# The Cellar Book

> A private wine collection described by character, structure, and aroma — never by score. This file is the full contents in plain Markdown, for machines and humans alike.

Generated 2026-07-23 · Source: https://wine.kasra.codes/llms.txt

The site itself (https://wine.kasra.codes) is a client-rendered single-page app, so fetching its HTML yields an empty shell. Read this file instead. The same material as structured JSON lives at https://wine.kasra.codes/corpus.json.

Contents: 7 palate beliefs, 6 verbatim statements, 18 bottles, 14 tasting entries, 12 grapes, 15 producers, 11 appellations, 11 exploration cards.

---

## The palate model

Beliefs are held provisionally and carry a state: `holding` (load-bearing), `working` (supported, still soft), `demoted` (tried and set aside). Each keeps the owner’s verbatim words alongside the reading drawn from them, plus known confounders.

### age-matters — *demoted*

- **Claim (his words):** “I think the 'age' part of the left bank we are overindexing on because I just simply have purchased more older ones.”
- **Reading:** Maturity is demoted to weak/unproven as a driver of the loves. Only one young Left Bank has been drunk (2021 Pontet-Canet), and it is confounded by a lighter vintage and a side-by-side context. Do not weight age in the palate profile.
- **Confounder:** Only one young Left Bank drunk (2021 Pontet-Canet #2), confounded by a lighter vintage and a side-by-side comparison. Age is confounded with purchase history — older bottles were simply bought more often — not shown to drive verdicts.
- **Evidence bottles:** #1, #2, #5, #6

### cabernet-purity — *working*

- **Claim (his words):** “I liked the left banks I had that were Cab dominant.”
- **Reading:** The early reading that single-variety clarity / Cabernet-dominance drives the loves is weakened: percent-Cabernet does not predict the verdict. The 50%-Cab Glorias (the most blend-forward Left Banks owned) were loved with repurchase intent, while Grand-Puy-Lacoste (79% Cab, the most Cab-pure bottle drunk) was merely good with no repurchase intent.
- **Confounder:** Confounded with register and with plush-vs-line. Once Gloria (50% Cab, loved) and Grand-Puy-Lacoste (79% Cab, good-not-loved) are compared, percent-Cabernet tracks neither the loves nor the mehs.
- **Evidence bottles:** #4, #11, #12

### dry-acid-whites — *working*

- **Claim (his words):** “The chablis and the other white I really liked but mostly because for white wine I always default to pinot gris or pinot grigio and they were way dryer.”
- **Reading:** The structure preference translates to whites as dryness plus an acid line: dry, mineral, high-acid whites over off-dry or neutral ones. His Pinot Gris / Pinot Grigio default is now the baseline to beat.
- **Confounder:** Both whites were 'really liked', not loved. Unclear whether the ceiling is the wines or that whites simply matter less to him overall (his own open question).
- **Evidence bottles:** #14, #15

### plush-vs-line — *holding*

- **Masthead:** A held line separates the loves from the mehs.
- **Claim (his words):** “I liked the left banks I had that were Cab dominant but the right banks that were Merlot dominant felt unstructured and too blended.”
- **Reading:** The signal that separates the loves from the mehs is a held line — structure with proportion — versus plush shapelessness. It is NOT grape purity, NOT intensity, NOT price tier. Honest limit: at WSET ordinal granularity the loved Les Forts (#1) and the meh Laroque (#13) draw nearly identical spines; the separating signal lives in style (plush-vs-line, single-variety clarity), not in the six ordinals.
- **Confounder:** At WSET granularity loved #1 and meh #13 are near-identical (m+/m+/dry/med/long) — the separator is style, not the ordinals. Laroque #13 is limestone-fresh and high-acid yet still meh, so plushness alone does not fully explain the Right-Bank mehs.
- **Evidence bottles:** #1, #2, #5, #6, #3, #9, #13, #11, #12

### soft-rioja-no-spark — *working*

- **Claim (his words):** “It was completely fine, nothing amazing. It made me think 'maybe I need to examine more spanish sub regions or things closer to a left bank.'”
- **Reading:** Soft, traditional, oak-rounded Rioja fails the occasion register and only shrugs in the everyday register — it is not bland or offensive (flavors were distinct, it drank easily), just no spark. The Spain lane should aim at structured, Left-Bank-adjacent styles rather than traditional Gran Reserva.
- **Confounder:** Directionally right but softened: NOT bland or shapeless — flavors were distinct and it drank easily. n=1 (Manzanos Gran Reserva 2015).
- **Evidence bottles:** #10

### two-registers — *holding*

- **Masthead:** Intensity for occasions; a held line for every day.
- **Claim (his words):** “I do REALLY prefer and enjoy the intensity of the latour and st-emilion and etc, but it's just not an everyday casual drinking thing. My thing about the gloria wasn't love because they were high structure and linear — it was love because it still had some structure and texture vs the actual FLAVOR and taste.”
- **Reading:** You drink in two registers, not on one axis: occasion wines, where intensity is actively prized — the structured Left-Bank 'holy shit' kind — and everyday wines, judged on flavor that still keeps a line of structure and texture underneath. A wine is judged against its register, never against a single preference scale.
- **Evidence bottles:** #1, #5, #6, #11, #12

### value-as-everyday-amplifier — *working*

- **Claim (his words):** “I didn't have any blandness issues and because of the price I was very impressed.”
- **Reading:** Within the everyday register, price enters the verdict: a $45–50 bottle that holds its line impresses more than its absolute quality alone would. Occasion bottles are not judged on value.
- **Confounder:** A single strong instance (the two Glorias, given one joint verdict). Value amplifies only within the everyday register — it is not a factor for occasion bottles.
- **Evidence bottles:** #11, #12

---

## Statements (verbatim)

### 2026-07-19 — 2026-07-19-cabinet-state.json

> I've drank every bottle so far — right now in my wine cabinet it's the three newest purchases + the Mayacamas. I usually drink the wine right away and only have 4 slots in my wine cabinet anyway. CORRECTION (same day): I didn't drink the gran reserva yet — I just picked up the riojas. SECOND CORRECTION (same day): cabinet is 4 bottles — the 2022 Pontet-Canet, the Massolino, the Castelgiocondo, the Mayacamas. Other than the Mayacamas I picked the 3 up yesterday: 2 preorder, the Pontet in-store.

- **Reading:** FINAL inventory: cabinet = #7 Mayacamas 2019, #16 Castelgiocondo Brunello 2010, #17 Massolino Barolo 2016, #18 Pontet-Canet 2022. The two preorder pickups (yesterday, 2026-07-18) are the Italians; the PC22 was the same-day in-store buy. Naming note: the user has been calling the preorder pickups 'the riojas' / 'the gran reserva' — the Castelgiocondo is a Brunello di Montalcino (Sangiovese, Tuscany), not a Rioja Gran Reserva. Status of #10 Manzanos Gran Reserva (the actual Rioja, ordered 2025-06-24): NOT in the cabinet, and earlier statement said every non-cabinet bottle has been drunk — so most likely drunk, but 'i didn't drink the gran reserva yet' may have referred to it OR to the Brunello under the mixed-up name. UNRESOLVED — do not build the soft-Rioja experiment card until answered.
- **Open questions:**
  - #10 Manzanos Gran Reserva Rioja: drunk or not? If drunk — verdict? (This is the soft-Rioja experiment.)

### 2026-07-19 — 2026-07-19-exploration-goal.json

> I think the 'age' part of the left bank we are overindexing on because I just simply have purchased more older ones. To be super clear: I'm NOT looking for more 'holy shit' bottles — I am trying to figure out ultimately what Italian and Spanish wines I should try.

- **Open questions:**
  - Whether high tannin is enjoyed even when austere and unbuffered (young Nebbiolo) or only when densely fruited (Pauillac).
  - Whether the 50%-Cab Glorias land as 'good not wow' — would confirm that variety-dominance/clarity matters, not just structure.

### 2026-07-19 — 2026-07-19-gloria-round.json

> The glorias were great, I'd drink those anyday — I almost purchased another bottle the last irl order at K&L. I didn't have any blandness issues and because of the price I was very impressed. I noticed that it was less directly in your face but it was still structured. The chablis and the other white I really liked but mostly because for white wine I always default to pinot gris or pinot grigio and they were way dryer. The grand-puy was good, not as amazing as the latour or the 2010 one but it was good, I probably wouldn't repurchase.

- **Open questions:**
  - Would a Gloria-priced, Gloria-styled Italian (e.g. a good Chianti Classico Riserva ~$35) hit the same value-structure sweet spot?
  - Is the white 'liked' ceiling about the wines or about whites mattering less to him overall?

