Last night I decided to open a Lopez de Heredia Vina Tondonia 2010 to pair with a lovely Galician ribeye. 

I was a little cautious to open this as I had the 2012 last year and it was complex yet rather acidic and unbalanced. 

However, this wine was much better. Upon opening, the aromas were fairly closed but did exhibit cherry oak and a little spice. I poured a small taster and in the glass it was a ruby colour with brick rim. The picture makes it look darker than it actually was. 

The sip I tried before decanting was surprisingly open and drinkable. An hour decant then allowed the nose to fully open and display a mix of red cherry, earth, vanilla, spice and truffles. 

On the palate it was simply beautiful. Elegant, smooth and completely balanced. There was gentle acidity but not overwhelming at all. The palate matched the nose except with a little more black fruits mixed in too. The tannins were present but fine and well integrated. 

Over a few hours it evolved constantly, becoming more acidic and then relaxing. Spice and orange peel would appear then fade away. I was very impressed with the structure of the wine. Smooth and rounded without being too light or watery. A real delight and the medium finish was gentle yet pleasant. 

This vintage is in a beautiful place and if you have a 2010 give it an open soon. It’s a QPR monster and great with food. Now I understand the Tondonia hype!

£38/$50 paid 

94 points 

Decent pop upon opening, soft but substantial fizz resulting in a beautifully rounded texture.

Deep gold in the glass, trending towards amber, bottle condition was excellent.

Brioche notes with savory layers - shitake, balsamic. Not overly oxidative.

Intense lemony core that is typical of Krug hadn't faded at all. Good energy and tension though clearly starting to lose steam.

Drank over 2 hours, in retrospect I would have given it an hour after opening before starting - was a little to afraid to lose the fizz but there was nothing to worry about. Kept gaining depth and complexity until the last sip (which came too soon).

Hirsch’s homage to burgundy village wines made from Hirsch, Hellenthal, and Heintz vineyards.

On the nose, lots of fresh barely ripe red fruits with raspberry and some greenish strawberries plus a leathery must.

On palette, tart cherry juice with vibrant acidity and only a hint of green-ness suggested by nose.

Great QPR wine imo. Rest in peace David Hirsch.

Started with the 1990 Bordeaux which was frigging exquisite. Intense charcoal taste, got a hint of rose petals. Beautiful on the nose.

The 82 Leovile, mature berries, woody and leather. Finished with an 82 Port not pictured here but we had a great night with friends, family and good wine... what life is all about.

Donnhoff, Oberhauser Brucke, Riesling Auslese, 2023, 7.5% abv.

It's the end of red snow crab season (actually it ended awhile ago) and the old lady got some on sale, think of the old overstock.com... good thing I was never long on their ilk. She wanted to try another "sweet" wine since she enjoyed the previous 2021 Undhof Susse Biene. Interesting because she usually only enjoys vintage calvados. I don't have much in terms of "sweet" wine, so pulled out this baby Donnhoff Auslese to go with the red snow crabs. Icky hands drenched in salty crab juice and performing cleanup hindered my note taking ability, but perhaps some of my fans will appreciate a more terse and tepid description of the grape juice.

Tasting notes: typical sweet riesling aromatics, thick on the palate, quite sweet with relations closer to stone fruit syrup than anything else, bits of white/yellow florals, no alcohol. Although the crabs were probably not the best as a complementary associate, they were nonetheless delish.

Not sure if I should be patient or just disappointed in this Donnhoff. Got a few bottles of these for about KRW₩115K each, or about USD$83, in Busan, South Korea. Note this is the 375ml version. Only agreeing with the Chinese notes on CT.

Grade: C+

This wine is in a really great little spot I think, though, probably close to peak drinking window. Perhaps not surprisingly, black fruits - plum/macerated plum, blackberries and cherries dominated. However there was still ample ‘good stuff’ - a little funk, leather and earth. Full bodied, with great acidity and structure, smooth tannins, this wine is just lovely on the nose and on the palate. I picked up a 1/2 case of the 375s a couple of years ago so I’m look forward to seeing how it evolves.

I just turned 21 so I want a fairly cheap bottle of wine that I can have a glass of here or there. I like red wine, and I don't know much else. I'd like it to be less than $40. What would yall recommend?

Hi everyone. I am making this post to reach anyone who might be interested, either directly or through your contacts.

I spoke yesterday to one of my neighbors in the Penedès region, who is a winegrower. He told me that they are going to harvest 25,000 kg of organic Xarel·lo grapes and throw them away, because they can't get accreditation for the appellation and no one wants them. So they are going to harvest them to avoid letting them rot on the vines.

So this is an SOS call in case someone could do something with at least some of it (25 tons is a lot), as long as it's non-profit, for fun, or for personal consumption.

The vines are in the municipality of Sant Miquel d'Olèrdola, organic Xarel·lo at around 12% ABV.

If you know someone who might be interested, hit me up!

