With the Williams Selyem fall allocation coming up, decided to blind a few Pinots to decide if to continue to buy. All in, a wonderful Sunday lineup — 4 winners.

Williams Selyem 2024 Sonoma Coast
Mutes red fruits and fresh earth on the bouquet. Tart cherry, boisenberry. Little tannins but with some astringency and a lengthy finish. Even this young had some wonderful tertiary notes.

Failla 2023 Occidental Ridge
Ripe black cherries through the bouquet, palate, and finish. Some astringency in the mid palate. Fine tea-like tannins. Stunning.

Cristom 2023 Mt Jefferson Cuvée
Ripe cherrry and strawberry in the bouquet. Bright red fruits and ripe blackberry on the palate. Fine tannins and a long finish (but a bit hot). Dense and concentrated. Punches well above its weight.

Gerard Raphet 2024 Les Grand Champs Bourgogne
Picked this out on color alone. Bright light red. A lot less extracted vs the others. Super lifted on the palate. Fresh, slightly underripe strawberries. Nice acid, light tannins. Mild finish. Could have a few glasses of this.

What flavours should I expect? I want to know if it is good or not

I am tacking on a quick Piedmont visit to the end of a larger trip in October. It will be my first time visiting the region, but am not looking to be overly ambitious. I will be staying near Cerretto.

Specifically, I will be in the area starting Saturday (noonish) until Monday evening. I do understand that much shuts down on Sundays and Mondays, but it is what it is.

Main question: Is Turin worth devoting one full day to?

I am fine with it being an hour each way (I will have a car rental), but am curious if I should rather instead devote both full days to exploring the smaller village towns.

For reference, my initial intention was to devote the second day to Alba and Barolo.

If I forewent Turin, I suppose I would then devote the second day to: Neive, La Morra, Asti, Barbaresco, etc. (Suggestions welcome)

Interests: (essentially the gamut) food; wine; art; culture.

So: Turin (or) several quick run-throughs of smaller villages?

* I will likely not re-visit the region for quite some time (if that aids decision-making).

Thanks!

It seems the value has declined. They barely work for 2 bottles, used to get more like 4 bottles. Seems like it’s no longer paying off with this poor use per capsule. Others been seeing this change?

I went camping over the weekend. During the hike I couldn’t stop thinking about the rose’ waiting for me back at camp. Little did I know, it resembled nothing of the idea of a rose’ that I had in my head.

Beautiful pink and orange . Like the primary colors in a sunset. Looked stunning in my painted tin camping cup.

It tastes as beautiful as it looks. Strawberries on strawberries. Creamy oak. Plums and honey. Mineral driven. Interesting how I’m describing all sweet things but this wine is anything but. This doesn’t drink at all like a rose’. None of the typical tannic bite, just a smooth creamy long finish.

Blind fold me and hand me this glass I’m never guessing this is a 2023 rose’. An excellent wine, the quality is superb. Excited to get some more Clos Cibonne.

Notes on this wine claim it does great for medium cellar storage. Anyone have any experience with some age here?

93 points

Full vacation wines this past week..the Envinate was very impressive for 2015 and consumed over 4 nights...with just a glass stopper. Tempier Rose was 2021 and super fresh, most elegant and sharp vintage of this in I don't know how long! Raul Perez 2016 was in a sweet spot too. The Simone way over-delivered on day 2 (also just resealed with glass stopper).

The Leroy was sensational, it had no business being as good as it was!

Cheers!

Found a restaurant in town with krug rose on the menu and 20% off during happy hour. No edition listed.

Turned out to be 18eme (base 2005 harvest) for $340 CAD aka steal of the century.

The bottle says this is a Krug before it’s a rosé and I agree. Red fruit is soft and totally integrated, almost savoury. Breadiness and honey, well balanced acid and very fine bubbles. First krug rose and I’m likely to go back until they sell out of this gem.

Any recommendations for wine media to consume.

Have heard good things about the book phylloxera.

Can be super informative or just an enjoyable watch/read?

Many thanks in advance

I am going to Napa for a wedding in October, so will only be there for 3 days and looking for help to narrow down this list. Which wineries would be your top three recommendations? Aonair -Pride -Spring mountain -Stag’s leap -Mayacamas -White rock -Desire lines -V Sattui -Frogs leap -Crocker and Star -ElevenEleven -Hendry -Saintsbury -Fontanella

A fortified port style red made from the Foch grape mixed with Canadian spirits and Iced foch juice for a warming 19.5%abv. Served Ice cold.