### 2026-07-19 — 2026-07-19-left-vs-right-bank.json

> I liked the left banks I had that were Cab dominant but the right banks that were Merlot dominant felt unstructured and too blended.

- **Open questions:**
  - Which Right Banks were actually drunk? Laroque 2022 is 98% Merlot yet limestone-fresh and saline — if it was liked, the dislike is about low-acid plushness, not Merlot itself.
  - Was the mature Larmande 2005 among them? Disliking a fully tertiary wine would be a different signal than disliking a young plush one.
  - Does the user enjoy high tannin even when austere (young Barolo will test this), or only when buffered by fruit as in Pauillac?

### 2026-07-19 — 2026-07-19-manzanos-result.json

> Yes I drank it (last year). It was completely fine, nothing amazing. It made me think 'maybe I need to examine more spanish sub regions or things closer to a left bank.' It was easy to drink and not super bland — I could taste distinct things.


### 2026-07-19 — 2026-07-19-two-registers.json

> My thing about the gloria wasn't love because they were high structure and linear — it was love because it still had some structure and texture vs the actual FLAVOR and taste. And I do REALLY prefer and enjoy the intensity of the latour and st-emilion and etc, but it's just not an everyday casual drinking thing. [Clarified same day: 'st-emilion' was a slip for the Saint-Julien — the 2010 Léoville-Poyferré.]

- **Open questions:**
  - RESOLVED: 'st-emilion' was a slip for Saint-Julien (Léoville-Poyferré 2010). The plush-vs-line reading of the St-Émilion mehs is intact.

---

## Bottles

### #1 — Les Forts de Latour 2017

- **Origin:** France → Médoc → Pauillac AOC
- **Style:** Left Bank Bordeaux blend (Cabernet-dominant)
- **Classification:** Second wine of a First Growth (1855)
- **Second wine of:** Château Latour
- **Blend:** Cabernet Sauvignon 65.2%, Merlot 33%, Petit Verdot 1%, Cabernet Franc 0.8%
- **ABV:** 13.5
- **Soils:** Deep Günz gravel croupes over clay/limestone — poor, warm, free-draining Pauillac terroir.
- **Élevage:** About 18 months in barrique, roughly 50–60% new French oak (house regime for Les Forts; vintage-specific figure not published).
- **Vintage character:** A classic, fresher year rather than a blockbuster: 2017 Left Bank wines are aromatic, precise, and sleeker than 2015/2016, with fine-grained tannin and lower flesh — in Les Forts, an airier, red-fruited expression of Pauillac. The September rains led Latour to route two grand-vin plots into Les Forts, quietly raising its pedigree.
- **Drinking window:** 2022–2045 (entering)
- **Structure:** body medium-plus, tannin medium-plus, acidity medium-plus, sweetness dry, alcohol feel medium, finish long
- **Aromas:** cassis, plum, raspberry, blackberry, red-currant, black-cherry, violet, mint, graphite, slate, crushed-gravel, iron, cedar, dark-chocolate, baking-spice, tobacco, leather, forest-floor
- **Signature:** Graphite-and-cassis Pauillac in a sleeker, airier frame — the 2017 trades Latour's usual mass for perfume, racy tension, and fine chalky tannins, with the pencil-lead minerality already unmistakable.
- **Purchase:** $163.99 on 2024-11-19 (online)

Notes:
- Because 2017's frost and September rains reshuffled the estate's selection, two parcels that normally go into the grand vin ended up in this wine — a quiet upgrade baked into the blend.
- Latour quit the en primeur futures system in 2012, so this bottle was released ex-château years after bottling, aged in Latour's own cellars until deemed ready.
- Les Forts is a 'second wine' with first-class real estate: its core parcels have been estate-owned since 1850 and were planted as dedicated Les Forts vineyards from 1963; its first vintage was 1966.

**Tasted:** loved
- **Note:** 'Holy shit' tier — extremely, extremely good.
- **Context:** Date drunk not recorded; verdict logged 2026-07-19 from conversation.

### #2 — Château Pontet-Canet 2021

- **Origin:** France → Médoc → Pauillac AOC
- **Style:** Left Bank Bordeaux blend (Cabernet-dominant)
- **Classification:** 5ème Cru Classé (1855)
- **Blend:** Cabernet Sauvignon 58%, Merlot 32%, Petit Verdot 6%, Cabernet Franc 4%
- **ABV:** 13.1
- **Soils:** Deep Günz gravel over clay and limestone.
- **Élevage:** About 50% new French oak, 35% amphora (900-litre estate-clay jars), and roughly 15% once-used oak.
- **Vintage character:** A fresher, more aromatic and elegant style than the ripe 2018–2020 run: lower flesh, higher lift, fine-grained tannin, and pronounced acidity. At Pontet-Canet the result is a perfumed, precise, distinctly Pauillac wine that trades power for tension.
- **Drinking window:** 2028–2048 (youthful)
- **Structure:** body medium, tannin medium-plus, acidity medium-plus, sweetness dry, alcohol feel medium, finish medium-plus
- **Aromas:** cassis, black-cherry, blueberry, raspberry, blackberry, plum, violet, eucalyptus, mint, graphite, slate, crushed-gravel, iron, saline, cedar, mocha, dark-chocolate, baking-spice, black-pepper, tobacco
- **Signature:** A perfumed, fresh, fine-boned 2021 Pauillac: floral cassis and blue fruit over graphite and fine, plentiful tannins, with the cool vintage's high-toned acidity giving lift rather than mass.
- **Purchase:** $84.99 on 2024-11-19 (online)

Notes:
- About 35% of this wine was raised in 900-litre amphorae cast from Pontet-Canet's own soil, part of the estate's push for terroir purity and reduced oak.
- Technical director Mathieu Bessonet steered this vintage through mildew pressure with no-till, biodynamic vineyard work.
- The Petit Verdot share (6%) is unusually high here, adding to the wine's floral, peppery aromatic lift.

**Tasted:** liked
- **Note:** Good, and way better than the cheaper American Cab it was compared against — but a clear tier below the Les Forts and the Léoville-Poyferrés.
- **Context:** Drunk in a deliberate side-by-side against the L'Ecole No. 41 Columbia Valley Cab (#8). Date not recorded; logged 2026-07-19.

### #3 — Château Feytit-Clinet 2015

- **Origin:** France → Libournais → Pomerol AOC
- **Style:** Right Bank Bordeaux blend (Merlot-dominant)
- **Blend:** Merlot 94%, Cabernet Franc 6%
- **ABV:** 14.1
- **Soils:** Gravel, clay and sand over Pomerol's iron-rich clay subsoil.
- **Élevage:** 16-18 months in about 70% new French oak.
- **Vintage character:** 2015 was a great Right Bank vintage, especially strong for Pomerol and Saint-Émilion: opulent, deeply fruited, plush wines with ripe, generous tannins and the structure to age. In Feytit-Clinet it produced a rich, concentrated but balanced Pomerol built for the long haul.
- **Drinking window:** 2023–2045 (youthful)
- **Structure:** body full, tannin medium-plus, acidity medium-plus, sweetness dry, alcohol feel medium, finish long
- **Aromas:** cassis, plum, black-cherry, blueberry, violet, graphite, iron, toast, mocha, dark-chocolate, baking-spice, wet-earth, truffle
- **Signature:** Opulent, plush value-Pomerol: crème de cassis and dark plum wrapped around graphite, damp iron-clay earth and firm, grainy tannin — a superstar from a great Right Bank vintage built for two-plus decades.
- **Purchase:** $114.99 on 2024-12-12 (online)

Notes:
- Jérémy Chasseuil's father, Michel-Jack Chasseuil, owns one of the world's most famous private wine collections and wrote a book about it, '100 Vintage Treasures'.
- At around 7 hectares Feytit-Clinet is one of the smallest estates on the Pomerol plateau, sandwiched among illustrious neighbours like Trotanoy, Clinet and Latour à Pomerol.
- The 2015 marked the run of form — from 2015 onward — that made this once-overlooked wine a critics' darling and one of Pomerol's great values.

**Tasted:** liked — would not repurchase
- **Note:** Good, but wouldn't repurchase. The best of the three Right Banks for own enjoyment.
- **Context:** Date drunk not recorded; verdict logged 2026-07-19 from conversation.

