u/rockytopbilly

Quince, straw, floral perfume, and vanilla on the nose, with the straw especially noticeable early. Stone fruit comes through with a distinctly and river rock/minerality quality running through it.

There’s enough richness that it came across a little cloying at first, but the structure underneath it is excellent. Stylistically it landed somewhere between Chablis and Pouilly-Fuissé: the stone, freshness, and perfume of the former with some of the broader fruit and vanilla richness of the latter.

It tastes extremely young. I’d love to revisit this with 2–6 years of bottle age, when I suspect the richness and vanilla will integrate and let the structure show even more.

For $23 after the member discount at my local bottle shop, this is ridiculous. With a couple more years on it, I could easily believe I was drinking white Burgundy blind. Substantial enough for roast chicken and probably even better with pork loin.

I was genuinely nervous about this bottle. It was a relatively inexpensive CdP when released, it’s now 16 years old, and I had built the whole dinner around trusting that it still had something to say.
It absolutely did.

A few hours after opening, it was still remarkably alive—simple, beautiful, and intensely floral. It paired better with the steak and peppercorn sauce than the objectively better wine on the table, a 2004 Pride Reserve Claret. The Pride was the better wine. La Mitre was my favorite.

Around seven hours in, the finish turned into pure black tea—the most distinct tea note I’ve ever experienced in wine. Later, sitting outside in the mild evening, the nose shifted again into straight bonfire.

By the very end, after seeing oxygen galore, it was finally on its last legs:

Nose: Cedar bonfire, laundry detergent in the sense of tired perfume, and bramble—both bushes and berries.

Palate: Smoked leftover beef-stew gravy and cranberries. I really mean nearly everything in beef stew except rosemary. Even a bay leaf would have felt completely at home.

Finish: Boozed cherry, oak, thyme, and pleasantly bitter cedar. Not extremely long, but longer than a $25–35 wine had any business lingering.
The tannins were incredibly resilient after 16 years, and they—along with the acidity—carried all the savory and fruity notes to the very end.
The fruit was tired, but the wine was not.

Let me start by saying I’ve had a lot of great bottles from LB. But this one is my favorite. It had so much to say and evolved beautifully over the evening.

Nose: White Dove soap, honeysuckle, floral chalk, ripe stone fruit, and polished perfume. With air it developed creaminess, straw, white pepper, a faint kerosene note, and eventually a savory, almost smoky character.

Palate: Rich and unusually juicy for Chablis, with peachy stone fruit, lemon, green apple, and pronounced salinity. Full-bodied and close to cloying at times, but kept in balance by acidity and a firm mineral backbone.

Finish: Long and evolving, moving through hay, smooth floral perfume, green apple with a whisper of pastry, cool white-pepper spice, and finally limestone and slate.

Nose: Fresh straw and dry hay with an herbal note that almost reminds me of the backbone of a red wine. Faint honeysuckle brings back memories of the vines beside my childhood home. As it opens, subtle white flowers mingle with an unexpected hint of milk chocolate.

Palate: Bright lemon leads the way with a creamy, almost hefeweizen-like texture that gives the wine more weight than expected. Hay and straw return alongside delicate honeysuckle, while that intriguing touch of chocolate somehow carries through without feeling out of place.

Finish: Long, saline, and citrus-driven. Lemon and minerality linger as the hay slowly fades into the distance. A gentle touch of alcohol warmth closes the wine without disturbing its balance.

Overall: This is classic Chablis with a little extra personality—bright, textured, and intensely mineral, yet surprisingly evocative. It manages to be refreshing while still offering enough body to keep me coming back for another sip. I’ll miss this bottle if it truly disappears from Costco’s lineup.

I love picking up weird, inexpensive bottles to fill out my 12 shipper from WineBid from time to time. It’s almost always a rewarding experience. This was no different. Barbera from Columbia Valley at a $15 auction price? Must try for me. I like different.

Used the Durand, but the cork did not seem
Like it needed it. Impressive start.

As I was pouring it, I was shocked not to see more bricking. Impressive color.

The nose was tight on opening, leading me to believe it was gonna be flat. After some time, though, it proved me wrong. Leather, cherry, cola, spice, stew.

Continues the cherry, spice, stew on the mouth.

The finish is a touch boozy and spicy, something that I largely appreciated.