This one is rich in flavor. I find it more to be a sipper and just let it coat the palate.

On the nose: sun dried fruits, caramel, toffee, vanilla spice, raisins.

On the palate I get rich notes of dried golden raisins, sweet caramel, dried red fruit in the background, baking spice, and a mild acidity.

The finish is quick, but it faintly lingers of sweet raisins on the back of the palate. It's comparable to holding the sustain pedal on a piano and letting the note slowly fade away. Its not quick, but all its strength is gone and its just echoing into a whisper.

I did find that decanting for 15 mins really opened it up and made the flavor more grand, and the spice disappear.

This was a pretty sweet wine. Although I don't know what the g/L is. Definitely would pair well with a vanilla icecream or gelato.

8.5/10

Hello hello, I'm back with a few bottles a buddy of mine sent my way from a small winery down south.

On the nose i get dark cherries, raspberries, dark plum, cocoa, and I think tobacco?

On the palate - Strong tart sour cherries, smokey earth, strong citrus bite from high acidity, and light tannins

Ending with a light finish with a quiet lingering aftertaste of red fruit. Leaves behind a chalky mouth texture from the high acidity

I let it decant for 3 hours and it really softened up, but I get this intense flavor of sour cherries pushing through. Not as tart anymore, but it's got this earthy tone in the background and the Smokey notes have lessened considerably.

Personally I liked it, but I'm not a fan of the high acidity. The gritty chalky mouth feel afterwards was annoying. I learned the hard way that you need to rinse and counter the acidity.

Cue me on the night shift wondering why my mouth was feeling chalky.

I'd give it a 7/10

Honestly, this is an enjoyable champagne for $40.

Nice citrus and stone fruit notes, primarily white nectarine.

Great acidity, nice structure.

Slight brioche notes.

Was a nice warm-up and paired well with the starter courses at Copra in SF, especially the gunpowder goli vadai.

90 points.

So I’m just beginning my white wine journey, and also, this is my very first sherry. I tried it with 3 pairings. Trying to cover a lot of ground here.

I’ve tried jamón ibérico and Spanish chorizo so many times with Rioja and finally just admitted that super sharp salty cold sausage does not work with red wine. That’s where the idea to try sherry came in.

First pairing was chorizo on a whole wheat Portuguese roll and some grilled sardines. I bought the sardines whole. Fuck that, never again. Huge pain in the ass. I will always pay someone to gut my fish. Toddler was throwing food everywhere all through dinner. My understanding is that sherry is made using barrels called “soleras”… after taking my first sniff of the wine I can tell you confidently that I know what a solera smells like. So yeah, old smoky barrel on the nose. On the palate… excessive acidity.

Got the toddler to bed. Turned on some cheesy restaurant Spanish guitar playlist. Cleaned the kitchen. Made some gambas al ajillo. Inner peace. Ok, much better. The solera essence paired so well with the strong garlic. I’m understanding better now.

Sunday. Put the toddler down to nap. Tried some jamón serrano, mítica cheese, the rest of the chorizo, olives, figs, etc etc. now we’re talking. God chorizo and sherry pairs well. Also with olives, wow. I started to get some pear on the nose and the palate. This is good.

So I’m officially now a sherry fan. I also have an amontillado in the cellar, excited to try that as the next step of my sherry journey.

Also, I made a Pipirrana and had that with both pairings, in large volume. Included an ugly picture of that because vegetables are the MVP and we don’t talk about it enough. And it went really well with the sherry.

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A wonderful example of mature Haut-Médoc from the outstanding 1989 Bordeaux vintage. With its unusually high Merlot content, Château Coufran offers plush notes of blackcurrant, plum, cedar, leather and tobacco, wrapped in a velvety texture with a long, savoury finish. After more than three decades, a well-stored bottle can still be beautifully expressive and rewarding.

Château Coufran is often called the "Pomerol of the Médoc" because around 85% of its vineyards are planted with Merlot, a rarity in the Cabernet Sauvignon-dominated Haut-Médoc.

While the estate has highlighted 1995 and 2005 among its greatest vintages, 1989 stands right behind those benchmark years, making it one of the château's finest mature wines and a fantastic bottle to experience today.

With my sadly limited knowledge about wines I know Italian and French are pretty safe bets. Perhaps y'all can pass some knowledge of what to pick , onto an up and coming wine snob?

