I am sorry for the long title, I really could not succinctly summarize the tasting I had last week with Neal and Andrew Breskin in not-so-sunny San Diego. Neal and I flew in from different parts of the country on a no so warm Monday morning, I picked up Neal at the airport, and we made our way to Andrew Breskin’s home, the proprietor and founder of Liquid Kosher.

I had been bugging Andrew that it was time to meet again for a tasting of the new 2021 Jean-Philippe Marchand Burgundies. I had tasted them with Avi Davidowitz in Paris, but as I said in that post, I was hoping to taste them again with the opportunity to see if they evolve with a bit of time, after opening. While I liked them in Paris, I was wondering if they would evolve with a bit more time. As stated in that post, we both flew home the next day and we did not have the chance to see them evolve over a day or so.

Thankfully, my calendar worked out, and we arrived on the day of Rosh Chodesh Shevat. The morning started with me picking up some breakfast at this lovely, but expensive bakery in La Jolla called Parisien Gourmandises. Before I continue with the story, please visit this place, when/if you are in the San Diego area. I do not like to say I am a picky eater, however, my opinions of food/food establishments, when traveling can be a bit coarse. I have recently been in Florida and Paris for different wine tastings and this bakery had better croissants and flaky dough pastries than either the bakeries in Paris or the wonderful bakery in Fort Lauderdale called Moran Patisserie Bakery. The people, food, and overall ambiance are really impressive, and aside from the actual location (a small room inside a potpourri store – you have to be there to understand), the food is worth the price of admission. Now on to the rest of the story!

I then picked up Neal at the airport, as stated above, and 20 minutes later we were ensconced under the shade of lemon trees and tasting wonderful wines.

The schedule was open-ended and after a lovely cup of coffee and Parisien Gourmandises pastries, we were ready to settle down for a day of wine tasting.

Pre-Dinner tasting

We started the tasting with two Champagne, one of them was simple enough and lacking in bubbles while the other one was nice and very accessible. The first one was N.V. Louis de Vignezac, Cuvee Special, Brut and the second was N.V. Champagne Charles de Ponthieu.

After those two aperitifs, it was time for some Burgundy! We started with the 2019 Jean-Philippe Marchand Meursault followed by the 2021 Jean-Philippe Marchand Meursault. Having the opportunity to taste the two of them side-by-side was quite a treat! I had not tasted the 2019 Meursault in 2 years. I had it with Andrew and Gabriel Geller later in 2021 as well, but I have less of a memory of that time.

We then started in on all of the 2021 Jean-Philippe Marchand red Burgundies and they were an exact match to the wines I had in Paris in late November 2022. They are all lovely wines with a floral approach. Even the 2017 and 2019 Gevrey Chambertin that we had later that night followed that approach. The Gevrey has more weight but overall their approach is more for the ethereal Pinot Noir than the full-bodied one.

Once we had tasted the Pinot Noir we had the opportunity to taste some soon-to-be-released Domaine Roses Camille wines, including 2016, 2017, and 2018 vintages. To be fair, I am never a fan, interested in tasting unreleased wines as they may change before being bottled. Thankfully, the 2016 and 2017 vintages are already bottled, while 2018 was a tank sample.

All the Domaine Roses Camille wines were exceptional but as I stated before I wanted the opportunity to taste them again the following day. So after our initial tasting of the wines, Andrew got some plastic Ziplock bags and bagged me some 30 ml of each wine and labeled each bag to boot! This assured me two things, I will have wine to taste the next day, as the wines were open for the dinner that was fast approaching, and I knew what each wine was, the following day!

The bags worked like a charm, Andrew placed them in a box and moved them to the garage where they stayed until the following morning – bravo my man!

Dinner – AKA SoCal RCC Jan 2023

After all the wines were tasted and bagged it was time to focus on dinner. Andrew had already started on the beautiful ribs and was getting the rib roast prepared. It was about that time that I looked at the rib fat/sauce and I started skimming off the obvious fat and then worked on cooking it down a bit and thickening it with some simple starch slurry.