### #4 — Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste 2016

- **Origin:** France → Médoc → Pauillac AOC
- **Style:** Left Bank Bordeaux blend (Cabernet-dominant)
- **Classification:** 5ème Cru Classé (1855)
- **Blend:** Cabernet Sauvignon 79%, Merlot 21%
- **ABV:** 13.3
- **Soils:** Deep gravel, pebbles, and stones over a bed of limestone.
- **Élevage:** About 18 months in French oak barrels, roughly 75% new.
- **Vintage character:** 2016 is a great classic Left Bank vintage — ripe, deeply coloured fruit married to firm, fine tannin and bright acidity from the dry summer and September freshening. At GPL it yields a poised, structured, cellar-worthy Pauillac in the estate's traditional mould.
- **Drinking window:** 2024–2050 (entering)
- **Structure:** body medium-plus, tannin medium-plus, acidity medium-plus, sweetness dry, alcohol feel medium, finish long
- **Aromas:** cassis, blackberry, black-cherry, plum, red-currant, violet, mint, graphite, crushed-gravel, iron, saline, cedar, baking-spice, licorice, dark-chocolate, tobacco, cigar-box
- **Signature:** A textbook, classically styled Pauillac: cassis, cedar, and dusty graphite over firm, grainy tannin and fresh acidity — poised and built for the long haul rather than early charm.
- **Purchase:** $109.99 on 2024-12-12 (online)

Notes:
- Widely called a star of the 2016 vintage, and a benchmark for GPL's over-delivering, old-school Pauillac style at a Fifth-Growth price.
- The 2016 leans hard on Cabernet Sauvignon (79%), the grape that thrives on GPL's deep gravel hill and gives the wine its graphite-and-cassis backbone.
- GPL's vineyard block has stayed essentially intact since the 1855 classification — the same single Pauillac hillside for over 150 years.

**Tasted:** liked — would not repurchase
- **Note:** Good — not as amazing as the Les Forts or the 2010 Léoville-Poyferré, but good. Probably wouldn't repurchase. Notable for the model: this is the most Cabernet-pure bottle drunk (79%), and it did NOT outperform blend-ier loved bottles.
- **Context:** Date drunk not recorded; verdict logged 2026-07-19 from conversation.

### #5 — Château Léoville-Poyferré 2005

- **Origin:** France → Médoc → Saint-Julien AOC
- **Style:** Left Bank Bordeaux blend (Cabernet-dominant)
- **Classification:** 2ème Cru Classé (1855)
- **Blend:** Cabernet Sauvignon 68%, Merlot 26%, Petit Verdot 6%
- **ABV:** 13.5
- **Soils:** Deep Günz gravel over sand, clay, and limestone — warm, free-draining Left Bank terroir.
- **Élevage:** 18–20 months in French oak, 80% new.
- **Vintage character:** A benchmark classic vintage — deeply structured, pure, and built for the long haul, marrying ripe fruit to firm tannin and unusually fresh acidity. Twenty years on, wines like this Léoville-Poyferré show the mature, savoury complexity of the year while retaining tension and lift.
- **Drinking window:** 2015–2040 (peak)
- **Structure:** body medium-plus, tannin medium-plus, acidity medium-plus, sweetness dry, alcohol feel medium, finish long
- **Aromas:** cassis, black-cherry, blackberry, plum, red-cherry, raspberry, dried-rose, mint, graphite, iron, forest-floor, cedar, vanilla, baking-spice, licorice, mocha, tobacco, cigar-box, leather, potpourri, dried-fig
- **Signature:** A mature, hedonistic Saint-Julien: crème de cassis and morello cherry deepened by cigar box, forest floor, and leather, with fine-grained tannin, racy acidity, and a long, mineral-tinged finish — power and polish in one glass.
- **Purchase:** $169.99 on 2024-12-12 (online)

Notes:
- 2005 was the first vintage made with Didier Thormann as cellar master — the start of a run of celebrated Léoville-Poyferrés.
- The blend is unusually Cabernet Sauvignon-heavy for the estate and contains no Cabernet Franc at all, a quirk of the exceptional 2005 growing season.
- 2005 is remembered as one of the great near-perfect modern Bordeaux vintages, prized for combining ripeness with classical structure.

**Tasted:** loved
- **Note:** 'Holy shit' tier.
- **Context:** Date drunk not recorded; verdict logged 2026-07-19 from conversation.

### #6 — Château Léoville-Poyferré 2010

- **Origin:** France → Médoc → Saint-Julien AOC
- **Style:** Left Bank Bordeaux blend (Cabernet-dominant)
- **Classification:** 2ème Cru Classé (1855)
- **Blend:** Cabernet Sauvignon 61%, Merlot 30%, Petit Verdot 6%, Cabernet Franc 3%
- **ABV:** 14
- **Soils:** Deep Günz gravel over sand, clay, and limestone — warm, free-draining Left Bank terroir.
- **Élevage:** About 18 months in French oak barriques, 80% new (confirmed for 2010).
- **Vintage character:** A late, structured powerhouse: 2010 Left Bank reds are dense and built on high tannin and high acidity, with immense concentration and decades of ageing potential. In this Léoville-Poyferré the year reads almost Pauillac-like in muscle, yet stays pure and seamless.
- **Drinking window:** 2018–2050 (entering)
- **Structure:** body full, tannin high, acidity medium-plus, sweetness dry, alcohol feel medium, finish long
- **Aromas:** cassis, blackberry, black-cherry, violet, mint, graphite, wet-earth, cedar, toast, licorice, smoke, tobacco, cigar-box
- **Signature:** A muscular, near-Pauillac Saint-Julien: crème de cassis and graphite framed by cigar box, smoke, and liquorice, with dense, abundant-yet-polished tannin and a finish that runs on for nearly a minute — the 2010 vintage's power in classical dress.
- **Purchase:** $174.99 on 2024-12-12 (online)

Notes:
- Critics have called the 2010 more Pauillac than Saint-Julien in character — a tribute to the sheer power the great 2010 vintage lent this wine.
- It is widely regarded as one of the standout wines of Didier Cuvelier's long stewardship of the estate.
- 2010 followed the lavish 2009 as the second of two back-to-back legendary Bordeaux vintages; where 2009 charms, 2010 is the more structured, tannic, and age-worthy of the pair.

**Tasted:** loved
- **Note:** The single standout of everything drunk so far — 'ESPECIALLY the 2010.' The most structured, concentrated bottle of the loved set.
- **Context:** Brought to a restaurant (own bottle). Date not recorded; logged 2026-07-19.

### #7 — Mayacamas Mt. Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon 2019

- **Origin:** United States → Napa Valley → Mount Veeder AVA
- **Style:** Mountain-grown Napa Cabernet Sauvignon (traditional, age-worthy)
- **Classification:** Mount Veeder AVA — an estate-grown mountain appellation nested within Napa Valley (the US has no growth/estate ranking)
- **Blend:** Cabernet Sauvignon
- **Soils:** Thin, rocky volcanic soils with uplifted marine-sedimentary rock; sharply drained and low in vigour.
- **Élevage:** Long, slow ageing built around large-format neutral oak foudres plus neutral French barriques, with very little new oak — roughly three years total in the cellar (house regime; vintage-specific figures not published).
- **Vintage character:** The even season gave Napa Cabernet both ripeness and freshness — deep fruit with firm structure and bright acidity, wines built to age. On Mount Veeder that translated to a concentrated, structured mountain Cabernet; critics noted 2019 lent this normally austere wine a little more opulence and flesh than usual.
- **Drinking window:** 2027–2045 (youthful)
- **Structure:** body full, tannin high, acidity medium-plus, sweetness dry, alcohol feel medium, finish long
- **Aromas:** cassis, blackberry, black-cherry, plum, blueberry, violet, mint, dried-herbs, graphite, iron, tar, mocha, dark-chocolate, baking-spice, licorice, tobacco
- **Signature:** A mountain-grown, old-school Napa Cabernet: cassis, violet, and graphite over a firm, iron-and-tar frame built for the cellar — though 2019's ripeness lends it unusual flesh and power for Mayacamas.
- **Purchase:** $179.95 on 2025-01-06 (online)

Notes:
- Mayacamas is the anti-cult-Cabernet: dry-farmed mountain fruit, very little new oak, and years of neutral-barrel and foudre ageing produce a wine meant to evolve for decades, not to dazzle on release.
- The estate's 1889 stone winery survived the 2017 Nuns Fire that burned across Mount Veeder.
- Even critics who found the 2019 unusually rich and 'bombastic' for Mayacamas flagged it as needing years in bottle to unwind — a powerhouse by this estate's restrained standards.

