puy-Lacoste has a ferrous bouquet, fully mature of course, with fresh mint, potpourri and lavender notes. The palate is medium-bodied with a fine bead of acidity and slightly dry tannins. It is pretty meaty with dried blood and black pepper, attenuating just a little on the finish. The 1978 is an old-school Claret…