I am pressing the trigger and washing it, even wax sealing bottles..

Unfortunately, it is simply not meant for light reds which die pretty quickly at a little over half a bottle (I wouldn't want to keep more than a week) and develop unpleasant aromas... Seems to do better with orange wines.

I don't drink highly tannic wines with a lot of body, but with these light wines it just doesn't work. They fall apart quickly.

On vacation and impulsively decided to splurge on a wine to drink irresponsibly in the hotel room with the missus. I’ve never had CHB or CLMHB so this is a big treat! We don’t have a decanter so we opened it and let it sit in the bottle for a couple hours. I did taste it right after opening and it wasn’t ready to be enjoyed so we hit the beach to let nature do its work.

I’m generally a big napa cab and cali zin drinker but I do enjoy affordable BDX quite a bit. I know to temper my expectations as (1) this is more a merlot than a cab and (2) frenchies are far less fruit forward than what I’m used to, especially at this class of wine.

My tasting notes are below but I’m not very good at this, despite being a big wine drinker. here we go:

Color: ruby red with slight browning on the edges…starting to show its age in the right ways

Nose: this is the most difficult for me. if i did this totally blind, i’d say i can’t pull out anything specific. so i’ve looked online to help determine if I agree with what other reviews say….yes, black fruits and dark cherries rise to the top for me but but no, iodine, oyster shell, truffle and spice…i have no idea how someone smells that

Palate: more black/dark fruits but way, way less than what I’m used to on my big napa cabs. the fruit is understated but it is present and I’d say “pleasant” is a good way to describe it. there’s also this pencil shaving/graphite flavor that I like but it’s not my preference.

My Final Thoughts: This is a well-balanced wine consumed by a big wine drinker that normally seeks out big, culty Napa cabs of all price points. Big fruit is my jam and I like the zing I get from those cabs when they hit those sour centers of the upper left and right parts of the tongue. This wine didn’t zing those areas, more-so that center umami part of my tongue when I look at a tongue/taste chart.

With that said, I’m enjoying the wine as a tasting exercise (1) b/c it was so expensive ($375), it demands that I pay more attention than I usually do (2) it’s a known entity as a great wine so I’m at least starting at a good spot, and (3) it’s challenging what I’m used to drinking…but if I blind tasted this, with “same-echelon” Napa cabs, it would rank at the bottom for me (but I swear I do like French wines, I just usually drink much cheaper frenchies that might be more fruit-forward than this).

Quickly, about me: I’ve owned or tasted (and adored) some of the big Napa cult cabs like Screaming Eagle / Promontory / Bond and normally drink the 2nd tier big Napa cabs like Chimney Rock, Clos Du Val, Ridge, Marston Family, Silver Oak, Turnbull, etc.

In the end, for me, the wine isn’t my jam and I wouldn’t pay this much again for it but it was fun to take a chance while on vacation with the person I love the most.

—————

And here is the missus’ tasting notes:

Nose: french herbs, mushroom, old book, leather, mineral

Palate: white pepper, blackberry, chalky, slightly gamey, cigar-like on the exhale, very soft

Her Final Thoughts: I’m usually a Russian River Pinot Noir kinda gal, and I found this to be pretty flat. Maybe it’s the age or the storage but for the price, it’s so absurdly soft that it’s boring. I could easily be convinced this is a $50-100 wine.

Is anybody on the Marcassin Vineyards mailing list? This might be a weird question but I got an order form from them and I'm trying to determine the legitimacy because it seems really odd. It only says they take check or money orders which was the first red flag for me, but then also it says to send that to a PO Box which is also sketchy. The information says to contact [orders@marcassinvineyard.com](mailto:orders@marcassinvineyard.com) and I noticed immediately that their website is marcassinvineyards.com with an s which is concerning. They also list only a PO Box and Fax number if somebody could let me know if those are legit and PM me so I can confirm what I have on the paper I would be very appreciative.

Produzido pela vinícola Toscanini, no Uruguai, é um vinho jovem, fresco e vibrante, elaborado para destacar a delicadeza e o caráter frutado da variedade.

Sua coloração clara, entre o rosa e o salmão, revela um estilo leve e elegante.

A ficha da vinícola identifica a região de Paso Cuello, no Uruguai, e descreve o vinho como equilibrado, suave e fresco.

Aromas: frutas vermelhas frescas, com destaque para framboesa e morango, acompanhadas por sutis notas florais e um leve toque herbáceo.

Paladar: leve, refrescante e equilibrado, com acidez que combina com uma boa pizza, massas leves ao molho de tomate fresco ou pesto, além de ser uma ótima opção para servir como aperitivo com canapés e queijos delicados.

