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Seo Jin-mok "Master Seo"
Owner of Bar Suda and Dad's old friend. Few words, always precise — he sums up each bottle's history and terms in a single paragraph.
Appearances: 21
Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, S.L.V. Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 (Napa Valley)
The 2008 vintage from S.L.V. — the very vineyard that beat Bordeaux at the 1976 Judgment of Paris. I drank it at the same table as a Mouton Rothschild, the château it pushed into second place fifty years ago, and logged 4.5 stars without writing a single word.
S.L.V.
Zelkova, Premium 2013
A red made from sanmaru — a wild Korean grape — at a small winery in Sangju, Gyeongbuk. It's the first Korean wine featured in this magazine. Winemaker Kang Chang-seok originally planted Chardonnay there, lost the vines to winter frost damage in 2009, and turned to the native wild grape instead. Vivino: 26 ratings averaging 3.7. My score was 4.0.
Korea's first wine model was transplanting.
Seña 2012
Chile's first "icon wine," a 1995 joint venture between Eduardo Chadwick and Robert Mondavi. In 2004, Chadwick's own wines beat France's first growths at the Berlin Tasting and stunned the wine world. Vivino: 1,412 ratings averaging 4.5. I gave it 4.5 while sharing it with my wife — "the finish is still with me."
The 2012 is 52% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Carménère, 12% Merlot, 7% Malbec and 6%…
Masi, Costasera Amarone della Valpolicella Classico 2013
A Valpolicella house that traces back to 1772, when the Boscaini and Bonaldi families joined forces. "Costasera" means the west-facing slope that catches the sunset over Lake Garda. Vivino: 9,751 ratings averaging 4.4. My own score was 4.5 — "a heavily made-up, fully ripened woman."
What built Masi was Campofiorin in 1964: Valpolicella laid back over the skins…
Patricius, Tokaji Aszú 6 Puttonyos 2016
Louis XIV is said to have called Tokaji "the wine of kings, the king of wines." The region had the world's first vineyard classification in 1720 and a royal charter fixing its borders in 1737. Vivino: 294 ratings averaging 4.5. My own score was 4.0 — "great match with tiramisu."
In 1720 Matolai ranked the vineyards, and in 1737 a royal decree drew Tokaj's…
San Marzano, Talò Primitivo di Manduria 2017
Cantine San Marzano started in 1962 when 19 Puglian growers pooled their vineyards; today the cooperative has over 1,200 members. Primitivo is the grape that DNA testing at UC Davis proved, in 2001, to be genetically identical to American Zinfandel. Vivino: 5,142 ratings averaging 4.1. My score: 4.0.
Cantine San Marzano is a cooperative.
Delamotte, Brut Champagne Grand Cru 'Le Mesnil-sur-Oger' (NV)
Founded in Reims in 1760, the sixth-oldest house in Champagne. Since 1988 it has shared a roof with Salon as the "younger sibling" house — grapes Salon declares not vintage-worthy flow into Delamotte instead. Vivino: 14,308 ratings averaging 3.9. I gave it 4.5 — "the crisp, crackling toast feel in the mouth makes for a really pleasant Champagne."
Salon makes only vintage wine, 100% Chardonnay from the same Côte des Blancs…
Tommasi, Amarone della Valpolicella Classico 2015
A family winery that Giacomo Tommasi started on the hills of Valpolicella in 1902 bottled its first Amarone in 1959, opening export routes to 85-plus countries. Vivino: 19,112 ratings averaging 4.3. This was my first Amarone ever, and I gave it 4.5 — "like eating thick berry jam."
Amarone has a legend.
Montes, Alpha M 2015
Montes' icon-tier Bordeaux blend, from the house Aurelio Montes and partners founded in 1988; Alpha M launched in 1996 as Chile's first "icon wine." Vivino: 1,251 ratings averaging 4.3. I gave it 3.5, noting it felt "exactly premium-line, not more." I opened a Château Mont-Pérat 2016 (3 stars) the same night.
