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Domaine Laurent Martray Brouilly Corentin 2022, Beaujolais, France

13 Tuesday Jan 2026

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Deep ruby colored, with slight staining , and a medium viscosity (14% ABV).  The nose has medium (-) intensity aromas of very ripe mulberry, sweet tobacco, vanilla, baking spice, blackcurrant reduction, and pine needles.  The palate is dry, with medium (+) acidity, a medium body, and medium tannins that are powdery.  Medium (+) intensity flavors make up for the lack of intensity on the nose.  The ripeness of the fruit is amazing- the flavors of which mimic the nose but in a much more concentrated way.  The tannins are really silky smooth and lead to a nice mouthfeel.  This is not your Parisian café quaffer, it’s a pretty rich, complex, balanced and age worthy wine that is compelling me to take another sip.  It’s delicious and drinking en pointe.  The finish is medium in length and yummy.  92 points for this Gamay that I paid $30 for, getting 5 stars.  Drink till 2030.  Salut….

Domaine Laurent Martray Brouilly Corentin

Betts & Scholl Hermitage Rouge 2001, Rhone Valley, France

01 Thursday Jan 2026

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Medium garnet colored with definite bricking, and a medium viscosity (13.5% ABV).  The nose of this 25 year old wine has medium (_) intensity aromas of prune, caramel, burnt coffee, dates, steamed blackberry, cracked black pepper, marzipan, and a herbal note.  The palate is dry, with medium acidity, a medium (-) body, and low tannins.  Unfortunately it’s way over the hill and quite sour tbh.  There is no pleasure here, which should have been evident by the dried out cork that refused to come out.  Sucha a shame as I paid $35 on spec for this a few months ago.  Salut….

betts & Scholl Hermitage rouge

Chateau Saint-Roch 2016, Saint-Estephe, France

13 Saturday Dec 2025

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Medium ruby colored, with a medium viscosity (13% ABV).  The nose has medium (+) intensity aromas of tobacco, cassis, blackberry, green herbs, honey, a touch of earth, and petrichor.  The palate is dry, with medium (+) acidity, a medium (-) body, and medium tannins that are slightly overwhelmed by the acidity.  Medium intensity flavors of cassis, black raspberry, rhubarb, green herbs, and sour red cherries.  It’s an interesting wine that smells one way, and tastes another.  The shortish finish is quite tart, and lacking much fruit.  I want to give this bottle a chance to soften up, but for now it’s an 87 point wine at best.  I bought it at a wine shop in Paris and forgot to write down the price.  Drink till 2028.  Salut….

Chateau Saint-Roch

Domaine la Guintrandy Louise d’Agoult 20, Beaumes de Venise, France

13 Saturday Dec 2025

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Medium ruby colored with medium viscosity (14.5% ABV).  Medium intensity aromas of black plum, black raspberry, cracked pepper, bacon, green herbs, licorice, and açaí berry.  The palate is dry with medium acidity, a full body and medium tannins.  Medium (+) intensity flavors, with black pepper being the most noticeable.  The tannins sneak up on the mid palate.  The finish has a slight green note and is medium in length.  Decent cellaring capacity unless you like a fresh wine with a slightly tannic mouthfeel.  A blend of Grenache and Syrah from the Southern Rhone that gets 90 points from me.  At $15 it’s a 5 star wine to drink till 2030.  Salut….

Domaine la Guintrandy Louise d'Agoult Beaumes de Venise

Domaine du Grand Montmirail Gigondas ‘Vieilles Vignes’ 2020, Rhone, France

28 Friday Nov 2025

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Deep ruby colored that is slightly cloudy, with high viscosity (15% ABV). Medium intensity aromas of black and red raspberry, licorice, green herbs.  The palate has medium acidity, a full body, and medium tannins.  Medium (+) intensity flavors of charcoal, ripe raspberry, licorice, lavender, stone and iron.  The long finish makes this a delicious wine which is a blend of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre, hence the deep color. 91 points from me for this $30 effort makes it a 5 star wine to drink till 2030.  Salut….

Domaine du Grand Montmirail Gigondas 'Vieilles Vignes'

Georges Duboeuf Domaine des Rosiers Moulin-a-Vent 2021, Beaujolais, France

16 Sunday Nov 2025

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Medium ruby colored, with medium viscosity (13% ABV).  The nose has medium intensity aromas of red grape, a green vegetal note (not loving that), pomegranate, cherry cola, and baking spice.  It’s somewhat one-dimensional.  The palate is dry, with medium (+) acidity, a medium (-) body, and medium (+) tannins that are quite grippy.  Medium intensity flavors of cherry, red grape, black tea, baking spice and pomegranate are overshadowed by a noticeable astringency.  It’s not something an aerator or decanter will fix, I think the tannins are green and hard.  The finish is medium (+) in length, but the tannic grip envelopes the whole mouth.  It gets 85 points from me, hopefully the other two bottles I have will mellow out.  Running $35 online, it’s a 2 star effort for me.  I’m going to pair it with Prime Rib, hopefully the fatty cut will sort out the tannins.  Salut….