After that, Andrew started cooking some nice Gnocchi and then pan-seared them. I helped a bit with this and the potatoes. I laugh because there is this Italian chef who lives in Australia (Vincenzo Prosperi of Vincenzos Plate) that loves to rant about other chefs who do things that are not exactly Italian! LOL, he tore apart some chefs for doing this very thing, but honestly, I found them very enjoyable!

Soon after Neal and I finished helping here and there the guests started to arrive. The first was Elan Adivi, who works with Jeff’s Sausage and he came armed with a basket full of sausage, charcuterie, and rectangle pie crusts. He made some pretty good pizzas and he topped them with the only green things that graced any of our plates, some arugula, though to be honest, no one went hungry that night!

The evening started with some lovely sushi and the Champagnes we tasted earlier along with some 2019 La Chablisienne, which was a nice enough Mevushal Chablis.

After the Sushi, it was red meat and wine all the way, which is the only way an RCC should be! The Ribs and the Rib Roast were just awesome, and my sauce reduction was not bad either! The Pizzas turned out quite nicely, as well. There was also some very interesting beef jerky, but I did not catch where they were sourced from, I think Andrew had them flown in from Holy Jerky in Five Towns, the stuff was solid!

First I tried the Burgundies again, as well I wanted to see if they had evolved over a few hours, but nothing had changed much. Next, I enjoyed tasting the three Gevrey Chambertin from Jean-Philippe Marchand. Much like the 2019 Jean-Philippe Marchand Meursault I had not tasted the 2017 or 2019 Jean-Philippe Marchand Gevrey Chambertin for many a year.

Of the three, at their current place, I would still go for the new 2021 Gevrey, which is quite surprising to me but also makes me happy to see that there were some good wines from the 2021 vintage.

I then tasted the two mini-verticals of Chateau Castelbruck, Margaux, and Chateau Haut-Breton Larigaudiere. We had 2018, 2019, and 2020 vintages of the Chateau Castelbruck, and Chateau Haut-Breton Larigaudiere. The two wine verticals had not evolved very far from what I had over the past three years. Some wines evolve over a short period, and while these did change slightly from previous tastings, the evolution was more about which fruit emerged ahead of another rather than moving into a drinking window or showing tertiary notes.

Domaine Roses Camille Vertical

Unlike the smaller Chateau Castelbruck, and Chateau Haut-Breton Larigaudiere verticals the Domaine Roses Camille was larger and therefore one that showed a more obvious effect in the years past.

Each of 2011, 2012, and 2014 vintages had clearly evolved with the 2011 vintage almost entering a drinking window. The younger wine (2015) followed the same script as the Taieb Bordeaux and did not change much, if anything, at this point. The even younger wines were all new to me so they may have evolved since being bottled but I would not know.

It was great getting to taste these wines all side by side and seeing the impact of a season on the same vineyard. AKA, Horizontal tasting 101!

After the DRC work, I tried the famous 1997 Chateau de Fesles Bonnezeaux, it had clearly passed its prime but it was nice enough indeed! If you have any still, drink NOW!! I also tried some Montelobos Mezcal Pechuga – it was smoked with kosher Turkey Breast!!! LOL!! Yeah, it was fun! There were some 1999 and 2001 Chateau Guiraud passed around but I missed them and that is fine, I know them well.

It was great hanging out with Shimon Weiss from Shirah Winery and Alex Rubin (a winemaker helping the guys), and I first met Alex on my way to Josh’s wedding in the plane jetway! Life is such a small world! If any of this sounds familiar, in some manner, you have a great memory! Indeed, in August of 2012 found me, along with the aforementioned Shimon Weiss, and Jonathan Hajdu with the same awesome hosts getting together for an awesome event! It was a lunch to truly remember!

Second Tasting

Noon, the next day, I crashed at Andrew’s place, once again, and I tasted through the Burgundies from the plastic bags some had indeed evolved and improved, but none took a step backward.