### #8 — L'Ecole No. 41 Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2020

- **Origin:** United States → Columbia Valley → Columbia Valley AVA
- **Style:** Washington Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon (value bottling)
- **Classification:** Columbia Valley AVA — Washington's broad regional appellation (the US has no growth/estate ranking)
- **Blend:** Cabernet Sauvignon 100%
- **ABV:** 14.5
- **Soils:** Free-draining wind-blown loess over sand, gravel, and basalt from the Missoula Floods; the sandy, phylloxera-free soils allow own-rooted vines.
- **Élevage:** Aged about 22 months in small oak barrels, roughly 20% new (per the producer's tech sheet for the 2020).
- **Vintage character:** A ripe, generous vintage giving full, dark-fruited Cabernet. While some Washington producers declassified or skipped 2020 reds over smoke-taint concerns, this Columbia Valley bottling came through clean — fruit-forward and juicy, with the vintage's ripeness in the fruit and a firm, savoury edge.
- **Drinking window:** 2023–2030 (peak)
- **Structure:** body medium-plus, tannin medium-plus, acidity medium-plus, sweetness dry, alcohol feel high, finish medium-plus
- **Aromas:** blackberry, black-cherry, cassis, violet, mint, dried-herbs, graphite, wet-earth, dark-chocolate, mocha, cedar, smoke
- **Signature:** An approachable, fruit-forward Washington Cabernet: juicy blackberry and cassis with a graphite-and-smoked-cedar edge and a firm, savoury finish — a lot of Columbia Valley Cabernet for the money.
- **Purchase:** $29.95 on 2025-01-06 (online)

Notes:
- 2020 was the West Coast's big wildfire-smoke vintage; L'Ecole judged this Cabernet unaffected because the fruit was late in ripening and the smoke that reached it was old and dissipated — so, unlike some peers, they released it.
- At under $30 it draws on a who's-who of Columbia Valley vineyards — Bacchus, Pepper Bridge, Seven Hills and more — that also feed far pricier bottlings.
- Because the Columbia Valley's sandy soils resist phylloxera, the vines behind this wine are largely own-rooted, a rarity in the wider wine world.

**Tasted:** mixed
- **Note:** Implied verdict only: clearly outclassed in the side-by-side. User did not state a standalone opinion of it.
- **Context:** Comparison bottle against the 2021 Pontet-Canet (#2). Date not recorded; logged 2026-07-19.

### #9 — Château Larmande 2005

- **Origin:** France → Libournais → Saint-Émilion AOC
- **Style:** Right Bank Bordeaux blend (Merlot-dominant)
- **Classification:** Grand Cru Classé de Saint-Émilion
- **Blend:** Merlot 65%, Cabernet Franc 30%, Cabernet Sauvignon 5%
- **Soils:** Clay-limestone, siliceous clay and ancient sand.
- **Élevage:** Aged in French oak, about 65% new for the 2005.
- **Vintage character:** A benchmark classic vintage: powerful, deeply structured wines with ripe tannins, excellent acidity and exceptional ageing potential. In Larmande it gave a full, complex Saint-Émilion built to reward two decades in the cellar.
- **Drinking window:** 2013–2035 (mature)
- **Structure:** body full, tannin medium, acidity medium-plus, sweetness dry, alcohol feel medium, finish long
- **Aromas:** black-cherry, plum, blackberry, dried-herbs, iron, mocha, vanilla, dark-chocolate, tobacco, leather, mushroom, forest-floor
- **Signature:** A mature Grand Cru Classé Saint-Émilion at its peak: plush Merlot fruit gone to espresso, sweet tobacco, mushroom and leather, with velvety tannins and the earthy sous-bois complexity of two decades in bottle.
- **Purchase:** $59.99 on 2025-05-17 (online)

Notes:
- Some of Larmande's vines are more than 100 years old, giving the estate among the oldest and deepest roots on the Right Bank.
- Documented since 1585, it is one of the oldest producing estates in all of Saint-Émilion.
- It has been owned since 1990 by an insurance group, AG2R La Mondiale — an unusual steward for a historic Grand Cru Classé.

**Tasted:** mixed
- **Note:** Very meh for own palate. Great party bottle — impresses guests ('Wow!') more than it satisfies the owner.
- **Context:** Date drunk not recorded; verdict logged 2026-07-19 from conversation.

### #10 — Bodegas Manzanos Gran Reserva Rioja 2015

- **Origin:** Spain → Rioja Oriental (formerly Rioja Baja) → Rioja DOCa
- **Style:** Traditional Rioja Gran Reserva (Tempranillo-based blend)
- **Classification:** Gran Reserva DOCa
- **Blend:** Tempranillo, Garnacha, Mazuelo, Graciano
- **Soils:** Rioja Oriental's warmer eastern terroir — alluvial and clay-limestone soils on terraces near the Ebro rising into the Yerga foothills (parcel-level soil detail not published).
- **Élevage:** Aged three years (about 36 months) in a mix of French and American oak barrels, all of them four to six years old (seasoned, not new), followed by further bottle age before release.
- **Vintage character:** Officially classified 'Very Good' by Rioja's Consejo Regulador, 2015 gave riper, fuller, more richly fruited reds with good ageing potential — well suited to the generous, warm-country style of a Rioja Oriental Gran Reserva.
- **Drinking window:** 2021–2030 (mature)
- **Structure:** body medium-plus, tannin medium, acidity medium-plus, sweetness dry, alcohol feel medium, finish medium-plus
- **Aromas:** plum, black-cherry, wild-strawberry, raspberry, violet, dried-herbs, iron, forest-floor, mushroom, vanilla, coconut, dill, baking-spice, dark-chocolate, leather, dried-cherry, dried-fig, tobacco
- **Signature:** A classic, old-school Rioja Gran Reserva: mature red and dark fruit and dried cherry laced with the vanilla-coconut-dill imprint of American oak, over leather, savoury earth, and silky tannin.
- **Purchase:** $27.99 on 2025-06-24 (online)

Notes:
- The economics are the fun part: a Gran Reserva must be held about five years (here three in barrel plus bottle age) before it can even be sold, yet this one arrives around $28 — years of aged, cellar-ready Rioja for the price of a young wine.
- Its savoury dill and coconut notes are the giveaway of the traditional American oak long used in Rioja, distinct from the tighter-grained French oak of Bordeaux.
- The Fernández de Manzanos family farms on both sides of the Rioja-Navarra line — a reminder that Rioja Oriental blends geographically into Navarra.

**Tasted:** liked
- **Note:** Completely fine, nothing amazing. The interesting part was the takeaway it prompted: 'maybe I need to examine more Spanish sub regions or things closer to a left bank.' The soft-Rioja experiment result: not a fail (flavors were distinct, not shapeless), but no spark — traditional oak-rounded Rioja is not where his excitement lives.
- **Context:** Drunk sometime since mid-2025; verdict logged 2026-07-19 from conversation.
- **Reaction (overall):** easy to drink but not super bland — could taste distinct things

### #11 — Château Gloria 2022

- **Origin:** France → Médoc → Saint-Julien AOC
- **Style:** Left Bank Bordeaux blend (Cabernet-dominant)
- **Classification:** Unclassified (parcels from 1855 classed growths; estate created after 1855)
- **Blend:** Cabernet Sauvignon 50%, Merlot 35%, Petit Verdot 9%, Cabernet Franc 6%
- **ABV:** 13.8
- **Soils:** Deep gravel over clay and limestone — classic Saint-Julien Left Bank terroir.
- **Élevage:** About 14 months in barrel, with a portion of new French oak.
- **Vintage character:** A paradox vintage: concentrated, ripe, and deeply coloured, but with surprising freshness, precision, and grippy structure rather than jammy heaviness. In this Gloria the year shows as a tightly wound, firm wine that needs cellaring to unfurl.
- **Drinking window:** 2027–2045 (youthful)
- **Structure:** body medium-plus, tannin medium-plus, acidity medium-plus, sweetness dry, alcohol feel medium, finish long
- **Aromas:** cassis, blueberry, plum, blackberry, violet, mint, chalk, graphite, forest-floor, cedar, vanilla, dark-chocolate, licorice, tobacco, dried-cherry
- **Signature:** A fresh, firm, restrained Saint-Julien for the cellar: cassis and blue fruit over a chalky, pencil-box minerality, framed by tobacco leaf and creamy oak, with sharp-etched, grainy tannins built to age.
- **Purchase:** $49.99 on 2025-06-24 (online)

Notes:
- Roughly 17,000 cases were made — Gloria is produced in serious volume yet holds a reputation for classed-growth quality at a fraction of the price.
- 2022 was one of the hottest, driest growing seasons on record in Bordeaux, making its retained freshness one of the vintage's great surprises.
- Though it drinks like a classed growth, Gloria carries no 1855 rank — its vineyards came out of neighbouring crus classés, but the estate itself postdates the classification.

