Malt Liquor Reviews from a Wine Critic

Malt Liquor Review (originally published by The Wave Magazine)

We asked a widely published wine critic and Napa Valley regular to closely examine some of the finest malt liquors a $1.19 can buy.
By: Tim Teichgraeber

Malt liquor looks like beer, smells like beer, and—aside from the fact that it may be a little more bland and a little more sweet—more or less tastes like beer. Sounds harmless enough, but don’t be fooled: Malt liquor is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. I call it “sucker punch” because it tends to sneak up on you.

I guess you could say that malt liquor is like a beer that makes you want to break stuff. Weighing in at somewhere between 5.5 and 8% alcohol by volume, it can be twice as strong as regular beer, which falls somewhere between 4 and 5.5%. While a reasonable person might say, “Well, maybe I’ll just have two malt liquors instead of my usual three regular beers,” it doesn’t usually seem to work that way. Instead, folks drink about the same amount of malt liquor as they would beer, then start breaking stuff.

Malt liquor is like beer without the cultural sensitivity. If those bikini-chick Keystone and Bud Light ads drive you nuts, you should definitely steer clear of the malt liquor aisle. Some of the packaging is tasteless enough to make Jack Kent Cooke spin in his grave.

Mickey’s, the belligerent Irishman-themed brand—and the only one that seems to appeal to a broad base of white malt-liquor drinkers, also known as “swiggers”—is on the lower end of the alcohol content spectrum at 5.6%. Whether it’s because the Mickey’s brewery staff has a social conscience or doesn’t want their brew to be perceived as weak, Heileman doesn’t print the alcohol content on the bottle.

Then there’s Crazy Horse, the brand Hornell Brewing Company and G. Heileman named after the famed Ogala Sioux warrior who died trying to protect his people from, well, liquor, among other things. After eight years of protests, lawsuits, and boycotts, Stroh’s Brewing, the parent company of Heileman, agreed to pull the brand from the market and to pay seven horses, 32 Pendleton blankets, braids of tobacco, and sweet grass to the estate of Crazy Horse and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, quickly putting allegations of insensitivity to rest once and for all.

In the late ‘80s, gangster rapper Ice Cube endorsed St. Ides in a massive poster campaign. This was long before he was tapped by the Hollywood establishment to battle giant CGI anacondas on the silver screen.

But no brewery would go so far as to endorse criminal behavior, right? Of course not! The fact that “211” is police code for armed or aggravated robbery has nothing to do with the name of 8.1% alcohol Steele Reserve 211. It’s just a coincidence. Everybody knows numerology is just a bunch of mumbo-jumbo. Steele Reserve even carries a prominent warning of its “High Gravity.” This is HIGH gravity, folks, not the kind that makes an apple fall on your head. This is the kind of gravity that crushes you, drooling, into the sidewalk.

I won’t pretend to be a malt-liquor aficionado. I am a professional wine critic who gets an endless stream of nice bottles of wine in the mail for free. I don’t have to drink malt liquor, so I generally don’t. On the other hand, I’m also a freelance writer who can’t afford to be picky about his assignments. I’ll also defend to the death a person’s right to unwind at the end of the day, or in the morning.

When the Madison, Wisconsin, Alcohol License Review Committee proposed a voluntary ban on the sale of individual bottles of malt liquor, unfairly associating the sale of 40s with “aggressive panhandling, open intoxication, public urination, theft, armed robbery, and intimidation,” at least one brave citizen had the guts to stand up for a working person’s right to relaxation.

“My two daughters work minimum wage at McDonald’s and cannot afford $40 bottles of wine,” said Carl Endres, owner of Keg’s Korner. “They deserve the right to relax after a hard day of work.”

Thanks, Carl. Thanks for looking out for the kids.

TASTING METHOD

The following nine brands were tasted blindly in Riedel Grand Cru Bordeaux (21.5 oz) stemware. Each was poured by an assistant standing out of my sight. All liquors were rated on a 10 point scale, with 1 being undrinkable and 10 being superior in all respects.
TASTING RESULTS

Olde English “800” Malt (Pabst Brewing Co., 7.5% alcohol) Eight-ball anyone? Medium-gold in color with a decent head, it’s bright and bubbly with more freshness and life than most of its counterparts, with apple and yeast notes, a hint of lemon, and a sort of Budweiser-like woodiness. It’s higher in acid but also fuller bodied than the others, has relatively high apparent alcohol, and finishes rich and relatively long. Rich, strong, and uncompromising—do not serve to children. Rating: 6