Once I was done tasting through the wines I bid my adieu and made my way to the airport! The sad fact is that if you have no status you get what you pay for! I was done a few hours before my flight home, but I flew down using Southwest and I have no status with them, so changing a ticket the day of, would have cost me an arm and leg, so I sat in the terminal and waited for my plane. Of course, the plane was eventually delayed, but my plane was so empty they had to distribute us across the plane – so yeah, I was fine! It is all about perspective – right?

My thanks to Andrew and Shauna Breskin for hosting the tasting and for putting up with me and everyone else who crashed their home for more than 24 hours! Also, I used many of Andrew’s lovely pictures – thank you, sir!!! The notes speak for themselves.

The wine notes follow below, in the order, they were tasted – the explanation of my “scores” can be found here and the explanation for QPR scores can be found here:

N.V. Louis de Vignezac Cuvee Special, Brut, Champagne – Score: 89 (QPR: EVEN)
The nose of this wine is very yeasty, with baked goods, lemon/lime, and green apple. The mouth o this medium-bodied wine is ok but uni-dimensional, with nice minerals, green/yellow apple, and lime, but not much more than the acid and the fruit to grab you. The mousse is ok, not bracing and not attacking, but the acidity is great. The finish is long, and tart, with pear, apple, and lime. Drink now. (tasted January 2023) (in San Diego, CA) (ABV = 12.5%)

N.V. Champagne Charles de Ponthieu, Champagne – Score: 91 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is screaming with bright fruit, rich minerality, slate, rock, baked goods, pear, and apple. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is fresh, with great fruit focus, a lovely small bubble mousse, pear, apple, lime, baked apple pie, and lovely yeast, with floral notes. The finish is long, fruity, balanced, tart, lovely, refreshing, and focused. Nice! Drink now! (tasted January 2023) (in San Diego, CA) (ABV = 12.5%)

2019 La Chablisienne Chablis, Cuvee Casher, Chablis (M) – Score: 90 (QPR: EVEN)
The nose of this wine is nice enough with nice minerality, smoke, and saline, pear, and apple. The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is ok, a bit cooked, funky, and fruity, with apple, pear, and lemon/lime. The finish is long, cooked, and flinty, nice! Drink UP! (tasted January 2023) (in San Diego, CA) (ABV = 12.5%)

————————– Jean-Philippe Marchand Wines —————————————————

You can compare the notes here to the notes in Paris France, a few wines did improve overall. The wines that showed nice improvement were the 2021 Jean-Philippe Marchand Nuits-Saint-George, Aux Herbues, and the 2021 Jean-Philippe Marchand Aloxe Corton, Sous Chaillots (showing the biggest jump in scores), and the 2021 Jean-Philippe Marchand Pommard, Le Dome.

2021 Jean-Philippe Marchand Meursault, Meursault – Score: 93+ (QPR: GOOD)
The nose of this wine is intense, funky, and dirty, with rich salinity, smoke, hay, honeyed melon, toasty oak, hazelnuts, and lemongrass. The mouth of this full-bodied wine is intense, dense, rich, and layered, truly incredible, with layers of acidity, butterscotch, toast, melon, apple, lime, hay/grass, with minerality, flint/slate, with such an unctuous and rich mouthfeel, almost oily, with a weightiness and freshness that is truly incredible. The finish is long, tart, and rich, not as ripe as 2019, but lovely with more lemon/lime Fraiche, flint, rock, saline, and honeyed notes. Lovely! PLEASE, many of you will be motivated to drink this up as it is an awesome wine, but control yourselves please, this wine needs time! Drink until 2029, maybe longer. (tasted November 2022 & January 2023) (in Paris, France & San Diego, CA) (ABV = 13%)