**Tasted:** loved — would repurchase
- **Note:** Great — 'I'd drink those any day.' Almost bought another bottle at the last in-store K&L visit. Very impressed for the price; value amplified the verdict.
- **Context:** Date drunk not recorded; verdict logged 2026-07-19 from conversation. Verdict given for both Glorias jointly.
- **Reaction (overall):** less directly in-your-face but still structured — no blandness issues

### #12 — Château Gloria 2020

- **Origin:** France → Médoc → Saint-Julien AOC
- **Style:** Left Bank Bordeaux blend (Cabernet-dominant)
- **Classification:** Unclassified (parcels from 1855 classed growths; estate created after 1855)
- **Blend:** Cabernet Sauvignon 50%, Merlot 34%, Petit Verdot 11%, Cabernet Franc 5%
- **ABV:** 13.5
- **Soils:** Deep gravel over clay and limestone — classic Saint-Julien Left Bank terroir.
- **Élevage:** 14 months in barrel, 40% new oak.
- **Vintage character:** A dense yet fresh year: 2020 Saint-Juliens are concentrated and structured but carry a lifted, precise, energetic core of acidity. This Gloria shows the vintage's density in its texture while staying silky, harmonious, and refreshing.
- **Drinking window:** 2026–2045 (youthful)
- **Structure:** body medium-plus, tannin medium-plus, acidity medium-plus, sweetness dry, alcohol feel medium, finish long
- **Aromas:** cassis, blackberry, plum, black-cherry, blueberry, red-currant, dried-rose, mint, eucalyptus, graphite, crushed-gravel, saline, iron, mocha, dark-chocolate, vanilla, licorice, toast, tobacco, cigar-box
- **Signature:** A dense-but-vibrant Saint-Julien: creamy cassis and dark plum lifted by rose petal and mint, underpinned by graphite, gravelly earth, and a salty tang, with polished, mouth-coating tannins over a fresh, persistent finish.
- **Purchase:** $44.99 on 2025-08-24 (online)

Notes:
- Jane Anson has dubbed Gloria 'Saint-Julien's secret weapon,' and the 2020 topped a twenty-year vertical of the wine.
- 2020 was harvested under the constraints of the covid-19 pandemic, one of a trio of strong, sun-drenched Bordeaux vintages (2018–2020).
- Gloria is a perennial value benchmark — classed-growth terroir and character without the classification or the price.

**Tasted:** loved — would repurchase
- **Note:** Same joint verdict as the 2022: great, would drink any day, near-repurchase, price-impressed.
- **Context:** Date drunk not recorded; verdict logged 2026-07-19 from conversation. Verdict given for both Glorias jointly.
- **Reaction (overall):** less directly in-your-face but still structured — no blandness issues

### #13 — Château Laroque 2022

- **Origin:** France → Libournais → Saint-Émilion AOC
- **Style:** Right Bank Bordeaux blend (Merlot-dominant)
- **Classification:** Grand Cru Classé de Saint-Émilion
- **Blend:** Merlot 98%, Cabernet Franc 2%
- **ABV:** 14.5
- **Soils:** Clay over limestone at one of the highest elevations of the Saint-Émilion plateau.
- **Élevage:** Raised in 60% new oak, with a portion in larger formats and foudre.
- **Vintage character:** A powerful yet surprisingly fresh warm-vintage style: deep, ripe black fruit carried by vivid acidity and fine tannins, with the limestone lending lift and tension rather than heaviness. One of the sleepers of the vintage.
- **Drinking window:** 2027–2050 (youthful)
- **Structure:** body medium-plus, tannin medium-plus, acidity medium-plus, sweetness dry, alcohol feel medium, finish long
- **Aromas:** cassis, plum, black-cherry, raspberry, violet, dried-herbs, graphite, slate, chalk, saline, vanilla, mocha, licorice, truffle, leather
- **Signature:** A limestone-plateau Saint-Émilion that turns a hot, dry 2022 into cool tension: cassis and plum lifted by violets, graphite, crushed-stone salinity and ultra-fine tannin — the David Suire-era value darling firing on all cylinders.
- **Purchase:** $39.99 on 2025-08-24 (online)

Notes:
- Laroque owns the single largest vineyard in Saint-Émilion, yet only ~44% is classified Grand Cru Classé and barely a quarter goes into this grand vin.
- The high, limestone-rich plateau made 2022 — one of Bordeaux's hottest, driest years — into a fresh, energetic wine rather than a heavy one.
- The turnaround dates exactly to David Suire's arrival in 2015; a decade on, the estate is a byword for Right Bank value.

**Tasted:** mixed
- **Note:** Very meh for own palate despite the limestone-fresh style — weakens the hypothesis that the dislike is only about low-acid plushness. Crowd-pleaser, not a personal favorite.
- **Context:** Date drunk not recorded; verdict logged 2026-07-19 from conversation.

### #14 — Domaine Servin Chablis 1er Cru "Forêts" 2022

- **Origin:** France → Chablis → Chablis Premier Cru
- **Style:** Unoaked Chablis (Premier Cru Chardonnay)
- **Classification:** Premier Cru (Chablis)
- **Blend:** Chardonnay 100%
- **Soils:** Kimmeridgian marl — Late Jurassic limestone-and-clay rich in marine fossils, including the comma-shaped fossil oyster Exogyra virgula.
- **Élevage:** Raised in stainless steel on fine lees; unoaked. Typical alcohol for the wine is around 12.5% (vintage-specific figure not published).
- **Vintage character:** A generous, ripe yet fresh vintage — a return to normal volumes after frost-scarred 2021. The 2022 Chablis pair ripe orchard and stone fruit with firm acidity, marrying the cut of 2021 with the flesh of warmer years; balanced, approachable, and age-worthy.
- **Drinking window:** 2024–2033 (youthful)
- **Structure:** body medium, acidity high, sweetness dry, alcohol feel medium, finish medium-plus
- **Aromas:** green-apple, lemon, pear, white-blossom, oyster-shell, flint, saline, wet-stone, chalk
- **Signature:** Taut, unoaked Premier Cru Chablis — green apple and lemon over a saline, oyster-shell minerality, all steel-bright cut and Kimmeridgian tension, with finesse rather than weight.
- **Purchase:** $49.99 on 2025-12-06 (online)

Notes:
- 'Forêts' is a climat that flies under the Montmains flag, so the same wine could legally be sold as either 'Premier Cru Forêts' or 'Premier Cru Montmains' — Servin keeps the more specific climat name.
- The wine is a single ~0.37 ha parcel vinified entirely in stainless steel, so what you taste is Chablis Chardonnay with no oak in the way — pure site and vintage.
- The Kimmeridgian limestone beneath the vineyard is studded with Exogyra virgula, a tiny fossil oyster from a Jurassic sea — the classic origin story for Chablis's briny, oyster-shell reputation.

**Tasted:** liked
- **Note:** Really liked — with the stated frame that his default whites are Pinot Gris/Grigio, and this was way dryer. The dryness itself was a big part of the appeal.
- **Context:** Date drunk not recorded; verdict logged 2026-07-19 from conversation.
- **Reaction (sweetness):** appreciated how much dryer it was than his usual whites

### #15 — Max Ferd. Richter Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr Riesling Trocken GG 2023

- **Origin:** Germany → Mittelmosel (Middle Mosel) → Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr (VDP Grosse Lage)
- **Style:** Dry Mosel Riesling (Grosses Gewächs)
- **Classification:** Grosses Gewächs (VDP)
- **Blend:** Riesling 100%
- **ABV:** 11.5
- **Soils:** Blue and grey Devonian slate — dark, heat-retaining rock that stores the day's warmth and radiates it back to the vines at night.
- **Élevage:** Aged on its lees in cask/tank; the neutral old oak lends texture without oak flavour.
- **Vintage character:** 2023 Mosel Rieslings are juicy, expressive, and generously fruited. The warmth favoured ripe, exuberant styles; the best dry GGs, made from carefully selected fruit, are concentrated yet retain the region's cool acidity and tension.
- **Drinking window:** 2026–2038 (entering)
- **Structure:** body medium, acidity high, sweetness dry, alcohol feel medium, finish long
- **Aromas:** pear, quince, lemon, white-peach, white-blossom, wet-stone, slate, saline, flint, smoke
- **Signature:** Bone-dry Mosel Grosses Gewächs from the blue-slate sundial slope — pear and quince stretched over a taut, wet-stone and slate minerality, linear, salty, and long.
- **Purchase:** $39.99 on 2025-12-06 (online)

Notes:
- 'Juffer' ('maiden') recalls the unmarried daughters of an 18th-century owner; 'Sonnenuhr' is the sundial built into the vineyard to help workers tell the time from across the river.
- As a trocken GG the wine is doubly dry: legally trocken (~1 g/l residual sugar) and drawn from a VDP Grosse Lage — a very different beast from the sweeter Prädikat (Kabinett/Spätlese) bottlings the same vineyard also produces.
- The Juffer-Sonnenuhr slope is among the steepest cultivated vineyards anywhere, worked by hand at gradients approaching 80–85%.