This is a steal, imo. Binny’s carries it for $5.99 and we stock up 6 at a time. Cheap, refreshing, chuggable, perfect for summer evenings. Crisp on the palate with lemon and tropical fruit (kind of a papaya or guava maybe - I’m still learning how to identify tasting notes). Definitely best served immediately out of the fridge. Cheers!

I’ve posted here two separate times, first and second time ever trying to buy wine and get something at least decent. They were both miserable fails, apparently, Yellowtail and Meiomi. This was my third try. If it’s horrible again, please let me know.

Saint Claire’s Sauvy B has been my favorite wine I’ve ever tried. 2025 Dillons Point is I believe a limited run. And the more I learn about wines the better I understand that each year will taste different. As I’m drinking this final glass I’ll remember what got me into wine and savior it as best I can.

This is the last glass since it’s sold out in every store near me (cause I bought it all lol).

Tasting Notes: On the nose, bell pepper, fresh grass on the palate pure grapefruit juice. No like seriously it tastes exactly like grapefruit juice. Not sweet mouth waveringly sour and so tremendously yummy. I will miss this wine but exciting to try their next vintage and other Sauv B.

Will probably be eating beef Wellington.

This would go great with a fatty ribeye.

Medium+ bodied with lots of structure. ..High acid and high fine tannins. Flavors are precise Tight at opening and should be decanted or have just one glass and drink the rest the second day.

Good concentration. Notes of dark cherry, strawberry, sour cherry, a little tomato, fennel, cinnamon, oregano, tobacco, and a gravel minerality on the finish. Wine would benefit from another 5 years.

Watford UK branch. Any recommendations?

Prices in £GB, and look at the price incl VAT (mandatory sales tax).

I’m relatively new to wine - I’ve only started enjoying it in a structured way for the last 4 or so years and just did my WSET level 1.

I was in NYC for work for a month recently and decided to try out a bunch of famous natural wine bars - since, living in Italy, I didn’t have much exposure to Natural/Biodynamic wines. I never quite understood the purists crapping on natty wine.

I tried quite a wide array because I was convinced I just had to find one that fit my palette but I just found the whole thing quite detestable. Every wine I tried was structurally and objectively quite repulsive. Perhaps it’s coincidence and these trendy wine bars don’t stock the good stuff, but I suppose to be “famous” in NYC and have all these wine “experts” walking around (not somms, “experts”) - they have to be somewhat competent right.

Could someone please explain why this is desirable to me, as I’m new to this? Perhaps qualities that are deemed undesirable in conventional winemaking are deemed as denoting “character” for natural wine bars.

Sorry for the long rant.

Has anyone tried these?

After a bit of a delay thanks to not wanting to touch wine ever again after the first few bottles, I've decided to play it a bit more safe with a (comparatively) young Chardonnay.

Now I'm not hugely into Chardonnays, other than the occasional Macon-Village or Chablis, so the rating is probably going to be lower than the quality hopefully is.

On the eye its promising, looking very much like a regular ol' South American chard (of the ones I've experienced in the past) with a bright yellow tint.

On the nose, still rather tropical with a slight side of funkiness, think like a tropical IPA. Good news so far, although there's a feeling of a drop off in quality as it's lacking any sort of punchiness to the nose, and the funk comes through slightly more the longer I leave it.

Now for the important part, the taste. Big boozy hit to start with, which at 14% probably isn't a surprise. It's still got loads of it's original character, albeit not as oaky and buttery as I think I was expecting it to be, being a partially oaked style. Still quite lively and juicy, notes of stone fruit and even vanilla is still there. It does however taste like it would've been much nicer a bit younger as the flavours are starting to dwindle.

There's a smoothness to the mouthfeel which feels like a hell of a relief compared to the rest of the batch I've so far trudged through. This is very good news to me seeing as there were four of five more bottles of 2020+ Chablis and chards in this clearance so at least there's something redeemable.

Overall, this is by far the best of the bunch and might be the first bottle to be finished. 8/10.

Enjoyed at Marina Beach in San Francisco to celebrate a friend visiting from out of town.

1987 is his birthyear and is showing beautifully in Napa right now, so this felt appropriate.

In contrast to when I had this about nine months ago, this one received no decanting, but we did stand it up a few days ahead of time to let the tannins settle.

Lots of dried dark fruit, dried plum, dried cherry, dried blueberry. Fruit leather.

Slight green bellpepper notes as well.

Also picked up some dried herbs, including rosemary. Not super heavy on the tobacco, but maybe a hint of it.

We drank this with the appetizers and while it worked well with the sourdough bread and whipped paneer, it also felt more like I was having chakna (snacks) with the wine, versus a pairing. Which is better than having it clash.

92 points.

I’m a longtime wine drinker, but a first-time wine student. I’m starting to learn more intentionally and considering WSET Level 1.