2019 Jean-Philippe Marchand Meursault, Meursault – Score: 93 (QPR: GOOD)
The nose of this wine is lovely, with lovely mint, floral notes, green herbs, yellow apple, candied pear, and cardamom, with hints of lemon, spice, sweet toasted oak, toasted almonds, hazelnuts, and more floral notes, honeysuckle, honey, lemon/lime, melon, and lovely herbaceous notes.
With time, the oak fades from the nose and the sweet fruit and floral notes take control.
The mouth on this full-bodied wine is lovely, layered, rich, oily, and textured, with sweet oak, Meyer lemon, apple tart, sweet fig, creme brulee, honey, crazy acidity, lovely mouth-coating tannin, smoke, crazy minerality, lovely flint, rock, and smoked duck, brioche, lemon/lime, and sweet yellow plum. With time, the sweet oak fades in the mouth as well, with more fruit and smoke/flint.
The finish is long, sweet, tart, ripe, and well-balanced, with flint and toast. PLEASE, many of you will be motivated to drink this up as it is an awesome wine, but control yourselves please, this wine needs time! Drink from 2023 until 2028, maybe longer. (tasted again January 2023) (in San Diego, CA) (ABV = 13%)

2021 Jean-Philippe Marchand Bourgogne, Hautes-Cotes de Nuits, Hautes-Cotes de Nuits – Score: 88 (QPR: POOR)
This wine is evolving, changing with air and time, with more floral notes, showing rosehip, and violet, with roasted herbs, green notes, red dark cherry, and foliage.
The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is ripe, with dried floral notes, cherry, smoke, earth, mushroom, and smoke, with soft tannins, menthol, and green notes.
The finish is long, green, sweet, floral, and herbal, with graphite, and smoke. Bravo! Drink until 2026. (tasted November 2022 & January 2023) (in Paris, France & San Diego, CA) (ABV = 12.5%)

2021 Jean-Philippe Marchand Bourgogne, Hautes-Cotes de Beaune, Hautes-Cotes de Beaune – Score: 91+ (QPR: GOOD)
The nose of this wine is lovely, far more restrained than the Hautes-Cotes de Nuits, with lovely mushroom, loam, dirt, smoke, red fruit, rich funk, and nice umami.
The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is lovely, layered, and concentrated, with bracing acidity, lovely salinity, dark cherry, and raspberry fruit, all balanced and wrapped with elegant tannin, more rosehip, lavender, tart notes, and sweet fruit.
The finish is long, tart, and balanced, with menthol, roasted herbs, loam, and smoke. Drink by 2028. (tasted November 2022 & January 2023) (in Paris, France & San Diego, CA) (ABV = 12.5%)

2021 Jean-Philippe Marchand Nuits-Saint-George, Aux Herbues, Nuits-Saint-George – Score: 90 (QPR: POOR)
The nose of this wine starts with earthy notes, smoke, and funk, a bit of heat, with lovely cherry, dark raspberry, cranberry, pomegranate, coffee, violets, and foliage, with menthol. With time, this wine evolved the most, with lovely focus, and balance, roasted herb, and bramble, the candied fruit falls off, and the floral notes are still there but subdued, with nice umami, and smoke, lovely!
The mouth of this medium-plus bodied wine is ripe, and a bit hot, with ripe fruit, bramble, jammy pomegranate, and cranberry, with more tannin, candied fruit, roasted herb, wrapped in sweet currants, and a dense rich mouthfeel.
The finish is ripe, with sweet fruit, more acidity, sweet oak, milk chocolate, sweet licorice, and candied strawberry. Drink by 2030 (tasted November 2022 & January 2023) (in Paris, France & San Diego, CA) (ABV = 13%)

2021 Jean-Philippe Marchand Aloxe Corton, Sous Chaillots, Aloxe Corton – Score: 91+ (QPR: GOOD)
The nose of this wine is funky, with mushrooms, flowers, red fruit, herbal notes, and smoke.
The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is ripe, and floral, with cranberry, cherry, and currants, all wrapped in violets and rosehip, with nice tannin. With time, the wine evolves to show more focus, concentration, and a bit of extraction, with lovely dark cherry, the pomegranate is gone, and bramble, mineral, rock, and graphite fill the mouth.
The finish is long, tart, and candied, with almost pomegranates, and loads of floral notes that are sweet from the candied fruit, mushroom, and earth. With time, the pomegranate falls off, the minerality comes forth, and the elegance is evident, a lovely wine, mouth-draping, and coffee-driven finish, nice! Overall, the red fruit, elegant notes, herb, rich minerality, and some floral notes, with lovely acidity are what carry this wine. Drink until 2031. (tasted November 2022 & January 2023) (in Paris, France & San Diego, CA) (ABV = 13%)