St. Ides (St. Ides Brewing Company, 7.3%) Medium-gold in color with a very yeasty nose and sour, orangey aromas, like a Belgian weiss beer with a shot of vodka dropped into it. More full-flavored with comparatively stronger yeast, citrus, and bread flavors that finish with a slightly metallic crispness. Notice how it makes your tummy warm? Watch out. Rating: 5

Mickey’s (Heileman Brewing Co. 5.6%) This bee has lost its sting. Pale gold in color with light, watery lemony and beery aromas. It’s bland and uninteresting and has a stale, wet-cardboard finish. It’s a punk-ass product by any standard. And what would Mickey’s be without the nuggets of wisdom on the inside of the twist-off caps: “buzz’-are (adj) How everything looks through the bottom of a Mickey’s bottle.” Duh. Rating: 2

Colt 45 (Carling Brewery, 5.6%) With all due respect to Billy Dee Williams, this stuff is foul. Stinky smelling, foamy in a dish-soap sort of way, and medium gold in color, it tastes of musty cardboard and chalk, and is otherwise without merit. Stale as it gets. Rating: 2

King Cobra (Anheuser Busch, 5.9%) This brand hasn’t been a player for a long time. Kinda hard to understand why when it has such a kick-ass name. It has creamy, orangey aromas with a slightly smoky, beery quality. Bland and slightly stale, and almost flavorless—a rather limp serpent ready for retirement or a major label-and-contents overhaul. It doesn’t even taste particularly strong. Rating: 3

Schlitz Malt Liquor (Stroh Brewery, 5.9% ) The classic. Slightly darker in color, it has a medium head with a fresh, airy, light bouquet of bread dough, apple, and orange. It’s citrusy in the mouth with a light yeastiness, but finishes fast and flat as a pancake. It’s relatively fresh tasting and not apparently high in alcohol. Rating: 5

Steel Reserve “211” (Steel Brewing Company, 8.1%) Named after the police code for armed robbery, this must-have wilding accessory is medium-gold in color, with bready aromas and an interesting caramel-like darker side. It’s toasty in the mouth with medium body and a tangy fruitiness. It seems medium strength. It’s certainly not one of the finest drinks I’ve had, but it has an interesting combination of flavors. Rating: 4

Country Club (Pearl Brewery, San Antonio, 7.2%) Tennis anyone? Foamy, yeasty, and slightly lemony, it has relatively high apparent alcohol and is otherwise light and very mild. The best thing about this country club is that a 40-oz. membership is only $1.50. Rating: 4 Elephant Malt Liquor (Brewed in Canada under supervision of Danish brewery Carlsberg, 7.2%) O.K., so maybe it isn’t as “street” as 8-Ball, but it’s the class act of the bunch with deep, gold color and fresh, toasty and lemony flavors. It’s strong, dry, and sophisticated with a tangy and slightly metallic aftertaste, but it’s clearly superior as these things go. Rating: 7

MacRostie Winery and Vineyards

I still haven't had an opportunity to visit MacRostie's new tasting room near Healdsburg in Sonoma County, but I've seen pictures and it looks GREAT. A friend of mine recently visited there and told me he arrived before another car carrying the remaining members of his group. An employee walked out of the tasting room with a glass of white wine to meet him halfway through the parking lot. Not that's hospitality! I think I'm going to be sending a lot more people that way.

MacRostie has been sending me wines for a while and I had dinner with Steve MacRostie a few years ago. I have to say that I have been steadily, progressively impressed by the wines, especially with the Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs, both of which are now sealed with screwcaps and seem they seem all the more pure and fresh for it. Other wine writers I know feel the same way.

MacRostie 2014 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir ($42) This is just about textbook Russian River Valley Pinot Noir. It has an equal balance of red and black and blue fruit flavors, a generous silky texture and a little bit of spice, partly from the oak and partly from the loamy goldridge soils. It's a Goldilocks wine: not too this, not too that, just right. Everyone will enjoy this wine and the price is quite fair. (92 Points)

Sweetzer Cellars Chardonnays from Santa Barbara County

So, my friend Lisa Liberati sent me a few Chardonnays from a winery that she's a partner in. They're based in Buelton in Santa Barbara County, which is an incredibly beautiful place to visit. Santa Barbara County is famous for very seductive and pleasantly plump Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from Santa Maria Valley and Santa Rita Hills, as well as excellent Syrah, Grenache and more from the Santa Ynez Valley.