Georges Duboeuf Domaine des Rosiers Moulin-a-Vent

Domaine du Grand Montmirail Vacqueyras Mas Carré 2022, Rhone Valley, France

29 Monday Sep 2025

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Medium ruby colored, with slight staining, and a medium (+) viscosity (14.5% ABV).  The nose has medium (-) intensity aromas of smoke, bacon, black cherry, black raspberry, garigue, and wet stone.  The palate is dry, with medium acidity, a full body, and medium (+) tannins.  The flavors are more pronounced than the nose but the dark, brooding fruit is there as are the smoldering notes.  Licorice appears and there’s a slightly gamy profile thanks to the Syrah (45%) that is tempered by Grenache at 55%.  The finish is a bit astringent, which is actually enticing.  The length is medium (-).  It’s a fun, food centric wine that might be a touch ascerbic if drunk alone.  89 points from me, with a drink by window till 2030.  At $25, it gets 3 stars.  I am pairing it with roasted Shoulder Filet and Harissa potatoes.  Salut….

Domaine du Grand Montmirail Vacqueyras Mas Carré

Domaine Durieu Chateauneuf-du-Pape Cuvee Reserve Lucile Avril 2020, Rhone, France

09 Monday Jun 2025

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The closer at the 40th virtual wine tasting was this CDP.  Medium ruby colored with a high viscosity (15.5% ABV).  The group found medium intensity aromas of black cherry, bramble berry, funk, blackberry, leather, green leaf and a benzene note.  On the palate it was dry, with medium (-) acidity, a full body, and medium tannins.  Flavorwise- it was syrupy with black raspberry, bramble berry, overstepped black tea and black cherry.  Slightly astringent, it finished long.  It was not my favorite by a long shot and only garnered 15 points out of a possible 20 on our tasting sheet but technically speaking- this $45 effort got 90 points making it a 3 star wine.  It has some cellaring capacity even though it’s currently open for business. My buddy gave it a perfect score but then again he was pretty cheery by the close and loves Southern Rhone wines in general.  A blend of 80% grenache, 10% syrah and 10% mourvedre.  Salut….

Domaine Durieu Chateauneuf-du-Pape Cuvee Reserve Lucile Avril

Yohan Lardy Fleurie Le Vivier 2023, Beaujolais, France

09 Monday Jun 2025

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I wanted our virtual tasting group to try a cru Beaujolais, unfortunately this one wasn’t it…. Medium ruby bordering on garnet with a low viscosity (12.5% ABV).  The nose had medium intensity aromas of purple grapes, pepper and plum.  It was quite boring.  The palate had medium (-) acidity, a medium (-) body, and medium (-) tannins.  Flavors of green pepper, grape, fresh peppercorns, and some plum gave way to a decently long finish that lifted the low score of this one-dimensional wine.  I scored it a mere 12 points on our tasting scale and awarded it 89 points on technical merit.  I paid $23 for this 3 star effort.  Drink till 2028. Salut….

Yohan Lardy Fleurie Le Vivier

Sebastien Dampt Cote de Lechet 2022, Chablis Premier Cru, France

09 Monday Jun 2025

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We tasted this Burgundian Chardonnay at the 40th virtual wine tasting.  Per normal,  it was served chilled first followed by a room temperature glass for comparison.  The chilled version scored far better for me which is unusual.  Pale gold in color with medium viscosity (13% ABV).  The nose gave us citrus, nectarines, honey, melon, peach and pink grapefruit.  The palate was dry with medium (+) acidity, and a medium (-) body.  The flavors are very terroir driven with loads of minerality and a long finish.  I scored this one a 16 on our tasting scale with a 91 point technical score.  The room temperature version was far less aromatic on the nose which surprised me.  It was more broad with lemon and grapefruit pith notes coupled with some honey and peach.  The palate was fuller in body but less powerful, not as complex and lacking focus.  The peach note remained alongside some ripe Honeycrisp apple notes and a slight bitterness.  The finish was only medium at this temperature.  I scored it a mere 10 points on our sheet.  Overall, I really enjoyed this wine well-chilled on night two.  At $30, it’s a treat bottle that gets 4 stars from me.  I believe it has some decent cellaring capacity with potential to evolve.  Salut….

Sebastien Dampt Cote de Lechet