2021 Jean-Philippe Marchand Pommard, Le Dome, Pommard – Score: 90+ (QPR: EVEN)
The nose of this wine is oaky, with nice mushrooms, ripe red fruit, herbs, and dirt. With time the oak fades and potpourri takes center stage.
The mouth of this medium-plus-bodied wine is once again a flower pot with nice red fruit, cherry, and raspberry, not as candied as others, with nice acidity, and tannin. The mouthfeel is unctuous, layered, silky, and nice. With time the wine evolves more and shows more weight, with floral notes, some good dark cherry, and more control. nice.
The finish is long, floral, herbal, and fruity, with lavender and smoke. Drink by 2029. (tasted November 2022 & January 2023) (in Paris, France & San Diego, CA) (ABV = 13%)

2021 Jean-Philippe Marchand Gevrey-Chambertin, Gevrey-Chambertin – Score: 93 (QPR: GOOD)
The nose of this wine is balanced with good mushrooms, bright and ripe red fruit, cola, umami, funk, and dirty sock funk, that gives way to soy sauce, and earth.
The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is ripe, balanced, and nice, with rich salinity, nice tannin structure, lovely dark cherry, ripe strawberry, rich extraction, dense fruit, and mouthfeel, smoked meat, elegant, yet ripe, with a lovely plush and rich mouthfeel, lovely!
The finish is long, red, ripe, and extracted with lovely fruit, menthol, garrigue, mushrooms, smoke, and more roasted animal, lovely! Drink by 2031. (tasted November 2022 & January 2023) (in Paris, France & San Diego, CA) (ABV = 13%)

2019 Jean-Philippe Marchand Gevrey-Chambertin, Gevrey-Chambertin – Score: 93+ (QPR: GOOD)
The nose of this has evolved to dirty strawberry, dirty sock funk, that gives way to soy sauce, with violet, rosehip, and more floral notes, followed by licorice, currants, roasted animal, and loads of smoke.
The mouth on this medium to full-bodied wine is lovely, showing layers of mulberry, smoke, roasted herb, Kirche cherry, dried and tart strawberry, with more rosehip, garrigue, underbrush, smoked venison, with lovely elegance and plush mouthfeel, sweet but very controlled fruit, with garrigue, and roasted herb, with mushroom and menthol in the background. Just wow, elegant, evolved, still a baby, plush, and tertiary, bravo!
The finish is long, green, sweet, floral, herbal, and gamey, with more strawberry and cherry, espresso, leather, and smoke. Bravo!! Drink from 2025 until 2035. (tasted January 2023) (in San Diego, CA) (ABV = 13%)

2017 Jean-Philippe Marchand Gevrey-Chambertin, Gevrey-Chambertin – Score: 92+ (QPR: GOOD)
The nose of this wine is lovely, it has evolved from a few years ago, with rich red fruit, crazy herb, roasted herb, mint, menthol, intense umami, soy sauce, green notes galore, lovely mushroom, lovely elegance, and sweet dill.
The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is beautifully elegant, with lovely acidity, red fruit, raspberry, tart ripe green fruit, tart cranberry, dark cherry, and raspberry, all red fruit here, with still gripping tannin, with sweet fruit, lovely umami, soy sauce, roasted herb, and rich mushroom, and mineral. After a day the tannin integrates and is lovely, adding to the weight, very nice!
The finish is long, green, and mineral, with crazy acidity-rich minerality, and earth. Bravo!!
What an elegance and attack, bravo!!! Drink from 2024 until 2029. (tasted January 2023) (in San Diego, CA) (ABV = 13%)