Sweetzer Cellars 2014 Santa Maria Valley Chardonnay ($25) Moderately deep gold color, Pretty nose of pineapple, orange, peach and fennel and lavender. Peach and apricot stone fruit notes in the mouth, it stays well-focused, dry and the alcohol level isn't jacked up. It's not a terribly showy wine, and I appreciate the subtlety. A very versatile wine to pair with food, and frankly, a terrific value. 91 Points

Sweetzer Cellars 2014 Presqu'ile Vineyard Chardonnay Santa Maria Valley ($40) This one has fairly exotic fruit aromas with notes of cantaloupe, papaya and quince, and those exotic flavors continue across the palate, but it does finish relatively simply without the addition of new oak. To the wine's credit, it doesn't seem overblown and still has decent acidity. The winemaker hasn't over-compensated for the lack of oak by over-working the battonage treatment. Only 150 cases produced. 90 Points

There was one more bottle, but it was corked and unreviewable, so I'll leave it at that.  

Canning Wines and How You Do It Right: Backpack Wines

I have written a story or two about wine in cans and what a convenient, practical format it is, even the relatively low barriers to entry to the sector. Beyond that, what interests me the most is winemakers or wine companies that seem to understand the format, that are forwarding a product that seems to make sense in context, and which can be accomplished in accordance with limiting price points.

Subtract all pretense, all wanna-be complexity, all expense, and you have Backpack fizzy white, an 11.5%, relatively low alcohol white wine that has racy acidity and no oak.


It's brilliant. It manages to fit all of the best qualities of the world's best wine values into a compact can. This is an incredibly refreshing wine, spritzy and high in acid, low in alcohol, and it's hard to put down.

It's one of the most drinkable white wines I've had so far this year. It's not much unlike a Portuguese Vinho Verde, but maybe has a bit more body. Or maybe a little like a Cotes de Gascogne with a little spritz.

As a wine critic, I really want to understand how you can accomplish this with Central Valley fruit (I make this assumption because of the Modesto headquarters of the company).

I don't think the rose is as interesting, but it is equally refreshing, simple and straightforward, and also has a light spritz. If you are shopping for wine in a can, keep an eye out for Backpack. The white is killer and the rose will not disappoint.

Review: Villa Maria 2015 Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough NZ

I've always had a soft spot for this wine. For me, it's a reliable, precisely dialed-in NZ Sauvignon Blanc that has those zesty grapefruit and gooseberry notes that you expect, but it isn't as aggressively vegetal as some, leaning more toward the sweet pink grapefruit and passion fruit end of the spectrum with pretty kaffir lime leaf notes. It's superb with goat or mild Alpine semi-soft cheeses, fresh oysters or ceviche.(92 Points)

Review: Dry Creek Vineyards 2016 Sauvignon Blanc Dry Creek Valley

Man, oh man, this is great stuff. There are a lot of wineries in Sonoma County's Dry Creek Valley that make great Sauvignon Blanc, but if there's one winery in Dry Creek Valley that really hangs its hat on the variety, it would be Dry Creek Vineyard. Known for a very direct, grassy style, the winery now makes several Sauvignon Blancs with a range of styles that never stray too far from the original Loire Valley inspired original. Last year I rated this wine 92 points, and this vintage may be even better - it's loaded with flavor and verve, showing fresh clover, kaffir lime leaf and slightly musky hay aromas and brisk grapefruit, lime, pineapple and kumquat flavors with a mouth-watering, long finish. This wine belongs in any discussion of the state's best Sauvignon Blancs, and at $20 a bottle, it's a steal. (93 points)

Modern Wine's Preview of the 2014 Bordeaux Vintage

The Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux tasting only passes through San Francisco every other year (it goes through Los Angeles in the alternate years), and I think everyone in the Bay Area wine trade always looks forward to it. It is an exceptionally well-organized event (thank you Balzac Communications), and with the exception of some of the very biggest names of Bordeaux, many important chateaux make the trip to the United States for this important showcase.

We, in California, and I'm referring to the United States in general, have always looked to Bordeaux for inspiration. From the 18th Century, the French wine region of Bordeaux has sketched a template for branding prowess, creating a critical pecking order and global marketing. Numerous estates in Bordeaux produce hundreds of thousands of cases of wine from each vintage, which are then distributed to several continents.