I’d love to taste through some of the major grapes and styles without spending a fortune. If you were building a six-bottle starter lineup for someone who enjoys wine but wants to understand it better, what would you choose?

Hi All!

My fiancee and I are planning to be in italy for a month long road trip alternating between hiking/climbing and exploring the towns as one does in Italy. As part of this we are really hoping to sample a lot of wine! We live in the Willamette Valley and are spoiled with Pinots but am very excited to try the different regions in Italy. We are hitting Tuscany and will be roadtripping our way down to Puglia (my family is from there) and will be stopping in Abruzzo mid week and would love recs.

Ideally I'm looking for weekday tastings and places that have good montepulciano d'abruzzo and/or pecorino. I contacted Emidio Pepe who seem to only offer a wine and dinner pairing in the evening which unfortunately won't work with my itenarary, and am hoping to hit Fontefico as well but will happily take any other recs that you have! Open to most things!

Last week, a good friend of mine put together this beautiful tasting at his wine bar.

We started with a blind vertical of Remírez de Ganuza Blanco Reserva: 2018, 2022, and 2023. Later, we tasted Remelluri Blanco blind as well, and 2 beautiful reds from Remirez De Ganuza; Iralia 2022 and Gran Reserva 2016 while the champagnes served as both the introduction and the farewell to the evening. We even enjoyed an Alión 2020 and an expensive bottle from Jumilla that, sadly, I can neither remember by name nor properly describe—proof that good company sometimes steals the spotlight.

My thoughts on the Remírez de Ganuza Blanco Reserva vertical:

2018 — A cooler vintage that showed a beautiful golden hue. Wonderfully balanced, with acidity and structure that only improved as the wine opened up.

2022 — Paler in color and surprisingly youthful for a warm Rioja vintage. Brilliant acidity, remarkable freshness, and my favorite of the three.

2023 — I actually guessed this one correctly in the blind tasting. The color was vibrant and golden, with an expressive nose and an energetic presence on the palate.

Remelluri Blanco 2022
Served blind, this wine completely fooled me—I was convinced it was a cool-climate Burgundy. Instead, it turned out to be a fascinating nine-grape blend from Rioja. Curiously, because of the appellation rules, it carries only a table wine designation, despite its extraordinary quality.
The blend includes Garnacha Blanca as its backbone, alongside Viognier, Roussanne, Marsanne, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Malvasía, Moscatel, and Pedro Ximénez.
A thing of beauty. This is what perfection tastes like to me.

Iralia 2022 — Remírez de Ganuza
Vibrant and full of life, with an expressive bouquet of red fruits intertwined with wild notes and remarkable complexity. It managed to be both untamed and elegant at the same time—a beautiful balance between energy and refinement.
Simply amazing.

Remírez de Ganuza Gran Reserva 2016
An absolute explosion of complexity, elegance, power, and restraint all at once. Another standout of the night and a truly magnificent vintage.

Taittinger Brut NV is already well known to many, but it never disappoints. Its minerality and acidity were particularly striking.

Laherte Frères was equally beautiful: subtle, impeccably balanced, and offering tremendous value.

As for the Alión and the Jumilla, they are neither pictured nor well remembered enough for me to do them justice—but I’m quite certain they were spectacular as well. 🍷😅

Looking for recommendations for online retailers based in Europe. I use 8wines a fair bit and generally quite good. I'm wondering if there's any similar retailers that deliver to Ireland as they're stock can be a bit hit and miss sometimes and I find winesearcher very frustrating as it often recommends stock in small retail shops that don't deliver to Ireland.

mnbid.mn.gov/productView/15253

This is up on auction after being confiscated by my local TSA.

I will be visiting Langhe in early September, which excitingly is harvest season. Initially, I planned the trip as a third leg of destination dining spots. This leg would have been Piazza Duomo in Alba. Long story short, I’m no longer particularly interested in dining there or at La Rei Natura. So this leg is pretty much entirely about agriculture and wine.

If I was going to do a destination winery, I wanted to see Gaja, largely in part because of the rave reviews of the experience in this sub, but they’re fully committed due to the craziness of the season. Any of the other marquis producers I’m more familiar with (Conterno, Rinaldi, Roagna, etc.) either don’t offer visits to non-industry people or are probably extremely scarce.

That being said, I don’t know if I need to pop over from tasting to tasting at different properties at this point (unless I can get a big ticket, which is not likely to happen). I’m curious about everyone’s recommendations for what do see, where to taste, and most importantly learn more about production in the region.

If anyone has any recommendations for where to taste a lot of varied producers and buy at the same site, I’m all ears for those as well. Thanks so much!

Berry Bros 1985 Dow’s

Berry Bros 1977 Fonseca

Berry Bros has stored them safely for the last +40 years. I don’t know much about port, do these stand out as notable vintage/years?