Saturday, April 30, 2016

Domaine Rossignol-Trapet (Gevrey-Chambertin) -- 2013s Tasted from Bottle



The 2013s have turned out well at Rossignol-Trapet. A review of vintage conditions and reports on these and other wines tasted a year earlier from cask are found here. (Continue reading here.)

Friday, April 29, 2016

Domaine Pierre Guillemot (Savigny-les-Beaune) -- 2013s Tasted from Bottle


Guillemot is one of those producers who seem to get it right no matter what the vintage, and 2013 is shown very well in these wines, some of which are even more impressive from bottle than they were from cask. My earlier review of these and other Guillemot wines of the vintage is here. (Continue reading here.)

Thursday, April 28, 2016

Recently Tasted Red Wines from the Beaujolais and Southern Burgundy



I continue to find 2014 a reasonably good vintage, but with some inconsistency and with fewer highs than I have found in many other vintages. If the wines of Jean-Claude Lapalu reviewed below are indicative of the 2015s to come, that should be a truly exciting vintage.


Other reviews of Beaujolais that may still be on the market are found herehere, and here. (Continue reading here.)

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Domaine Rollin Père & Fils (Pernand-Vergelesses) -- 2013s Tasted from Bottle



Tasting through a selection of 2013 reds from bottle shows success for the vintage, the difficult conditions from the late July hail notwithstanding. A description of the vintage at Rollin, including notes on tasting these and other wines in autumn 2014, is found here.


Rollin’s wines age well and provide outstanding value. (Continue reading here.)

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Domaine Camus-Bruchon (Savigny-les-Beaune) -- 2013s Tasted from Bottle



Vintage conditions and review of these wines and others of the estate from cask are here. As you can see by comparing that report with this one, despite the very difficult conditions of this tiny vintage with serious hail at the end of July, these wines are in line with what I tasted from cask in autumn 2014 and it is a good vintage at Camus-Bruchon. (Continue reading here.)

Monday, April 25, 2016

Fritz Haag (Brauneberg, Mosel) -- 2014s Tasted from Bottle

Like the preceding vintage, 2014 was extremely challenging in the Mosel, with the rain and the spread of rot causing a reduced vintage period. Haag started with 35 harvesters, normal, and finished by adding 15 more. (Continue reading here.)

Sunday, April 24, 2016

Ridge Vineyards -- Current U.S. National Release Wines

Ridge’s current national (U.S.) release selection is impressively strong, perhaps the best set that I can recall with several don’t-miss wines. (Continue reading here.)

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Domaine des Comtes LAFON (Meursault) -- 2013s Tasted from Bottle



Background on the 2013 vintage at Lafon and reviews of these wines and more from cask are located here.  (Continue reading here.)


Sunday, April 17, 2016

Eugen Müller (Forst, Pfalz) -- 2014s Tasted from Bottle


As I said in my review of Mosbacher’s wines, Forst is the Vosne-Romanée of the Pfalz. Most of the great vineyards are owned by the great VDP producers: von Bassermann-Jordan, von Buhl, von Winning, Mosbacher, Acham-Magin, etc. But Müller, not a VDP member, has been making outstanding wines for at least several years, and the wines sell at most attractive prices. The 2014 vintage is particularly successful and worthy of your attention, should you have access to the wines.  (The Spätlese trockens are the equivalent to the VDP’s GG’s.) (Continue reading here.)

Saturday, April 16, 2016

Domaine Jean-Jacques Confuron (Premeaux-Prissey) -- 2013s Tasted from Bottle



Background on the vintage at Confuron and reviews of these and other wines from cask are here. (Continue reading here.)


Georg Mosbacher (Forst, Pfalz) -- 2014s Tasted from Bottle

After the cool and wet summer, harvesting here began on 10 September and finished on 9 October. There was less rain here than in other regions, and overall production was about normal and a little less than in 2013. (Continue reading here.)

Friday, April 15, 2016

Domaine Sylvain Cathiard (Vosne-Romanée) -- 2013s from Bottle



The 2013s have turned out excellently. You can compare the results with those from cask a year earlier here. As you can see, a couple of wines even showed better than my range from cask had predicted. (Continue reading here.)

Thursday, April 14, 2016

Maximin Grünhäuser/von Schubert (Mertesdorf, Ruwer) -- 2014s and 2012 Spätburgunder Tasted from Bottle

In general, 2014 and in particular the rains of October 7 and 8 were less problematic in the Ruwer (and Saar) than in the Mittel Mosel. Nevertheless, the conditions prevented the making of wine of Prädikat higher than Spätlese. (Continue reading here.)

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Jean Chauvenet (Nuits-Saint-Georges) -- 2013s Tasted from Bottle

Details on the vintage as well as my notes on tasting these wines and others from cask are located here. As with the past few Burgundy estates on which I reviewed 2013s from bottle, I am pleased to state that the wines here performed at the top of the range, or above, that which I evaluated them when tasting from cask. Christophe Drag has produced an excellent vintage. (Continue reading here.)

Robert Weil (Kiedrich, Rheingau) -- 2014s Tasted from Bottle

This selection of 2014s shows good quality in Weil’s 2014s. Weil has long practiced a policy of putting grapes of higher quality in wines than one would expect from the label, and one sees that here, yet again, justifying prices that initially might seem high compared to those of some neighboring estates. (Continue reading here.)

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Domaine Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier (Chambolle-Musigny) -- 2013s Tasted from Bottle

The wines reviewed from cask and background on vintage conditions and winemaking are located here. As you can see, several of the wines show even better from bottle than they did a year earlier from cask. The vintage here is outstanding, topped by great wines from Amoureuses and Musigny. (Continue reading here.)

Wagner-Stempel (Siefersheim, Rheinhessen) -- 2014s Tasted from Bottle

This estate, located at the northern border of the Rheinhessen with the Nahe, really is at least as much of what is thought of as Nahe in style as it is Rheinhessen (there is a general perception, I think of what Nahe is; for Rheinhessen, the interest in the wines other than along the Roter Hang may be too recent and the terroirs too diverse to provide a single idea of the region’s wines). At any rate, this is one of the great star producers to emerge in Germany in recent times. (Continue reading here.)

Saturday, April 9, 2016

Comte Georges de Vogüé (Chambolle-Musigny) -- 2013s Tasted from Bottle

De Vogüé’s 2013’s tasted from cask a year earlier are reviewed here along with background information on the vintage. As you can see below, the wines have turned out from bottle just about exactly as I saw them from cask. (Continue reading here.)

Friday, April 8, 2016

Villa Wolf (Pfalz) -- 2014s Tasted from Bottle

Villa Wolf is a negociant brand associated with the J. L Wolf estate in the Pfalz that Ernie Loosen (of Dr. Loosen) runs. (Continue reading here.)

Thursday, April 7, 2016

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (Vosne-Romanée) -- 2013s Tasted from Bottle



The wines tasted in November 2014 from cask are reviewed, along with background information on the vintage, here. (Continue reading here.)