**Tasted:** liked
- **Note:** Really liked, same frame as the Chablis: way dryer than his Pinot Gris/Grigio default, and better for it.
- **Context:** Date drunk not recorded; verdict logged 2026-07-19 from conversation.
- **Reaction (sweetness):** appreciated how much dryer it was than his usual whites

### #16 — Castelgiocondo Brunello di Montalcino 2010

- **Origin:** Italy → Montalcino → Brunello di Montalcino DOCG
- **Style:** Varietal Sangiovese (Brunello)
- **Classification:** DOCG
- **Blend:** Sangiovese 100%
- **ABV:** 15
- **Soils:** Varied Montalcino hillside soils — clay and sand with galestro (schist) and limestone — free-draining and warm.
- **Élevage:** Aged principally in large Slavonian oak casks (with some French oak), meeting the DOCG minimum of at least two years in wood, then at least four months in bottle before release.
- **Vintage character:** Widely regarded as one of the greatest modern Brunello vintages — a classic, structured, cellar-built year prized for Sangiovese purity, bright acidity, fine tannins and finesse over sheer power, with long ageing potential. At Castelgiocondo the year coincided with a return to a fresher, more traditional, less oak-driven style.
- **Drinking window:** 2020–2035 (peak)
- **Structure:** body medium-plus, tannin medium-plus, acidity high, sweetness dry, alcohol feel medium, finish long
- **Aromas:** red-cherry, black-cherry, plum, violet, dried-herbs, potpourri, saline, forest-floor, cedar, baking-spice, smoke, dried-cherry, leather, balsamic, tobacco
- **Signature:** A mature, savoury Brunello from a legendary vintage — dark wild cherry drying toward dried cherry, wrapped in cedar, leather and balsamic over fine, still-firm tannin and bright acidity.
- **Purchase:** $69.99 on 2026-02-09 (online)

Notes:
- 2010 is widely cited as one of the greatest modern Brunello vintages, and it marked Castelgiocondo's return to a fresher, less oak-driven, more traditional style.
- The estate is named for an ~1,100-year-old castle, the 'Castellum Ugonis', that once guarded the road from the sea to Siena.
- This was a pre-arrival (futures) purchase — bought before the physical bottles landed at the retailer.

### #17 — Massolino Barolo 2016

- **Origin:** Italy → Langhe (Serralunga d'Alba) → Barolo DOCG
- **Style:** Varietal Nebbiolo
- **Classification:** DOCG
- **Blend:** Nebbiolo 100%
- **ABV:** 14.5
- **Soils:** Older Serravallian/Helvetian calcareous marls (Lequio formation) — compact, limestone- and sandstone-rich, poor and stressing — the terroir behind Serralunga's structure.
- **Élevage:** Aged up to about 30 months in large Slavonian oak casks (botti) — well beyond the DOCG's minimum of 18 months in wood within a 38-month total ageing — before release.
- **Vintage character:** One of the great modern Barolo vintages — a classic year of exceptional balance and harmony, combining ripe fruit, vibrant acidity and a powerful yet refined tannic structure built for long ageing. In structured Serralunga, 2016 is firm and monumental in its youth.
- **Drinking window:** 2024–2046 (entering)
- **Structure:** body medium-plus, tannin high, acidity high, sweetness dry, alcohol feel medium, finish long
- **Aromas:** red-cherry, black-cherry, plum, dried-rose, violet, dried-herbs, tar, iron, licorice, baking-spice, smoke, tobacco, leather
- **Signature:** Classic Serralunga Barolo from a benchmark vintage — pure red and dark cherry over tar and dried rose, wild herb and licorice, on a firm, tightly wound frame of high tannin and high acidity.
- **Purchase:** $69.99 on 2026-02-09 (online)

Notes:
- 2016 is widely considered a modern-legend Barolo vintage, compared with the region's greatest classic years.
- Massolino's straight Barolo is a village blend from Serralunga d'Alba, an estate that farms about a third of the famed Vigna Rionda cru.
- This was a pre-arrival (futures) purchase — bought before the physical bottles landed at the retailer.

### #18 — Château Pontet-Canet 2022

- **Origin:** France → Médoc → Pauillac AOC
- **Style:** Left Bank Bordeaux blend (Cabernet-dominant)
- **Classification:** 5ème Cru Classé (1855)
- **Blend:** Cabernet Sauvignon 57%, Merlot 35%, Cabernet Franc 4%, Petit Verdot 4%
- **Soils:** Deep Günz gravel over clay and limestone; the clay subsoils held water through the 2022 drought.
- **Élevage:** About 50% new French oak, 35% amphora (900-litre estate-clay jars), and roughly 15% used oak, with a final five months finishing in cement vats.
- **Vintage character:** Despite the heat, 2022 delivered wines of remarkable balance — deep, concentrated, and powerful yet retaining freshness, energy, and fine tannin rather than turning jammy. Widely regarded as one of the estate's greatest recent vintages, ranked by many alongside its celebrated 2009 and 2010.
- **Drinking window:** 2028–2060 (youthful)
- **Structure:** body full, tannin medium-plus, acidity medium-plus, sweetness dry, alcohol feel medium, finish long
- **Aromas:** cassis, plum, blackberry, raspberry, black-cherry, violet, mint, dried-herbs, graphite, crushed-gravel, chalk, iron, saline, cedar, mocha, dark-chocolate, smoke, licorice, tobacco, forest-floor
- **Signature:** A powerful yet finely balanced 2022 Pauillac: crème-de-cassis depth and cedar-and-graphite classicism over grainy, ripe tannin, staying fresh and mineral despite a hot, dry year.
- **Purchase:** $139.99 on 2026-07-17 (in-store)

Notes:
- Raised 35% in Pontet-Canet's estate-clay amphorae, the 2022 is frequently called one of the finest wines the château has ever made — some placing it above the legendary 2009 and 2010.
- The hot 2022 season produced one of the earliest and longest harvests in the estate's history, yet the wine keeps energy and lift thanks to the water-holding clay subsoils.
- It was the first Pontet-Canet vintage in the estate's new, lighter glass bottle, part of its long push to shrink its environmental footprint.

---

## Exploration — styles being considered

### Amarone della Valpolicella (anti-pick — deliberately ruled out)

- **Region:** Italy
- **Register:** occasion
- **Summary:** Expected miss. Rich, dried-grape, high-alcohol — a crowd-pleasing 'wow' wine, the opposite of a held line.
- **Because:**
  - His stated dislike: 'plush, round, crowd-pleasing wow wines that impress guests more than the drinker.' Amarone is the archetype — weight and sweetness of fruit in place of structure.

### Barolo & the Nebbiolo lane

- **Region:** Italy
- **Register:** occasion
- **Summary:** Single-variety Nebbiolo — tar and roses over a firm frame; the occasion register's maximum of tannin + acid architecture.
- **Because:**
  - Nebbiolo is the collection's maximum of tannin + acid architecture with single-variety clarity — exactly the structured, intense frame prized in the occasion register.
  - His own in-cellar hypothesis names the Massolino Barolo 2016 as the test of whether the structure love generalizes beyond Cabernet.

### Bierzo (Mencía)

- **Region:** Spain
- **Register:** everyday
- **Price band:** $20–40
- **Summary:** Fresh, mineral, firm Mencía — everyday-register flavor with bones, away from American-oak Rioja.
- **Because:**
  - His re-aimed Spain lane: fresh, mineral, firm styles instead of soft traditional Rioja — Mencía holds a line at an everyday price.

### Chianti Classico (Riserva)

- **Region:** Italy
- **Register:** everyday
- **Price band:** ~$35
- **Summary:** High-acid Sangiovese with a line at a Gloria-like price — his own open question asks whether it hits the value-structure sweet spot.
- **Because:**
  - He explicitly asked whether a Gloria-priced Chianti Classico Riserva (~$35) would hit the same value-structure sweet spot.

### Etna Rosso (Nerello Mascalese)

- **Region:** Italy
- **Register:** everyday
- **Price band:** $25–45
- **Summary:** Volcanic, high-acid, firm and mineral — everyday-register flavor with bones from Sicily's slopes.
- **Because:**
  - Named in his everyday-lane list: mineral, high-acid, firm — a line held without weight or plushness.

### Langhe Nebbiolo

- **Region:** Italy
- **Register:** everyday
- **Price band:** $25–40
- **Summary:** Barolo's structure at an everyday price — flavor with bones, the Gloria move applied to Nebbiolo.
- **Because:**
  - The everyday lane wants flavor that still keeps a line; Langhe Nebbiolo gives Nebbiolo's frame without the occasion-bottle price.