While California wineries have taught Bordeaux a lot about contemporary marketing, California wineries still look to France for aesthetic inspiration, bearings and certainly chase them in terms of international brand status. Maybe at this point it is fair to say that both California and France regard each other as relevant and a source of inspiration.

I would say that the general rap regarding the 2014 vintage in Bordeaux seemed accurate to me. They always talk about these things as being 'Right Bank years' or 'Left Bank years,' and this is no exception.

2014 is a Left Bank Year, meaning that Cabernet Sauvignon flourished while Merlot struggled and some wines from the Right Bank were just ok, there's not much getting around that fact.

The 'right bank' of the Gironde, Merlot-dominated regions of Saint Emilion and Pomerol were overall pretty lackluster, though there were a few good showings in Pomerol, and maybe a couple in Saint Emilion. There are always some wineries that make great wines in average circumstances, and those are always the wineries to pay attention to, because it just goes to show how high their standards are. Those are always the Chateaux to keep an eye on, because they're doing great work in the most difficult years.

The Cabernet Sauvignon-based left bank of the Gironde River wineries were more solid, no doubt about it. In fact, I think there were some really good values and the wines were remarkably consistent from winery to winery compared to recent vintages going back to 2000.

There are great values to be had in the $40 to $60 price range, but most of these are just offered as 'en primeur' advance purchases, which does present some wait, and some risk, in terms of cash advances and fraud potential. All in all, I'm relatively impressed with the quality-to-price ratio compared to American - let's say Napa Valley -  wines in the same price range.

It will be a while before you see these Bordeaux wines on store shelves in the United States unless you order them in advance, and you probably won't. You should still know that they will be out there and part of the general relevant discussion of where the best wines come from.

I usually start by checking out the white wines from Graves and Pessac-Leognan. This sub-zone is located in the southern, left part of Bordeaux and it produces a lot of premium white and red wine. Both the reds and whites can be killer. It is essentially a drained swamp, but the remaining soils are gravelly and rocky. These are 18th century engineered wines. There are some pretty spectacular estates in this region. I think in 2014 I would rate the wines as fairly average, and in some cases probably not worth the price, but there are always exceptions. I did not review every wine I tasted. I did not taste every wine. These were the highlights and a couple of lowlights.

Graves and Pessac-Leognan
I usually start by checking out the white wines from Graves and Pessac-Leognan. Then I go back to re-visit the reds. This sub-zone is located in the southern, left part of Bordeaux and it produces a lot of premium white and red wine. Both the reds and whites can be killer. It is essentially a drained swamp, but the remaining soils are gravelly and rocky. There are some pretty spectacular estates in this region. I think in 2014 I would rate the whites as fairly average, and in some cases probably not worth the price, but there are always exceptions. The reds, I thought were a bit better, but not killer.

Chateau Marlarctic-Lagraviere
Blanc - Well made with white peach, grapefruit notes, very aromatic and a bit exotic. 91
Rouge - For me this was a real standout of the area with fresh blackberry and black cherry fruit and a great underlying minerality and freshness. One of the bargains of the vintage. 95

Chateau Smith Haut-Lafitte
Blanc - Always exceptional, predictably leesy and concentrated, but also showing great acid with smoky, minerally flint, citrus and stone fruit flavors. 93-94
Rouge - Smoky, spicy nose, fragrant with nice fresh fruit and underlying minerality. 92-93

Chateau Latour Martillac
Blanc - I like this one very much. Rounded, with fig, grapefruit notes and good body, a bit of oak and rather leesy. Deep and complex. 92

Chateau Pape Clement
Rouge - A very nice wine with dark fruit notes, licorice and tobacco hints. 91

Chateau L'Arrivet Haut-Brion
Blanc - Finds a comfortable moderate style between modern citrusy and retro plush with pretty pear, citrus flavors and good intensity of flavor. 91
Rouge - Plush, but almost tired already. drink it young. 88

Chateau Olivier
Blanc - I've often been surprised by this Chateau recently, but I'm not sure this is one of those years. racy, fresh  and lively with lime zest, white grapefruit notes, and good length. 91
Rouge - Just not that interesting. A bit earthy and simple. 87

Chateau Haut Bailly
Blanc - a solid effort, rounded and relatively deep with good acidity. 90

Domaine de Chevalier
Blanc - Zesty, grassy kaffir lime leaf and grapefruit notes. Nice contemporary Bdx blanc. 90