The Mini-Horizontal of Chateau Haut Breton Larigaudiere

2018 Chateau Haut Breton Larigaudiere, Margaux – Score: 92 (QPR: WINNER)
This wine is ripe, a bit too much for me, with dirt, underbrush, mushroom, milk chocolate, red and black fruit, rich garrigue, and smoke. The mouth on this full-bodied wine is layered, rich, and ripe, but balanced, with green notes, foliage, raspberry, cassis, blackberry, plum, and tobacco, with enough acidity, dark cherry, all wrapped in mouth-draping and plush tannin, plush mouthfeel, milk chocolate, herb, and lovely sweet cedar, earth, dark currant, and graphite galore.
The finish is long, green, sweet, balanced, earthy, and dirty, with mouth-coating and drying tannin, and leather, giving way to tobacco, and mineral galore. Nice!! Drink from 2024 until 2032. (tasted January 2023)

2019 Chateau Haut-Breton Larigaudiere, Margaux – Score: 93 (QPR: WINNER)
The nose of this wine is more feminine than masculine, with sweet and ripe fruit notes, heather, rosehip, loads of dirt, earth, mushroom, milk chocolate, well-balanced, with red/blue/black fruit, sweet dill, rich garrigue, and smoke.
The mouth on this full-bodied wine is layered, rich, and ripe, but so well balanced, with loads of saline, green notes, foliage, blackberry, juicy boysenberry, raspberry, sweet tobacco, nice acidity, dark cherry, roasted herb, lovely sweet cedar, earth, dark currant, and graphite galore.
The finish is long, sweet, well-balanced, earthy, and dirty, with mouth-coating and drying tannin, and leather, giving way to tobacco, and mineral galore. Bravo!! Drink from 2027 until 2035. (tasted January 2023)

2020 Chateau Haut-Breton Larigaudiere, Margaux – Score: 87 (QPR: EVEN)
The nose of this wine shows pure sweet vanilla, ripe fruit, cloyingly sweet milk chocolate, and some earth. After 10 hours, the mouth turned very green, not quite tinny, but not as good, or bad, just uninteresting. The mouth of this medium-plus-bodied wine shows much better than the nose, with bright acidity, tart, and ripe fruit, dense and mouth-drying tannin, ripe blackberry, blueberry, nice minerality, dense and rich with good fruit focus, all around a nice ripe wine. After 10 hours the mouth is the same minus acidity and shows a big hole, sad. The finish is ripe, with more vanilla, ripe fruit, smoke, roasted herbs, licorice, milk chocolate, and scraping graphite. Drink until 2025. (tasted November 2022 & January 2023) (in Paris, France & San Diego, CA) (ABV = 13.5%)

The Mini-Horizontal of Chateau Castelbruck

2018 Chateau Castelbruck, Margaux – Score: 90+ (QPR: GOOD)
The wine has evolved to show riper than before, which is not strange given the vintage, but overall it is still a nice wine.
The nose of this wine has evolved, showing sweet cedar, rich milk chocolate, nice black and blue fruit, roasted herbs, smoke, mushroom, and mineral.
The mouth on this full-bodied wine is ripe, showing ripe and juicy blackberry, blueberry, and milk chocolate, with a good-enough acid core, backed by layers of fruit, nice mouthfeel, and complexity, wrapped in sweet draping tannin, sweet oak, and a nice fruit-focus.
The finish is long, and earthy, with mineral galore, showing lovely scrapping graphite, with earth, leather, dirt, and mushroom on a bed of bright and ripe fruit. Drink until 2030. (tasted again in January 2023)

2019 Chateau Castelbruck, Margaux – Score: 92.5 (QPR: WINNER)
The wine is a blend of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon & 45% Merlot. The nose of this wine is nice, and balanced, with good fruit, a bit ripe, but also bright, with deep black and blue fruit, oak, sweet dill, rich mineral, tar, and sweet tobacco.
The mouth on this full-bodied wine is ripe, but it is well balanced with lovely and bracing acidity, searing but elegant mouth-draping tannin, blackberry, ripe boysenberry, sweet oak, ripe plum, and lovely scraping mineral, graphite, saline, and smoke.
The finish is long, black, dirty, smoky, sweet tobacco, leather, rich loam, earth, and green notes in the far back. Bravo!! Drink from 2026 until 2034. (tasted again in January 2023)