### Priorat

- **Region:** Spain
- **Register:** occasion
- **Summary:** Llicorella-schist Garnacha-Cariñena — structured, mineral, intense; the occasion-register Spanish pick.
- **Because:**
  - Named in his occasion-lane list; the llicorella terroir gives a mineral spine and grip rather than soft-oak roundness.

### Ribera del Duero & Toro

- **Region:** Spain
- **Register:** occasion
- **Summary:** Tempranillo (Tinto Fino / Tinta de Toro) with Left-Bank-like density and tannin — the structured Spanish answer to his own instinct.
- **Because:**
  - His own takeaway from the Rioja: 'maybe I need to examine more spanish sub regions or things closer to a left bank.' Ribera and Toro are the dense, tannic, Left-Bank-adjacent Tempranillo styles.

### Taurasi (Aglianico)

- **Region:** Italy
- **Register:** occasion
- **Summary:** Southern Italy's structured intensity — high tannin and acid behind one dominant grape; the occasion-register analogue to top Nebbiolo.
- **Because:**
  - Named in his own occasion-lane list alongside Barolo and Priorat: intense, structured, single-grape-led.

### Top Brunello di Montalcino

- **Region:** Italy
- **Register:** occasion
- **Summary:** High-acid Sangiovese with density and maturity — structure carried by frame, not flesh; occasion-register intensity outside Bordeaux.
- **Because:**
  - The two-register model puts 'top Brunello' in the occasion lane: firm, high-acid structure that can carry age without turning plush.
  - His Castelgiocondo Brunello 2010 is already the in-cabinet test of whether mature tertiary complexity can ride a high-acid Sangiovese frame for this palate.

### Traditional soft-oak Rioja (Gran Reserva) (anti-pick — deliberately ruled out)

- **Region:** Spain
- **Register:** everyday
- **Summary:** Fine, no spark. Oak-rounded, tertiary-led Tempranillo — drinks easily, but not where his excitement lives.
- **Because:**
  - His own verdict on the Manzanos Gran Reserva: 'completely fine, nothing amazing' — distinct flavors, drank easily, but no spark. It made him want to look at sub-regions closer to a Left Bank.

---

## Reference

### Grapes

- **Cabernet Franc** (red) — body medium, tannin medium — finer-boned than Cabernet Sauvignon, acidity medium-plus, alcohol_feel medium
- **Cabernet Sauvignon** (red) — body medium-plus to full, tannin medium-plus to high, acidity medium to medium-plus, alcohol_feel medium to high (climate-dependent)
- **Chardonnay** (white) — body medium to full (style-dependent), acidity medium-plus to high in cool climates (Chablis); softer where warmer or barrel-raised, alcohol_feel medium
- **Garnacha (Grenache)** (red) — body medium-plus to full, tannin low to medium, acidity medium-minus to medium, alcohol_feel medium to high
- **Graciano** (red) — body medium, tannin medium-plus, acidity high, alcohol_feel medium
- **Mazuelo (Cariñena / Carignan)** (red) — body medium, tannin medium-plus to high, acidity medium-plus to high, alcohol_feel medium
- **Merlot** (red) — body medium to full, tannin medium — rounder and suppler than Cabernet, acidity medium, alcohol_feel medium to high (clay-grown Merlot ripens generously)
- **Nebbiolo** (red) — body medium to medium-plus, tannin high, acidity high, alcohol_feel medium (often 14%+ but classically balanced)
- **Petit Verdot** (red) — body full, tannin high, acidity medium-plus, alcohol_feel medium to high
- **Riesling** (white) — body light to medium, acidity high, alcohol_feel low to medium (Mosel styles often 8–12%)
- **Sangiovese** (red) — body medium to medium-plus, tannin medium-plus to high, acidity high, alcohol_feel medium (medium to high in warm sites like Montalcino)
- **Tempranillo** (red) — body medium to medium-plus, tannin medium to medium-plus, acidity medium (can fall lower in warm sites), alcohol_feel medium to medium-plus

