Pop and pour.  Purple with ruby swirls, still looking bright.  The nose is nice.  Cassis, dried currents, tobacco and dust.  On the palate, this took some time to open and then was singing.  At peak or perhaps just a bit past, this won't last as long as the 01 or the 94, but it has plenty of great drinking left.  Layers of cassis, dried fruits and dry earth.  Good balance.  Very food friendly.  A lot in common with and older Bordeaux but still has some energy and sunshine screaming California.  

Easily the best Luxemourgish dessert wine with age on it ever tasted!  Ok, this is not very common.  It was purchased on a visit to the winery.  From a 375ml.  Light golden color with a bit of green.  The nose is nice with wet rocks, slight grapefruit and a bit of honey.  On the palate, this has some acidity bit not a lot.  Good depth and complexity.  Viscous texture.  Worked well with an assortment of cheeses.  A fun experience as well.  Less acidity than its German counterparts and more minerality than its Alsatian neighbors.  Very nice.  

This retails for between $8 and $13 depending on location and store.  It certainly would be a fun wine for a Halloween party.  And for the price, this will be a popular wine at the party.  Bright, deep purple in color.  The nose has black cherries and some black raspberries with some dust and a bit of spice.  On the palate, this is ever so slightly sweet/ripe.  Lots of black cherry fruit as well.  It has a lush texture and drinks well on its own.  Would work with bigger foods or apps.  An interesting mid-evil looking label.  Is this amazing?  Not really.  But, one could pay twice as much fo

Pop and pour, like many 2012's this seems a bit shut down right now.  Luckily, there was time to wait.  After about an hour it opened nicely.  inky purple in color.  The nose has black cherries, cassis, spice, dried cherries and a slight tobacco note.  On the palate, this is drinking quite well.  Black cherries and spice.  Nice texture.  Sill young, it unwinds in the glass.  Deep and tightly complex.  Good finish.  This is a robust wine that needs about five years of good cellaring.  It has a couple of decades left.  Will work with bigger foods but works great on its own right now.  

Wow.  This wine should make old bones, but it is so good now, it is not likely to.  Stunning wine that seemingly gets better and better.  This bottle was consumed over 4 hours and the last glass was the best.  Inky purple in color.  The nose has cassis, graphite, cedar, blueberries and spice.  On the palate, this has a seamless texture.  Delicious.  Deep and tightly layered; it explodes in the glass.  Tons of cassis and blue berries layered with minerality and spice.  Medium tannins.  Long finish.  It does need bigger or spicier food, but it is oh so good.  

This is a "Right Bank" styled wine.  There were some concerns over opening at age 26.  The cork looked in great shape.  The wine was decanted for sediment.  There was a lot on the side of the bottle and in the wine.  Ruby in color.  The nose is older but nice.  Cigar box, cherries, dried cherries, slight old leather and slight black cherries.  On the palate, this took a bit to open up and then it drank beautifully.  Complex and layered.  Cherries, dried tobacco, dry earth.  No tannins.  Good and in balance acidity.  Nice finish.  Not an OMG wine, but a very good wine that would compare favo

This was very tight at first.  Probably should have decanted for an hour.  After a bit, it opened and was excellent.  Yellow/gold in color.  The nose is vanilla/lemon cream.  Although "Burgundian" certainly could be used, it is a pretty consistent nose from this vineyard.  On the palate, this has a creamy texture.  Nice lemon cream with a touch of vanilla and an underlying minerality.

Deep golden in color.  The nose shows some slight oxidation but not a lot.  Some apple cider notes but also fresh pears.  On the palate, this is just barely sweet.  The apple cider carries thru as does the pears.  Good finish.  So the big question is whether this was a pristine bottle.  At age 13, it probably should have been a bit fresher.  On the other hand, it was varietally correct.  It seems this was close enough that it is within the variance of a 13 years old top Vouvray.   All in all, this should have been better but it was still very good.  

Torrin is a winery we have been urging people to sign up for their mailing list for a while now.  And every year they keep ratcheting up the quality.  It was nice to go back six years to try this.  Probably not yet at maturity but past the baby stages and getting close.  Inky purple in color.  The nose has black raspberries, black pepper, char and slight roasted meats.  On the palate, this is big but concentrated and not exuberant.  Black raspberry fruit with underlying char.  It took some time to open but revealed and deep and complex wine.  Nice finish.  This needs big or spicy food but a

2012 is such an interesting vintage.  An excellent one to be sure, but the wines were so open on release and they have slowly closed over time.  This one was tight and really needed a few hours of air to open up and show its stuff.  Purple in color with some ruby swirls.  The nose is great.  Very concentrated cassis, spice, leather and slight black cherries.  On the palate, this is again quite concentrated.  It opens in the glass with plenty of cassis.  Medium tannins.  A fair amount of oak/spice still left.  This probably needs five more years of good cellaring to hit its peak.  Will work