2020 Chateau Castelbruck, Margaux – Score: 93 (QPR: WINNER)
At the opening, again blind, this wine was dead. After 10 hours the wine opens nicely to show tart and ripe red fruit, rich mushroom, loam, and nice minerality, nice! The mouth of this medium-bodied wine is nice, showing good fruit focus, and nice acidity, not as dense as other wines, but still shows good structure, and elegance, with dark cherry, raspberry, plum, loam, earth, nice licorice, with a plush mouthfeel, nice structure, and great minerality. The finish is long, bright, and tart, yet plush and ripe, well balanced, with more minerality, scraping graphite, tar, leather, and rich tannin lingering long. Bravo! Drink from 2026 until 2035. (tasted November 2022 and January 2023) (in Paris, France and San Diego, CA) (ABV = 13.5%)

The Domaine Roses Camille Vertical

2018 Domaine Roses Camille, Pomerol – Score: 95 (QPR: GREAT)
WOW! This is incredible, rich, unctuous, ripe, earthy, smoky, mineral-laden, and just incredible, with intense graphite, loam, smoke, roasted animal, licorice, celery root, rich violet, rosehip, black, and brooding fruit, but so well balanced, elegant, and earthy! WOW! The mouth of this dense, layered, rich, unctuous, and full-bodied wine is plush, rich, elegant, and spot-on, with control, rich salinity, rich blackberry, cassis, black plum, and earth, that gives way to mouth-draping and elegant tannin, oak, and scraping minerality. The finish is long, ripe, earthy, loam, mushroom joy, with intense minerality, graphite, menthol, iron, and tobacco. Just wow!!! BRAVO!!! Drink from 2027 until 2035. (tasted January 2023) (in San Diego, CA) (ABV = 14%)

2017 Domaine Roses Camille, Pomerol – Score: 94 (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is not as ripe as the previous vintages with rosehip, floral notes, rich salinity, smoke, blue and red fruit, roasted animal, tar, and earth. The mouth of this full-bodied wine is ripe, but floral, with lovely red fruit, raspberry, currants, cherry, boysenberry, rich mouth-draping tannin, rich saline, elegant, smokey, dirty, earthy, and graphite. The finish is long, floral, and dirty, with smoke, and rosehip. earth and scraping minerality, truly elegant, red fruit, menthol, smoke, roasted meat, and dirt linger long. Drink until 2033. (tasted January 2023) (in San Diego, CA) (ABV = 13%)

2016 Domaine Roses Camille, Pomerol – Score: 94+ (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine is intense, young, bright fruit, rich mushroom, saline, earth, loam, with tar, ink, pencil shavings, say sauce, black and blue fruit, iron shavings, just lovely! The mouth of this full-bodied wine is rich, layered, dense, and elegant, with rich mushrooms, blackberry, raspberry, ripe cassis, pencil shavings, smoke, loam, dirt, and rich earth, just lovely!! BRAVO! The finish is long, ripe, layered, elegant, and focused, with mushroom, earth, loam, green notes, tobacco, and espresso coffee. WOW! Drink from 2024 until 2034. (tasted January 2023) (in San Diego, CA) (ABV = 15%)