### Producers

- **Bodegas Manzanos (Fernández de Manzanos)** (founded 1890) — Fruit for the top wines comes from the Rioja Oriental subzone (the warmer, Mediterranean-influenced eastern part of Rioja, formerly Rioja Baja): old bush-vine parcels more than 50 years old on the northern side of the Ebro near the villages of San Adrián and Azagra, and in the higher Yerga Mountains. Ageing follows the traditional Rioja model, using a mix of French and American oak barrels.
- **Castelgiocondo (Marchesi Frescobaldi)** (founded 1989) — One of the largest estates in Montalcino: roughly 800 hectares in the warm south-west quadrant of the appellation, with around 235 hectares under vine at 300–400 m. Soils are varied — clay, sand, galestro (schist) and limestone. Sangiovese is fermented in temperature-controlled stainless steel and the Brunello is aged principally in large Slavonian oak casks (with some French oak) to satisfy the DOCG's minimum two years in wood plus bottle ageing. The estate's long-serving winemaking team was trained partly in Bordeaux, and from the 2010 vintage the house visibly dialled back overt new-oak character to foreground Sangiovese purity.
- **Château Gloria** (founded 1942) — Around 50 hectares under vine in Saint-Julien, dispersed across parcels once belonging to classed growths, on the commune's classic deep gravel over clay and limestone. Blends are Cabernet Sauvignon-led with a substantial Merlot component plus Petit Verdot and a little Cabernet Franc, typically aged around 14 months in barrel with a portion of new oak. The wine is made at the family's cellars alongside Château Saint-Pierre.
- **Château Larmande** — About 20 hectares on the northern slopes near the Saint-Émilion village, on soils of clay-limestone, siliceous clay and ancient sand. A Grand Cru Classé, with a typical planting of roughly 65% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon. Winemaking in the mid-2000s leaned gently modern — around 65% new oak, with malolactic conversion split between barrel and tank — while keeping a clear sense of terroir.
- **Château Laroque** — At 61 hectares this is the largest vineyard in Saint-Émilion, planted 87% Merlot, 11% Cabernet Franc and 2% Cabernet Sauvignon on the clay-limestone plateau of St-Christophe-des-Bardes, northeast of the village at one of the appellation's high points. Only 40 hectares are classified Grand Cru Classé (the other 21 are Saint-Émilion Grand Cru), and just the best ~27 hectares of deep, clay-rich soils — near Troplong Mondot and Rocheyron — feed the grand vin. Vines average about 40 years, with 14 hectares near 55 years, at 6,000 vines/ha. Farming is fully organic in practice (uncertified by choice) and HVE-certified; fermentation is parcel-by-parcel in temperature-controlled cobalt-blue cement vats. Production averages about 11,000 cases.
- **Château Latour** (founded 1331) — 92 hectares, 78 under vine (74.2% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23.8% Merlot, 1.8% Cabernet Franc, 0.2% Petit Verdot) at 10,000 vines/ha, some vines near 100 years old. The historic walled 'Enclos' (47 ha around the château, owned since 1850) supplies the grand vin exclusively. Farming: horses have worked Enclos parcels since 2008; the Enclos was farmed fully organically from 2015 and certified organic in 2018, with a large share biodynamic. Vinification is parcel-by-parcel in 80 temperature-controlled stainless-steel vats (12–164 hl); malolactic in vat.
- **Domaine Servin** (founded 1654) — Roughly 30–37 hectares across the appellation, with an unusually deep holding in the top tiers: four of the seven Grand Crus (Blanchot, Bougros, Les Clos, Les Preuses) and a spread of Premier Crus including Forêts (under the Montmains flag), Montée de Tonnerre, Vaillons, Butteaux, Mont de Milieu, and Vaucoupin. Vinification leans on temperature-controlled stainless steel to preserve acidity and site transparency, with older oak reserved for a few of the richer cuvées; the Chablis 1er Cru Forêts is made in 100% stainless steel.
- **Château Feytit-Clinet** — A tiny 7-hectare vineyard planted 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, on the western edge of the Pomerol plateau near Clinet and Latour à Pomerol. Soils are a mix of gravel, clay and sand; vines average about 35 years at 8,000 vines/ha. Under Jérémy Chasseuil yields were cut from as high as 60 hl/ha to 32–40 hl/ha, green harvesting was introduced, and picking is now entirely by hand; new-oak use rose from 25% to an average of roughly 75%. Farming is sustainable but not certified organic. Production averages only 1,200–1,500 cases; the second wine is Les Colombiers de Feytit-Clinet.
- **Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste** — About 55 ha in essentially one large block on a Pauillac gravel croupe rising to ~20 m off the D1, with neighbours Pontet-Canet to the south and Lynch-Bages to the west. Planted roughly 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc (the Franc a later addition) at 10,000 vines/ha; average vine age ~38 years, with old vines back to 1947, on gravel and pebbles over limestone. Vinification is in 90 temperature-controlled stainless-steel vats (12–180 hl) with malolactic in tank; the traditionally styled grand vin is aged 16–18 months in about 70–75% new French oak. The second wine, Lacoste-Borie, debuted with the 1982 vintage. Vat rooms and cellars were renovated in 2004 and again in 2016. The Bories are a major Médoc family, historically also tied to Ducru-Beaucaillou, Haut-Batailley, and Caronne Ste-Gemme.
- **L'Ecole No. 41** (founded 1983) — The winery is housed in the former Frenchtown School, a 1915 schoolhouse in Lowden, west of Walla Walla — the source of the name (L'Ecole = 'the school', No. 41 for the old school district). The Clubbs farm two estate vineyards, Ferguson (a high-elevation site in the Walla Walla Valley) and a share of the historic Seven Hills Vineyard, and buy from many established Columbia Valley growers. Farming is certified sustainable (LIVE and Salmon-Safe).
- **Château Léoville-Poyferré** (founded 1840) — About 80 hectares under vine, planted to roughly 68% Cabernet Sauvignon, 24% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc, and 2% Petit Verdot at 8,500 vines/ha, averaging around 45 years old with some Cabernet Sauvignon dating to the 1940s. The vineyard is mostly gravel over sand, clay, and limestone, spread across five blocks and 43 parcels dispersed through the commune, its best plots near the D2 (Route du Médoc) where they intermingle with Léoville-Las Cases and Léoville-Barton and reach the Pauillac border at Pichon-Lalande. The grand vin is aged around 18 months in an average of about 75% new French oak. Didier Cuvelier retired after the 2017 vintage; his niece Sara Lecompte Cuvelier now manages the estate. Second wines: Château Moulin Riche and Pavillon de Léoville-Poyferré.
- **Massolino (Azienda Agricola Massolino - Vigna Rionda)** (founded 1896) — A Serralunga-focused estate whose vineyards sit on the older, poorer Serravallian (Lequio-formation) marls that give the commune its power. Winemaking is traditional: long macerations in temperature-controlled fermenters and ageing in large Slavonian oak botti rather than small barriques. The straight 'classico' Barolo blends several parcels across Serralunga d'Alba (with a small share from Castiglione Falletto in some years) and is aged up to about 30 months in large casks — comfortably beyond the DOCG's 18-month wood minimum — to express the village rather than a single site.
- **Weingut Max Ferd. Richter** (founded 1680) — About 21 hectares of steep slate vineyards spread across prime Middle Mosel sites — most famously Brauneberger Juffer and Juffer-Sonnenuhr, plus parcels in Graach, Wehlen, Mülheim, and Veldenz. Top single-vineyard wines are fermented and raised in the traditional manner, in part in large old oak Fuder casks, generally with native yeasts. Richter is also celebrated for Eiswein from its Mülheimer Helenenkloster monopole.
- **Mayacamas Vineyards** (founded 1889) — Estate vineyards sit high in the Mayacamas Mountains on Mount Veeder, planted between roughly 1,800 and 2,400 feet — above the Napa fog line — on volcanic and uplifted marine-sedimentary soils. The old mountain vines are dry-farmed, giving small crops of small, concentrated berries. Winemaking is deliberately traditional: fermentation across concrete, stainless steel, and oak, then long, slow ageing built around large neutral oak foudres and neutral French barriques with very little new oak, so the wines are structured and reductive in youth and made to age for decades. The original 1889 stone winery survived the October 2017 Nuns Fire that swept the mountain, though the estate lost an outbuilding.
- **Château Pontet-Canet** — 81 ha on deep gravel over clay and limestone, right beside Mouton Rothschild, planted 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc, 2% Petit Verdot at ~9,500 vines/ha (average vine age ~45 years), divided into 92 blocks and vinified parcel-by-parcel. Farming: biodynamic trials began on 14 ha in 2004, the whole vineyard converted in 2005, and 2007 was the last vintage to see any chemicals; in 2010 Pontet-Canet became the first classified Bordeaux estate to earn organic certification (AB/Ecocert) alongside biodynamic certification (Biodyvin), with Demeter certification following. Postier Breton draft horses plough 34 of the 81 ha (the goal is the whole vineyard), and cows and donkeys also live on the estate. The cellar uses no electricity: grapes are hand-sorted and hand-destemmed, dropped by gravity into 11 conical wood and 37 concrete 80-hl vats, with lighting run from geothermal boreholes. Since 2012 a share of the wine (about a quarter to a third) is raised in 900-litre amphorae made from the estate's own limestone and gravel mixed with cement. Long-time technical director Jean-Michel Comme (1989–2020) drove the biodynamic conversion; Michel Rolland consulted until 2023, succeeded by Thomas Duclos.

### Appellations

- **Barolo DOCG** — Italy, Piedmont · nebbiolo · Calcareous marls laid down in two broad geological epochs that split the zone in two. The younger, bluish-grey Tortonian marls (Sant'Agata Fossili) of La Morra and Barolo are more compact and fertile; the older, paler, sandier Serravallian/Helvetian marls (Lequio and Diano formations) of Serralunga d'Alba, Monforte and Castiglione Falletto are poorer and more limestone-and-sandstone rich.
- **Brunello di Montalcino DOCG** — Italy, Tuscany · sangiovese · A mosaic of soils across the Montalcino hill: friable galestro (schistous clay-marl) and hard albarese (compact limestone-marl) on the higher slopes, with more clay, sand and even marine deposits lower down and to the south. Galestro drains freely and pushes aromatic complexity; albarese holds water and lends structure and acidity.
- **Chablis AOC** — France, Burgundy · chardonnay · Two limestones define the appellation. The prized Kimmeridgian marl — a Late Jurassic mix of limestone and clay packed with marine fossils, above all the small comma-shaped fossil oyster Exogyra virgula — underlies almost all Premier and Grand Cru slopes. The younger, harder Portlandian limestone caps the plateau above and carries mostly Petit Chablis.
- **Columbia Valley AVA** — United States, Washington · cabernet-sauvignon, merlot · Free-draining wind-blown loess over sand, gravel, and basalt bedrock, much of it laid down or reworked by the Ice Age Missoula Floods. The sandy soils are hostile to phylloxera, so most vines are grown own-rooted rather than grafted.
- **Mosel** — Germany, Mosel · riesling · Weathered blue and grey Devonian slate on the steepest sites, with red slate and stony clay elsewhere. The dark slate stores the day's heat and releases it at night, and the loose, broken rock forces roots deep — essential for ripening Riesling this far north.
- **Mount Veeder AVA** — United States, California · cabernet-sauvignon, merlot · Thin, rocky, low-vigour mountain soils: a mix of ancient volcanic material and uplifted marine sedimentary rock (sandstone and shale from a former seabed), sharply drained and nutrient-poor.
- **Pauillac AOC** — France, Bordeaux · cabernet-sauvignon, merlot, cabernet-franc, petit-verdot · Deep, well-drained gravel banks (Günz gravel) over clay and limestone subsoils, deposited by the Garonne; the gravel stores heat and forces vines to root deeply.
- **Pomerol AOC** — France, Bordeaux · merlot, cabernet-franc, cabernet-sauvignon · A small gravel-and-clay plateau whose defining feature is a band of iron-rich clay carrying 'crasse de fer' (iron oxide 'ironpan') in the subsoil, most concentrated at the plateau's high point around Pétrus; gravel and sand increase toward the edges.
- **Rioja DOCa** — Spain, Rioja · tempranillo, garnacha, graciano, mazuelo · A patchwork of calcareous clay, ferrous (iron-rich) clay, and alluvial soils on terraces stepping down to the Ebro; the higher, cooler western zones lean to clay-limestone, the warmer eastern zone to alluvial and sandy soils.
- **Saint-Émilion AOC** — France, Bordeaux · merlot, cabernet-franc, cabernet-sauvignon · Two great terroir families: the limestone plateau and its clay-limestone (asteriated limestone) around the medieval town, giving freshness and structure; and the varied slopes (côtes) and sandy-gravel foot-slopes below, where clay, sand and — toward Pomerol — gravel take over.
- **Saint-Julien AOC** — France, Bordeaux · cabernet-sauvignon, merlot, cabernet-franc, petit-verdot · The same deep, well-drained Günz gravel croupes as its neighbours, deposited by the Garonne over clay and limestone subsoils; the gravel stores heat and forces vines to root deeply. Saint-Julien's best banks sit close to the Gironde, on gently rolling rises around the villages of Saint-Julien-Beychevelle and Beychevelle.