Alpha M is 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc, 5% Merlot and 5% Petit…
Ridge Vineyards, Lytton Springs 2016
An old-vine field-blend vineyard discovered in 1972 and fully acquired in 1991 by Paul Draper — the same winemaker whose Monte Bello beat top Bordeaux at the 1976 Judgment of Paris. Vivino: 2,388 ratings averaging 4.2. I closed out the year with it on 31 December, giving it 4.5 stars — "tastes like someone I love."
A field blend isn't mixed afterwards; it's grown together from the start.
Natale Verga, Moscato d'Asti (NV)
A non-vintage Moscato d'Asti built on more than 2,000 years of Piedmont Muscat viticulture and the low-temperature tank method Federico Martinotti developed in 1898. Bottled from Asti-grown grapes by Lombardy-based Casa Vinicola Natale Verga. Vivino: 643 ratings averaging 4.0. I drank it twice, giving it 4.5 stars both times.
The lightness of Moscato d'Asti is an invention.
Casillero del Diablo, Devil's Collection Red (Reserva) 2017
A Concha y Toro mass-market label named after the legend of Don Melchor Concha y Toro, who — around 1883 — spread a rumor that the devil lived in his cellar to keep thieves out. Vivino: 13,780 ratings averaging 3.9. I gave it 4 stars the same night as a Prunotto Barolo — "like walking through a pool of thick chocolate."
There's no critic score.
Krug, Grande Cuvée (NV)
A house founded in 1843 in Reims by a butcher's son from Mainz, Germany. Every year it reblends ten-odd vintages and 120-odd individual wines to make not "the taste of that year" but "the taste of Krug." Vivino: 39,670 ratings averaging 4.6. My own score is 5.0 — I've drunk it six times, and never below 4.5.
Grande Cuvée isn't released by vintage but by 'edition'.
Moillard, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru 1997
The Corton hill got the name "Charlemagne" from a legend: the emperor's wife hated red wine staining his white beard. This 22-year-old white Burgundy greeted me with a half-stained cork and a texture like butter and mayonnaise. 4.5 stars.
From the late 1990s into the early 2000s, white Burgundy suffered unusually…
Château Rieussec, Sauternes 2010
A 1855 first growth separated from Château d'Yquem by a single wall to the west. It began in 1790 as a monk's land sold at auction, and Lafite Rothschild bought it in 1984. I gave it 4.5 — and wrote in my note that I liked it better than d'Yquem.
Rieussec has changed hands many times.
Clos du Val, Pinot Noir 2016 (Los Carneros)
The most systematic note from this stretch of my log — color, then nose, then palate, then finish. Checked line by line against the Vivino community's keywords, it matches almost point for point. 4.0 stars.
It wasn't this Pinot Noir that went to the Judgment of Paris, but the same…
Château d'Yquem 2008
The pinnacle of Sauternes — Parker 96, Vivino 4.7. I gave the 2008 a 4, and a year later gave the 1988 vintage a 5. Same château, two vintages, two scores.
In years that fall short, Yquem bottles nothing under the Château d'Yquem name;…
Château Mouton Rothschild 2005
In 2005 Mouton kept only 64% of its crop and raised it for 20 months in new oak. Parker 97, Wine Spectator 98, Decanter 99, Jeb Dunnuck 100, Vivino 4.7 from 3,272 ratings. The label is by Giuseppe Penone of Arte Povera. I have not opened this bottle — so I write it with the scores I have given Mouton's other vintages instead.
In the 1855 classification Mouton was ranked a second growth.
Veuve Clicquot Brut Yellow Label (Carte Jaune) NV
150,000 Vivino ratings, average 4.3. I gave one of the world's best-selling Champagnes 4.5 — six days after giving Dom Pérignon 2008 a 5.
Yellow Label is a non-vintage (NV) Champagne.
Almaviva 2016
Chile's own 'first growth', made jointly by Rothschild and Concha y Toro. James Suckling 97, Wine Spectator 95. I've drunk it three times in six years, and my first note was exactly two words: 'Strong pepper.'
What Mouton did in Napa with Opus One, it did again in Chile.
Dom Pérignon Vintage 2008
The vintage Richard Geoffroy called a 'miracle year' — the first 50:50 Chardonnay–Pinot Noir blend since 1990. My first five-star Champagne. Twenty-two critics average 96 points; the world average price is about ₩720,000.
The hero of 2008 is the weather.