2015 Domaine Roses Camille Grand Vin de Bordeaux, Pomerol, Bordeaux – Score: 94+ (QPR: GREAT)
The nose of this wine has opened since my last tasting, it is still oaky, with lovely green notes, iodine, red, and black fruit, beautiful violets, hints of blue fruit, rich smoke, toast, and earth.
The mouth on this full-bodied wine is lovely with layers upon layers of concentrated fruit, rich extraction, and ripeness that is in line with the 2015 vintage, along with blackberry, plum, dark cherry, hints of boysenberry, green notes, foliage, fresh forest floor, with black tea, anise, mineral, elegant and mouth draping tannin, more smoke, toast, menthol, savory notes, bay leaves, rich saline, and lovely loam/earth.
The finish is long, green, and earthy, with more smoke, toast, and lovely sweet plum, licorice, olives, and almost milky dark chocolate. Wow! Drink from 2033 until 2045. (tasted again January 2023) (in San Diego, CA) (ABV = 14.5%)

2014 Domaine Roses Camille Grand Vin de Bordeaux, Pomerol, Bordeaux – Score: 95+ (QPR: GREAT)
This tasting was an entire vertical of the Domaine Roses Camille and this felt like the most balanced and elegant of the bunch, really impressive! Understand, that outside of 2005 and 2006, IMHO, this is the WINNER.
The nose on this wine is incredible, it shows less oak than the 2015 vintage does, which to be fair is reasonable as it is one year further removed from the barrel.
The nose of this wine is lovely, mineral city, with graphite, black and red fruit, epic control, smoke galore, with roasted meat, spice, earth, anise, and a start to mushroom, forest floor, cedar, sweet dill, and lovely green notes, wow!! This is the nose I dream of. Please remember, DRC is one of those producers that hold on to their wines forever. I felt this way about many of the 2014 wines of the past, but having the chance to relive that now is a true joy!
The mouth on this full-bodied wine is slowly opening, and it is finally available to the user, barely, showing ripe fruit, impeccably controlled, incredible acidity, mouth-draping tannin, a plush mouthfeel, blackberry, plum, intense cassis, rich saline, graphite, ripe raspberry, smoke, rich loam, earth, and tar.
The finish is long, green, earthy, smoky, and mineral-packed, with so much smoke, roasted duck, animal, and tannin that just goes on forever, foliage, dark chocolate, mushroom, sweet tobacco, gripping tannin, and more dill. WOW!!! Drink from 2035 until 2043. (tasted again January 2023) (in San Diego, CA) (ABV = 14%)

2012 Domaine Roses Camille, Pomerol – Score: 93 to 94 (QPR: GOOD)
The nose is rich and earthy but ethereal with flowers, mushrooms, red and green fruit, with hints of black in the background, loads of sweet and ripe fruit, sweet dill, cedar, and rich dirt and deep fruit.
The mouth on this full-bodied wine is still riper than I would have wished for, but it is beautifully layered with incredibly concentrated dark fruit, lovely extraction, showing candied strawberry, raspberry, and blackberry, along with nice dirt, spice, more cedar, and rich layers of green foliage and ripe and juicy cassis, black cherry – that gives way to mineral, pencil, smoke, menthol, all wrapped in elegant and mouth-draping tannin that is plush and elegant.
The finish is long and green, with sweet notes of juicy and tart fruit, with enough acid, cocoa, tar, charcoal, mushroom, and tobacco, wrapped in leather and spice. Nice! Drink from 2020 to 2029.

2011 Domaine Roses Camille, Pomerol – Score: 94+ (QPR: GREAT)
It has been many years since I have tasted one of these! I remember tasting this for the first time at a city winery event where Andrew was pouring some epic wines! WOW!
The nose of this wine brings one word to life – wow! The nose is ripe but super balanced, a slight step behind 2015, but more balanced, with intense minerality, roasted herb, mint, menthol, rose hip, anise, black and red fruit, graphite, garrigue, and smoky notes. Lovely!
The mouth of this full-bodied wine is rich with lovely mushrooms, barnyard, intense acidity, minerality, rich graphite, blackberry,  strawberry,  sun-dried raspberry, dark cherry, mocha, sweet dill, roasted herb, mouth-draping tannin, and smoke all coming together beautifully.
The finish is long, ripe, balanced, and tannic, with more dirt,  green notes, bell pepper, foliage, smoke,  graphite,  loam, and mushroom.  Bravo! Drink from 2024 until 2032.