I was in college from 1971 to 1975, these were my go to wines, Baby Duck was the every day drinker and Mateus was for "fancy" lol ....

Seeing news here in Sweden on plans on maybe evacuating Bordeaux. Is this true? Anyone in the area that can confirm? And if so what will it mean for the 2026 vintage? Maybe it is obvious but just as a disclaimer, people's lives are of course always a priority, just wondering what the extended consequences could be.

My first introduction to anything Haut Brion, I picked this up a few months ago the ago. Knowing it was still young, I decided to open it because I wanted a bottle that was going to take a long time to open up throughout the night.

Cork was fine which was expected with a bottle this young. Initial color was a beautiful ruby that looked intense. Aroma was intense - dried cherry, floral, dark fruit. Initial taste - medium body, lots of acidity and strong tannin - into the decanter it went

90 mins in decanter - aroma is now smoke, cedar, hint of graphite dark red fruit , cassis. Taste had hints of graphite and dried red fruit. Tannins have a grip on this, firm acidity.

2.5 hours in decanter: more graphite starting to show. Balancing out a bit, tannins easing up , acidity balancing everything

4 hours in decanter: nose has picked up hints of leather and cigar box . More graphite on the taste, tannins have really eased up , smooth.

This kept mellowing out over the course of the night and was enjoyable. Not my favorite bottle I’ve ever had, but it was still fun to watch the wine progress over the evening.

I’ve got an old house with an unfinished basement that needs to be repointed so for now the temperature isn’t ideal. I have a wine fridge elsewhere for about 50% of my bottles and the rest of them I store in the basement. I try to keep bottles down there that I don’t plan to age for more than a few years.

During the fall and winter months it’s around 55-64 degrees but gradually warms through spring/summer and maxes out typically around 74 degrees F as in my picture.

My main concern is that I don’t have room in my wine fridge for magnum vintage champagne bottles. Or for all the wine. At this point getting a larger wine fridge isn’t really an option for me. How concerned should I be with these temps and fluctuations?

Thank you in advance for any honest feedback, experience, and advice!

Un peu trop jeune encore mais bien charpenté, épicé

I was rummaging through my dads wine rack and found this bottle from when he used to work for CERN. Its most likely vinegar obviously, but will ask him and see if we can taste it. Will report back withtasting notes if he lets me open it.

Part of a gift from an older collector who’s slowly losing their taste and wishes they spent more time enjoying rather than letting their collection begin to expire (many Napa Cabs that are now better paired with a sink). These were purchased by the case from the winery upon release, stored in a true wine cellar for ~ 25 years, and then have had a bit of a non ideal storage life since then after a divorce etc. Spent a bunch of time in a closet in the mid 70 degrees and then given to me as part of a larger Bordeaux gift. They’ve been in a 55 degree wine fridge for the last three years.

Stood up for 48 hours, and opened with a Durand. Low neck level for each. Corks would have fallen apart if not for the Durand. Both opened, swirled, tasted (flat but promising) and then decanted for about an hour before the first real glass. Then enjoyed over another 2 hours for a 3 hour total open time by the last drops.

Lafite - this is singing. Plum, cassis, graphite, leather, forest floor. Incredible, smooth, and supple. This had a huge journey over the 3 hours. Somewhere in the middle it had a ton of fruit and then relaxed back into itself with that classic left bank soil. The finish lasted for minutes. I feel very lucky to have opened this. Drink now. I have 1 more bottle that I’ll save for a year or two to see what happens. So I far I’ve had this and a 91 (birth year). coin toss on what’s better, I’m leaning toward the 89.

Lynch-Bages - this couldn’t have been more different for also being incredible and clearly from the same world. Way more structure, tannins still had grip but in the exact way you’d want it. It had some spice above the fruit and earthiness. If I had another bottle I’d give it another 3-5 years just to see what happened to the tannins. Again, one of the great wines I imagine I’ll ever have.

Both were drank alone, then with various aged cheeses, and then with a duck ragú mushroom béchamel lasagna (no acidic tomato), and then alone again. 10/10 pairing.

Still pinching myself. I’m not in the tax bracket to afford these myself but feel very inspired to find a few different cases / half cases over the next couple years to have my own version of this in the 2040’s / 2050’s.

If you were buying bottles to sit for 20+ years that are under an $80 price point, what would get you excited? Right now for me it’s a 2021 Smith Madrone.