Another great experiment in the books to celebrate the experiment of America on her bday. Not sure how many years we have left, but here’s to 250.

Cheers, everyone!

It always gets mentioned as a great intro to Rhône, but I have never seen tasting notes. I love this wine, so here are my notes on a wine that honestly outshines a Tuesday night.

Nose: Black fruit, cherry, flowers, leather, stew

Palate: Leather, acid, tannin, chocolate, stew

Finish: boozy cherry cordial

Moved here recently and had to check out Bark at the Park with the Braves in town! (Don’t worry, the Padres swept them. Oof.)

Some of you might remember my post a week ago (https://www.reddit.com/r/wine/s/y5peJbpfpv). Well, here we are again. Are the yanks good at futbol?

Lemon brioche pound cake served on a limestone rock. Simple, but effective. The bubbles are small and create more of a creamy aspect than expected at $15.

These boots [soccer for cleats! 😊]are made for walking (to the next round).

I hope you all have (red, white, and) blue dream(s) 😉

https://www.mlb.com/all-star/ballot

Stashed this away for nearly 2 years from release. I really wish I had cases of this stored somewhere, as it’s one of the best bang for my buck wines I’ve ever had. If you’re sleeping on Kirkland- stop it. They make a lot of good stuff and a lot of bad stuff. Do yourself a favor and find the good stuff.

Notes taken over 3+ hours from decanting.

Nose- orange peel, cocoa, floral, cherry, leather, beautifully integrated booze, herbs

Mouth- sour chocolate cherry, tannins and acid build a great structure; cocoa, more rich cherry, stewed meat with bay leaf

Finish- pleasantly boozy and lingering, cherry cordial, leathery and oaky goodbye

I’m kicking myself for not acquiring at least an extra half case of this. What an amazing QPR.

Got 6 of these from LB earlier this year. Was having a great time watching the US look actually competent at soccer (er, football for those of you east of the pond). Decided to splurge on all my guilty pleasures.

Nose- creamy Lemon cake, light flint and brioche

Palate- high lemon acidity, some creaminess, a little bread

Finish- crispy and uplifting

Overall, it’s not my favorite due to the high acidity, but at $20/bottle, it’s tough to beat.

Blue Dream and Tha Carter III to round out the night.

Got on the spring LB marathon. Pretty pleased.

Nose- stewed fruit, leather, brambly/jamminess

Palate- cherry, leather, great cranberry-like acidity that balances it out, tannins are pretty good background noise as you’d expect

Finish- tobacco, Luxardo cherry

It’s mature. Better to have it without food imo, even though the acidity is still there.

Had it with duck breast on caramelized apple/squash and broccolini.

Recently moved. One of my first purchases at a new (to me) local bottle shop. My first real go at cab franc from Loire. My overarching observation is that this has years left, and while I don’t usually enjoy this much fruit, the tannic backbone and acidity really round it out. Contemplating getting another bottle and stashing it for 3+ years.

Nose- blackberries, raspberries, leather, cocoa, bell pepper, spice, floral notes appeared here and there over a couple hours

Palate- pretty much exactly as the nose predicted; fruit first, leather transitions to green pepper, balancing acidity and tannins

Finish- leathery cordial cherry

Seriously, what a weird ad? Clearly I was the target audience as a Tennessee Vols fan, but I still feel offended somehow.

Great headline to tie it to Lou Gehrig.

Nose- lemons, slate, hay, white flowers, melon

Palate- acidity translates to a medium-rich flowery landing spot. The lemon/acidity never gives way to something richer that I wish was there. But it’s not unenjoyable. I just prefer richer than medium-rich.

Finish- you ever suck the middle of those white flowers we called honeysuckles when we were kids? That with a touch of ginger. It’s slightly bitter but it’s nostalgic.

Got a few of these at Costco last year when they were $70. I knew it was a gamble on the 2020s, but a gamble I had to take. Boy did it pay off in a big way.

Used the Coravin last night to try this out.

So much going on. Bramble berry (including the whole woodsy shrub), dark cherry, earth, eucalyptus, thyme. Usually I can be a little averse to acidity, but in this case it balanced the wine out quite well. The mouthfeel was velvety smooth.

I’m really looking forward to popping this, probably the next time I make mushroom risotto. Just wish I had more than 2 bottles left.