Chateau Bouscaut
Blanc - kind of exotic fig and quince flavors, full-bodied, solid. 89
Rouge - decent, nice fruit, well-made. 88

Chateau Carbonnieux
Blanc - I was a bit disappointed by this wine, usually a really good one. A bit thin with bright grapefruit and lemon notes. Well made, but not special. 89
Rouge - Good, not great, a fragrant simple red. 89

Chateau de Chantegrive
Blanc - Toasty with stone fruit and lemon zest notes. One of the first wines I tasted, and might have marked it a bit low as a result. 88
Rouge - spicy and a bit barnyardy with black pepper notes. Just ok. 87

Chateau de France
Blanc- A bit shrill and thin, mineraly  with lemon-lime and peach notes, but not deep. 88

Chateau La Louviere
Blanc - Solid effort. Deep quince, toast, lemon zest flavors, but not terribly long in the finish. 89-90

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St. Emilion
I will cut to the chase and only review my favorites here, these wines were hit and miss and some of the misses were ragged swings.

Chateau Canon La-Gaffeliere
Pick of the St. Emilion litter easily, with a hint of tar, licorice, cassis and blueberry, some real compexity, structure and a very nice wine. 93

Chateau Grand Mayne
A fragrant red with red currant, blackberry fruit, high acidity, better than average. 90

Chateau Canon
Nice sweet fruit, kiss of new oak, above average. 90

Clos Fourtet
Decent effort, but not sure I would recommend it, disjointed with sweet fruit, toasty oak and a very tarry finish. 88

Chateau La Gaffeliere
Nice fresh raspberry and cherry fruit, but the finish is short and simple. 88
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Pomerol

Chateau Beauregard
Pretty plum, raspberry, mint notes, well made. 91

Chateau Le Bon Pasteur
Very classic  in style with graphite, cedar and red fruit flavors. Well done. 91

Chateau Gazin
This one might not age forever, but in the short term it has pretty framboise flavors and is very fresh. I like this wine a lot right now, and maybe for the next 7-10 years.  91
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Margaux
This was a good year for the Cabernet-focused Right Bank of Bordeaux and a good year for Margaux, arguably the most elegant sub-region of that zone.

Chateau Prieure-Lichine
A real highlight of the region. Complex mix of black and red fruit flavors, great mid-palate seriousness and a nice long finish. The real deal 94-95

Chateau Cantenac Brown
This wine used to frustrate me to no end, but now I am LOVING it. Beautiful nose with fresh, floral aromas, spicy black and red currant flavors, elegant wine with great length. 94

Chateau Giscours
A great bargain, frankly. Bold and well-constructed with a spicy nose, black fruit, great structure and flow. I just plain like it, and I think it will age for a while. Very well made and a great value. 93

Chateau Marquis de Terme
I liked this one, very modern with good structure, fresh fruit, and might need some time to come around. 92-93

Chateau Dauzac
Sweet Blackberry fruit and a bit of new oak. Nice and fresh, but a bit short on the finish. 92

Chateau Ferriere
This Chateau often surprises. Juicy, fresh berry fruit, an elegant wine, bright and fresh. 91

Chateau Kirwan
A decent effort. Fresh red currant fruit with a bit of cedar. well-made. 90

Chateau Brane Cantenac
Herb aromas, sturdy structure with blackberry fruit and a little bit blocky in terms of structure. 88

Chateau Lascombes
Funky, bretty, not my style

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St. Julien
The consistency of this region impressed me more than in many other years that I have attended this tasting. And even if the wines aren't cheap, they look to be long-lived and well-made.

Ch. Leoville Barton
I really dug this one. Incense, cassis, cigar box aromas, good focus and finesse, great balance. 96

Ch. Gruaud Larose
A very sexy wine with lush cassis, blackberry fruit, lots of new oak and good acid. This one will last. 94

Ch. Beychevelle
Been an up-and-comer for a while and has clearly hit its stride. Heavy duty, hearty, solidly-built all around with black and red fruit, a beginning, a middle and an end. well-blended and built to last. This winery is clawing its way up the ladder. 93-94

Ch. Leoville Poyferre
Intense, with deep color, almost new world style. Blackberry, graphite, licorice notes and solid structure. 93-94

Ch. Langoa Barton
Another really good one. Clean, fragrant, spicy with a nice mix of black and red fruit, great acidity. Damn good. 93

Ch. Talbot
Big, mouth-filling and spicy with black and red currant flavors, graphite notes. A serious wine that should age well. 93

Ch. Lagrange
A very nice wine, sturdy with blackcurrant fruit, blocky structure, tar and cherry torte notes. Very young yet. 92-93

Chateau Gloria
I was disappointed. Rather herbaceous, tight and green with a pleasing graphite note. I don't see a lot of future potential. 86

Chateau Saint-Pierre
Bretty and messy. The fruit is lost. Pass.

