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Popular Wines

As magical and enigmatic as the world of wine can be, it’s not always easy to find your way around. Every day, inexperienced wine enthusiasts try to explore new blends and end up with a shopping list that their budget simply cannot support. Every high-quality wine is a unique, important experience, one that opens a person’s taste palate to a whole new world of flavor and pleasure. Something primal awakens within, urging you to find new and more compelling aromas and textures. But with so much to choose from, where do you begin?

When it comes to wine, popular blends are relatively common for a reason. They serve as an excellent entry point into the world of fine wine, and studying them lets you understand more obscure, complicated wines out there. A collection has to start somewhere, and these blends are often easier to get and help you develop your taste. Imagine bonding with your friends and family over a brand you’re all familiar with and able to appreciate to its fullest. Good wine offers something new, yet vaguely familiar with each glass, as your mouth picks up on subtleties in the liquid that tempt you further and inspire thought and introspection, uncorking new conversation topics and improving the mood no matter the situation.

If you’re looking for safe picks, you want to set your sights on quality brands from Italy, France, and Spain. A glass of sultry Sangiovese or Trebbiano Toscano can liven up a family meal and impress even the stuffiest guests while being a perfect partner to any traditional Italian dish you can think of. One taste of a Cabernet Sauvignon or Chardonnay is enough to let France stand out as a breeding ground of divine, elegant elixirs that can fit the taste of any enthusiast. Meanwhile, Spain offers powerful blends such as Garnacha, Bobal, or Tempranillo, helping you create memorable moments out of even the most ordinary evening. And this is only scratching the surface.

Our goal is to introduce you to popular, tested brands the same way we would introduce you to a potential soulmate. With the right mood and some good timing, you can develop a healthy, pleasurable relationship with wine that lasts a lifetime.

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1986 leoville las cases Bordeaux Red

The late Michel Delon always thought that this was the greatest vintage he had produced. We often tasted it side by side with the 1982, because I always preferred the latter vintage. Of course, the two vintages are quite different in style, with the 1986 a monument to classicism, with great tannin, extraordinary delineation, and a huge, full-bodied nose of sweet, ripe cassis fruit intermixed with vanilla, melon, fruitcake, and a multitude of spices. The wine has always been phenomenally concentrated, yet wonderfully fresh and vigorous. The wine still seems young, yet it is hard to believe it is not close to full maturity. It is a great example of Leoville Las Cases, and another compelling reason to take a serious look at the top Cabernet Sauvignon-based Medocs of 1986. Anticipated maturity: 2005-2035. Last tasted, 9/02.Robert Parker | 100 RPMichel Delon, then owner, believed this to be the greatest wine he ever made. It’s not often the case that wines with this much expectation riding on them live up to the hype, but this one did. A stunning wine that, at 33 years old, still feels fresh, concentrated and with a long way left to go. The tannins have the characteristic Las Cases weight and definition to them, giving form and shape to the sweet berry fruit, but the overall impression is of welcoming, juicy pleasure. Harvested from 1 to 17 October. 4% Petit Verdot completes the blend. Drinking Window 2019 - 2035.Decanter | 100 DECSaturated dark ruby. Cassis, shoe polish, camphor and rose petal on the nose; this reminded me of a great vintage of Latour. Dense and extremely concentrated; explosive yet totally backward. There nothing playful about this infant claret. Finishes with extraordinary, slow-building persistence. Very serious juice; one of the great Bordeaux of the 1980s. Drink 2010 through 2035.Vinous Media | 98 VMFirm and focused, with beautifully articulated currant, raspberry and nutmeg aromas and flavors; very supple for such a lean-textured Bordeaux. Approaching drinkability, but it can use until 2000 to soften.--Léoville Las Cases vertical.Wine Spectator | 95 WS(Château Léoville Las Cases (St. Julien)) The 1986 Château Léoville Las Cases remains a stubbornly backward wine at age thirty-two, and I am beginning to wonder if it is just stuck in a seemingly endless adolescence or if the wine is going to turn out to be stillborn and never blossom. The bouquet offers up a still quite youthful blend of black cherries, cassis, a touch of mint, Galloise cigarette smoke, dark soil and toasty new oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, simple and powerful in personality, with a rock solid core, firm tannins and a long, four-square and recalcitrant finish. Maybe this will blossom one day, but I do not have a ton of faith in the wine anymore. And, even if it does one day start to blossom, it still seems likely to not be a particularly complex example of Las Cases in the making. If it does one day start to soften up and open, it should merit a score at the top of my range, but that seems less than a fifty-fifty proposition at this point. I should mention that I have tasted this wine three or four times in the last decade and my impressions have been consistent, so this is the wine, rather than a reflection of a possibly atypical bottle (Drink between 2025-2075).John Gilman | 84-92 JG

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