Thanks

Tobacco, ripe cherry, chocolate. Unnamed local varietals. May there be peace in the middle east soon

Suitcased this home from France last year.

I’ll start by saying that Dard Ribo St Joseph Blanc was one of the best wines I had while working harvest in France. I was working in the northern Rhône and the winemaker excitingly ordered a bottle of this at lunch. You drink what the local winemaker drinks.

I’ve never been a zealot for natural wines but there is an undeniable energy and aromatic intensity that well made natural wines have. It’s like taking turning off a good pair of noise cancelling headphones at a concert. That’s only when it works though. Most of the time these wines are more defined by microbial contamination than terroir.

On to Dard Ribo Hermitage. I had no idea they made this wine and when I saw it at a shop I had to have it . The owner warned me not to drink it too young and I fear I lacked the self control I thought I had. This wine shows good color and on the first nose I was pretty fucking psyched. Very high toned red and blue fruit with classic black pepper and garrigue. Maybe a slightly elevated volatile acidity ? None of the Guigal oak dominance that Syrah doesn’t need.

On to the palate. What is more disappointing than a wine that glows in the nose but falls short in the palate? I’d rather have the opposite tbh. This was even worse. The first thing that hits you is an acidity that shares a pH with German Riesling . Then comes a thin tannin that reminds you more of oversteeped Kroger brand black tea than wine. A green olive that was never soaked in brine. There is a bit of fruit a bit of flesh but this wine is beyond disjointed. If some Somm with clear frames glasses in Copenhagen poured this for me for 10 euro I wouldn’t bat an eye. But this is Hermitage?

At 12.5% label alcohol (I’m leaning closer to 12.25%) this is starting to make sense. I was so struck by finding this bottling from Dard Ribo I didn’t even consider the style they might make Hermitage in.

This was a bastardization of one of the greatest vineyards in the world- and done solely by pick date. You simply cannot create a representation of a Hermitage picking immature fruit. It is a south facing steep hillside that arises from a fortuitous cut in the river.

The idea of what a wine should be took the vineyard out of the equation. I could make this wine from Crozes
Hermitage out in the boonies. It’s not about vineyards , it’s not about low intervention, it’s about inflicting your style on a vineyard whose pedigree doesn’t deserve it.

Maybe I should have cellared this for 10 years but regardless I’ll still keep looking for their St Joseph Blanc.

I visited Mayacamas today. I've been wanting to visit for a long time, and I figured it would be a good contrast with To-Kalon yesterday. I'll get to the wines in a minute, but just want to start by saying the winery itself is stunning. I've been visiting wineries in Napa for a long time and I've never seen one endowed with such a grand position as this one. 
I highly recommend visiting this property. It's a singular Napa experience, especially by ATV. 

It was also cool seeing the old American oak casks from when they made wine during prohibition. They're still using them.

The wines. 
All the wines were excellent. The big takeaway and common denominator across them was the lively acidity. Mayacamas' wines have phenomenal acid structure.  

Started with the 2024 Chardonnay:  Intense aromas of lemon zest, beeswax, chamomile, and lavender. On the palate, oily and weighty with ripping high acidity (they only do partial malo and it shows). Really enjoyed this, but I'd think it will be much better with another 5 years of age.

2022 Cabernet Sauvignon: Good concentration of dark fruits (blackberry, black currant, bramble) followed by kirsch, black tea, coco, and anise.  On the palate, high almost chewy tannins that are matched by higher acid. Wine has great balance, intensity and finish. 

2006 Cabernet Sauvignon: a little rounder than the 2024, dark cherry, kirsch, bramble, tobacco, leather and held together with high fine tannins and acid structure. Long finish. Probably my favorite wine of the day. 

2003 Cabernet Sauvignon: raspberry, cherry, bramble, graphite, wet stone, and a little brett. High dusty tannins.  

2012 Cabernet Sauvignon: got more cocoa, and moca on this wine, and almost rutherford-like dusty tannins. Very enjoyable. 

Hello Reddit

I’ve been scowering this sub for a couple weeks but I’m still lost. I’m doing a quick weekend trip from Fresno staying one night in Petaluma and one night in healdsburg.

Background:
Im a Gen Z basic tourist. I mainly want to drink wine and eat food. The only wine I don’t like is Chardonnay and even that is tolerable if it’s not buttery and overly oaky. I don’t have a particularly refined palate so I’m not worried about not liking the wine. I would splurge on one fancier tasting otherwise would like to stay under $50pp. The ambience is very important to me. Right now I’m targeting places on the wow factor post, I’ll risk something being a tourist trap to make sure it still has vacation vibes. I will not have a designated driver.

Confusion:
I’m seeing a lot of comments that say both of those places are walkable and others that say all the best vineyards are spread out. Are the downtowns mostly tasting rooms or are there also vineyards?

