Notes on tasting at Hillsborough Wine Co on Jan 18, 2024

Les Hauts de Milly '21 Fourchaume Chablis

Reasonably deep gold. Smoky, flinty, minerality for sure with intriguing peach, hint of apple, something exotic like kumquat or another melon thing. One of the better chablis I've had. Maybe also now I'm enjoying the subtlety more. As good as Diatom Santa Barbara '22, but different too. 93 points

Cellier aux Moines '21 Givrey Pinot Noir Burgundy

Absolutely stunning on the nose. Pine, woodsy spice, balsam, tar--all very woodsy. Fruit more on tasting with a long finish, some tannin, moderate alcohol and body. Cherry with some notes of other red berries. Fairly dark color for a PN. This is one I'd happily drink. With air, more fruit tones developing. Not sure which. Love the nose! 94 pts

Haut Brisson 2020 Bordeaux

Oh boy, very forward and drinkable, fruity with some mineral component on the taste. For me, mineral means a sort of chalky feeling on the tongue, who knows what it's supposed to mean? Everyone seems to use the term differently, and I've read that scientific study shows the vines cannot actually absorb minerals from the soil. Needs more research.  Anyhow I'd call this wine a ringer for New World insofar as it's very fruity on the nose, licorice, cherry, candied strawberry too. Delicious. Soft tannins but very much apparent on the long finish. Not very high in alcohol but enough with the tannin to preserve the wine. 93 pts. More oak evident with air. Like it lots. 93 pts

Lagarda '20 Malbec: Big, deep wood and dark fruit, typical Malbec spice. Really dark. Plenty of tannin, full body, finish carried by tannin and alcohol. Big in all respects. Some stinky cheese with air. 89 pts

 2019 Pichon Lalande    November 21, 2023

Enjoyed this first of six bottles with Max, Emily, Laura, Sarah and Estelle (in the peanut gallery). Decided I'll open one of these precious jewels each Thanksgiving time. Initially it is wound fairly tightly but with some nice hints of red fruits and traces of blue. The palate is surprisingly soft, with soft, well-integrated tannins. The finish goes on foreever with mostly red fruit notes and a little licorice, some fresh wood, forest and flowers. 

After 30 minutes in decanter, more black fruit hints and coffee. Perfect balance of acid, tannin and fruit. The accompaniment of tenderloin expertly cooked by Max with the wine is amazing! The long finish is the most impressive and though young, it's really quite drinkable--just as the '19 Pontet Canet was at RDV last summer.

 Notes from visit to RDV winery tasting July 2023 (with Sarah and also Sharon O'Brien). This is reputedly the best winery in VA and they daringly create a tasting of three bordeaux-style wines, theirs, a real bordeaux, and a bordeaux styled wine from CA. Notes:

Pontet Canet 2019: Surprisingly forward and drinkable: coffee mocha, blueberry and blackberry. Though it's still obviously very young it's not super tannic, or rather the tannins are very soft. I love this. It has noticeably more vanilla oak than the others.

Lost Mt '19 (RDV) Fruity in taste, and more tannic than Pontet Canet. But nicely balanced. A good amount of alcohol, presumably good for aging. Coffee coming out with more air, and ripe plum.

Ulysses '18 (owned by Petrus and Dominus). Very forward with eucalyptus, and a bit of spicy veg. Very pleasant and distinctive spice. Cranberry essence, nice long finish. Warm too but good balance. No merlot. This is also beautiful and very different from Pontet Canet. Super complex, even with some lavender.

 1982 Mouton Rothschild (final bottle of the original 24) tasted November 2021. The cork fell apart and wine was rescued using cheese cloth with help from Sarah, Emily, Laura and Max. Beautiful old cab nose with off-notes. Does smell of age for sure and the rim color is the perfect gradation of brick to darker interior. Very familiar lead pencil and tobacco nose like my memory of Mouton. Long finish with a little heat, some fruit and oak. Absolutely remarkably fresh for a 39 year-old wine. The finish is very long still! With air the nose became fruitier and taste also fruitier--so even more glorious with airing, and here's a wine nearly 40 years old that still improves with 30 minutes in glass, even after two decantings. Remained great after 1 hour. Max made a fabulous, best-ever duck dish.

 2018 Catena White Stones Chardonnay

Spice, cantelope, mineral and very fruity but balanced with acid and perhaps the longest finish of any chardonnay I've ever tasted. Of course with more time in glass more coplex nose. Ginger maybe provided the spice. The person who led tasting at Catena (attended with Max, Nov. 2019 trip to Argentina) said green peppercorn. Definitely a popcorn butter element, and some smoke. Carmelized pineapple. Finish is incredible, mineral-acid-fruit balance perfectly persists. Color is light golden yellow, not super dark looking considering how rich the wine tastes. Another hour on in glass: very fruity, almost like another wine. This one scored in high nineties with experts and I agree. Bottle tasted in 2021.

2013 Clos Mogador

 December 4, 2020. Ethereally complex and deep nose. Road tar, vanilla toffee, blackberry, coffee, mint, sweet flowers. Hint of Cabernet in the blend. Long perfectly balanced finish. Med-full body. Rim shows aging nicely, still deep purple center. 97 points from me, 98 from Parker, 94 from Vinous. Totally lives up to my expectations; this is consistently my go-to Priorat when I'm looking for the best. 

Update: had final bottle at Bin 54 with Sarah on July 14, 2023. Even better with 2.5 more years of age. And I preserved 1/4 bottle that was left with air pump preserver so as of July 17 still a beautiful wine of immense complexity and breeding.Mocha, mint, berry, flowers (esp on July 14). Long finish with some alcohol heat to keep the finish going on for minutes.

2016 Mas Doix Salanques

 Mas Doix is one of my favorite wineries. The top of the line wine is Mas Doix, second wine Salanques which I think is just slightly younger vines (still quite old). Had a wonderful tasting with the owner in 2016 (the year this wine's grapes were growing in the vineyard) with Tom and Daniel Banks. The owner had just hosted a tasting for S. Korean sommeliers and already had several older vintages of the flagship wine open so we had a particularly superb tasting, and he was very generous with his time so it was a really memorable experience. (As were several of our other tastings in Priorato.)

On this wine, the nose at 4 years old is opening up nicely, and so beautiful. The impressions of spearmint, flowers and pine needles join with the cherry fruit to mark this as a Priorat. Grapes are 65% grenache, 25% carignan and 10% syrah and that's what this smells like to me, Grenache dominating but spice, woodsy odors from carignan and syrah. Aged 14 mo. in oak. On palate there's plenty of alcohol and acid for long life and this carries a pretty long finish with noticeable but softish tannins. I'd guess this will peak in 2-3 years and last till the late 20s. I'd give it the same 93+ as Parker.

Parker says 93+ points: The 2016 Salanques is phenomenal, one of the finest vintages ever. It has an expressive nose combining notes of flowers, wild herbs and berries and subdued minerality, reminiscent of wet slate. The palate is medium-bodied, with a little less alcohol, fine, slightly dusty tannins and very good freshness. It's terribly balanced and tasty. It should develop beautifully in bottle. 18,000 bottles were filled in April 2018.