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Ste. Estephe
There were relatively few wineries from Ste. Estephe represented, partly because some of them reside in the elite reaches that are not represented in this tasting, but a few very good wines made an appearance.

Ch. Phelan Segur
Really nice wine with great layers and complexity. Tarragon, cassis, licorice and incense notes, still very young with tons of potential.  94-95

Ch. Cos Labory
Pretty blue fruit on the nose, juicy and fresh and fragrant with black fruit in mid-palate and a spicy finish. Color me impressed! 93

Ch. Lafon-Rochet
Clean and toasty with fresh currant flavors and a nice long finish. 90-91

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Pauillac
Again, a number of high-tier wineries are not represented but this region showed its class in this vintage.

Ch. Pichon Baron
This estate does not make the most flashy wines, but they are consistently classy and reward attention. This is a balanced, subtle wine with black and red fruit, coriander spice, graphite and mineral notes and a great, long finish. This is great stuff.. Subtle, nuanced and age-worthy. 96

Ch. Grand-Puy-Lacoste
Fragrant, floral and very elegant. This is a very pretty, romantic, minerally Pauillac that I appreciate very much. It is almost more like a Margaux in style. 94

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Moulis-en-Medoc

Chateau Poujeaux
I really like this wine from a value zone of the Medoc. Great acid, clean lines and a long finish. Textbook Bordeaux. 91
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Haut-Medoc

Chateau Cantemerle
Nice, sweet, dark fruit. Not super deep, but a flexible food wine with good structure. 89

Chateau Coufran
Not bad. A bit musky with red fruit, cedar and graphite notes. 87

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Sauternes and Barsac
Then there comes that point of the show where people have been drinking savory wines for hours and suddenly it is dessert time. Thirty minutes left. Everyone converges on the dessert wine tables of Sauternes and Barsac and a drunken traffic jam of jockeying coalesces. Everyone at the tasting is sliding through shoulders and extending their arms for a slight ounce of precious, sweet, late-harvest wine. It's one of those one of the rare occasions that most of us feel the need to taste these rare dessert wines, but it's also one of the scarce chances that we have to taste them for free.

Nonetheless, it's a clusterfuck, every. single. fucking. time. And that's how you know that all is right in the world, and that everything is exactly as it should be. And then you leave, you take a deep breath and wonder that you have tasted a lot of amazing wines in a few hours and try to figure out what you want to say about it, all while that sappy sweet aftertaste of Sauternes lingers in your mouth.

This was an interesting year for me for this region. I thought there were some surprising favorites and maybe a couple of let-downs in a year that seemed fairly average for these superb dessert wine regions.

Ch. Coutet
Really impressed by this winery that favors a less sweet, more savory style. I think this vintage played right into Coutet's hands. The wine is marvellously balanced with deep lavender, musk, mango notes and not overly sweet. A really nice effort. 95

Ch. La Tour Blanche 
Often this one floors me, often because it has better acid than some of the others. I always look forward to it. I'd rate this vintage as pretty damned good with the wine showing lavish pineapple, mango, white pepper, saline mineral notes and great acidity. 95

Ch. Guiraud
Solid and impressive, delivering the expected, desired style of honeyed, stone fruit and creme bruleee that you would expect. 93

Ch. Suduiraut
As it always is, a little bit less flashy than some of the spotlight names, sweet as all get out, and full of wildflower honey and green tea notes. It is always so good, but sometimes you just wish it had more of some kind of edge or angle or some flash of spirit. But it is always good. Well, you could say the same of Guiraud. 93

Ch. Doisy Daene
Nice wine with pretty, moderately sweet pineapple, candied pear flavors. 92

Ch. Doisy-Verdrines
Good, delicious with rich pineapple, peach, floral and honey notes. Maybe wants a bit of acid. 90


Ch. Lafaurie-Peyraguey
I dig the fresh papaya, melon and honey notes. Largely well-balanced. This one impressed me and might be a good value if this is your jam.