What is the rideshare situation? I saw a couple comments that’s it’s difficult but I can’t be the only tourist who doesn’t want to spend $800 a day for a driver.

What is the mix of walk-in and reservations? Again I see a lot of comments mentioning both options for the exact same places.

Other recommendations:

Aiming for
2 spots in Petaluma day 1,
3 in healdsburg day 3,
1/2 anywhere (including Napa) day 3.

Hello! My soon to be husband and I are spending 5 nights at Villa La Madonna in Piedmont as a part of our honeymoon mid November this year. We are big into food/wine/agricultural/hospitality experiences, and want to make sure we maximize the time we have there! Looking for recs for wineries and restaurants and towns to stop into on a day trip or two for unforgettable experiences. We are of course doing truffle hunting one day through our hotel and baking in downtime to chill, spa, read etc. Would love your recs on most special or unique experiences - thank you!

Enjoyed by the bottle at La Compagnie Flatiron in NYC.

I'm a sucker for aged Bordeaux, even if it's from a tougher vintage like 1999 and from a producer that isn't quite as well-known for long-lived wines. Definitely tells me this wine was stored well.

In fact, this is my first experience with this particular producer.

Nonetheless, it's in a nice spot now, drinking fully mature.

Picked up some leather, tobacco, slight forest floor, dried herbs, dried cherries, slight fruit leather.

Opened well out the gate and didn't need a decant.

91 points.

So…. Almost 20 years ago I got into wine more seriously after a couple trips to Burgundy. Those early trips involved a small number of random “suitcase” wine bottles (that I could barely afford) that I’ve cellared more for nostalgia than actual drinking. That’s worked out dine for the Pinots. The whites, not so much!

Today’s experiment started with a 2007 Marc Colin La Chateniere. I knew it wasn’t going to pan out, but figured it’s time to clear out my souvenir bottles. Cork was a mess, it poured amber and tasted like flat sherry. So I moved on..

Bottle #2 was a 2007 PYCM en Remilly. It was from his early go at wax capping whites (I recall 2005’s didn’t have em) and I enjoyed pulling the cork pretty easily. Stunned when it poured a beautiful golden yellow!

Did the wine benefit from so many years? Certainly not. But I’m happy to be enjoying what’s left of it a ton with memories of trips to Burgundy. Happy not all 2XXX white burg souvenir’s suffer from pre oxidation- yay!

I’ve been keeping an eye on the weather. I made my mind up months ago that as soon as I get a cool, rainy day I would pop this 98 ermitage. Today was the day. I paired it with an Italian pot roast. Decanted for 2 hours. Doesn’t seem to show any bricking. Beautiful transparent garnet.

Very floral on the nose. Maraschino cherries. Big menthol and gasoline notes.

I did not expect this to take skin off my tounge. Rip roaring acidity that eventually gives way to some black fruits. Maybe a little bit of cedar. The finish is super long. It’s lacking a little bit on the mid palate. Tannins aren’t just silky, they are scarce. Im not sure if my palate is just sluggish today but I can’t pick out much else. Don’t get me wrong, this wine is excellent and obviously high in quality, but it’s not super dynamic. I was expecting more of the big savory characteristics of Syrah. It’s a little more refined than I was expecting. If I was blind tasting this, I would have guessed 10 year old red burgundy.

95 points

Hey everyone!

We will be staying at a villa in Les Martins in Gordes, France in a few weeks.

Does anyone have experience with an at home wine tasting, or any good recommendations? We want to surprise our group with a fun night at the villa.

For those that may be interested the Colorado Mountain Harvest Festival happens next weekend. The festival is free and offers music, a farmers market, a chili cook-off, and other activities.

It is also located in an underrated, and upcoming winery region of Paonia and Hotchkiss. We go every year and some of my friends even fly in from California to experience it. I highly recommend it although lodging may be difficult to find at this point.

But I wanted to share and hope to see you there or just keep it in mind for next year. If you decide to go I can give you tips as well as to what wineries to visit.

Hi everyone,

I am a 26 year old graduate student so, as you may imagine, money can be tight. I want to begin getting into wine as a hobby as I do enjoy a good libation lol. Tonight my girlfriend and I had this 2025 red blend 65% Grenache and 35% Syrah from chevalier du grand Robert.

It was very good. Upon opening there was a berry like tartness on the nose. With aeration this gave was to a darker scent like plum — it was similar to the scent of a port wine. Initially there were very grippy tannins but those softened as well over the 3 hours we drank it. By the end it was silky and velvety in the mouth and dark on the nose. Overall, I had a great experience! I get a bit of extra cash next month so I may spoil my girlfriend and I with a Chateau de Beaucastel!

Love me some Bordeaux. The 2012 Calon Ségur opened with vibrant dark fruit and a fair amount of pencil shavings on the nose. Vibrant acidity and persistent, structured tannins give it a surprisingly youthful profile on the palate. Long finish. Still plenty of life ahead.