Dr. H
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dr.h.winesky.app
Dr. H
@dr.h.winesky.app
Wine drinker 🍷 Building @winesky.app

Previously at https://vivino.com/users/alpha/

Gradually bringing my old reviews over to Bluesky, and will continue posting only here going forward.

Expect lots of #spanishwine reviews, plus some assorted stuff.
Pinned
I've been publishing lots of wine ratings lately, so what do they mean for me? What's the difference between 3 and 4 stars?
Dr. H's Wine Rating Scale
doctors-corner.leaflet.pub
SUMMUN by Barbacana (2024) - 4 ⭐

Dark as a wolf's mouth and comes down the glass like an oil slick. Shoe polish, dark chocolate liqueur, prunes, licorice, cashew. Makes it rain in your mouth right away. Mahogany. Coffee after it breathes.

Red Wine from Tarija

🍷 #winesky #bolivianwine
November 7, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Did you know they make wine in Bolivia?

I did not (until recently).

doctors-corner.leaflet.pub/3m52wfnrr4s27

🍷 #winesky
Barbacana Wines - Doctor's Corner
Notes from my first tasting of Bolivian wines.
doctors-corner.leaflet.pub
November 7, 2025 at 8:33 PM
Singani Premium by Barbacana (N.V.) - 4½ ⭐

Moscatel de Alejandría, fermented with skins as you would do with a red grape.

Jazmine, white flowers, lemongrass, green tea, wormwood, cypress.

A no fucking around drink, as if chamomile tea was a spirit.

🍷 #winesky #tarija #moscateldealejandria
November 7, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Tanat Reserva by Barbacana (2023) - 4 ⭐

Blood, chorizo, steak, spices - this thing is a barbecue in a glass. Cacao, coffee, cherry. Elegant. Less of a show-off than the Sumun. Works by itself, could go with meat.... 1/2

🍷 #winesky #bolivianwine
November 7, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Cantalavi by Barbacana (2024) - 3½ ⭐

Violets, if too cold. Herbs, bergamot, plums, tobacco, leather. Slithers down. Blood dark. Give it time and it gives you herbs and coffee.... 1/2

🍷 #winesky #bolivianwine
November 7, 2025 at 5:17 PM
A report from a recent food-and-wine matching lunch in Marseille - happy to write up more of these, collecting individual reviews into a story, if there's interest.

#winesky 🍷
Food and wine matching at Ourea
doctors-corner.leaflet.pub
October 31, 2025 at 8:33 AM
Framboise Sauvage by HM Lehmann (N.V.) - 4 ⭐

Oysters and ice and caviar and freshly cut grass and seawater. What a lunch closer!

Eau-de-vie from Alsace

🍷 #winesky #alsace #wildraspberry
October 31, 2025 at 8:22 AM
Parenthèse Macération by Ribérach (2022) - 3 ⭐

A taste of overripe pineapple and a burnished gold color. Ash, sulfur? Left it aside for a bit and it smelled of raw chorizo.

I wouldn't buy it to have it around, but gotta say it went perfectly with gorgonzola and... 1/2

🍷 #winesky #frenchwine
October 31, 2025 at 8:21 AM
Les Escures by Mas Del Périe (2024) - 4 ⭐

Vegetables, violets wrapped in grape leaves, then blackcurrant! Right there!

Quiets down after a couple of sips, even if it keeps tingle your gums and becomes a bit earthy and leathery.... 1/2

🍷 #winesky #frenchwine
October 31, 2025 at 8:20 AM
L'Hecto by Clusel-Roch (N.V.) - 3½ ⭐

More pear than apple, green, just about to go ripe and crazy, but not bold enough yet, still demure. Cream, vanilla is there but not throwing a party, acting all proper and prim.

Survived some slight spices in an aubergine dish.

🍷 #winesky #frenchwine
October 31, 2025 at 8:19 AM
PANDAEMONIUM by Camille & Mathieu Apffel (2023) - 3 ⭐

Sweet lime, straight up. Fresh, with lots of lemon peel, and a smell of the sea, like someone's opening oysters near you. Natural wine, but surprisingly drinkable!

White Wine from Savoie

🍷 #winesky #frenchwine #savoie #jacquere
October 31, 2025 at 8:17 AM
XIXARITO by Bodegas Barón S.A. (N.V.) - 4 ⭐

Dark caramel, almonds, nuts, moss, salty caramel... chocolate? Like the mole dark chocolate I get from a place around the corner.

Good stuff - almost a Palo Cortado in quality, albeit punchier - but at a price.... 1/2

🍷 #winesky #spanishwine
October 30, 2025 at 8:58 AM
Le Sieur d'Eguilles by Le Cellier d'Eguilles (2023) - 3 ⭐

A tannic motherfucker from Provence. Vanilla, violets, dark plums, chocolate, black fruits, bit of tobacco.

Red Wine from Provence

🍷 #winesky #frenchwine #provence #grenache #cabernetsauvignon #syrah
October 29, 2025 at 8:51 PM
Marius by Michel Chapoutier (2024) - 3 ⭐

Creamy, vanilla, cardamom, blackcurrant. A grenache / Syrah blend. Not bad, but nothing to write home about either.

Red Wine from Pays d'Oc

🍷 #winesky #frenchwine #paysdoc #grenache #syrah
October 29, 2025 at 8:50 PM
Padron 'Toni by Dacastello (2024) - 3 ⭐

Sicilian wine. Black fruits, black currant. Unexpectedly creamy for Nero D'Avola, as the ones I've had were fruitier and saltier, but maybe I just don't have enough examples.

Red Wine from Sicily

🍷 #winesky #italianwine #sicily #nerodavola
October 29, 2025 at 8:49 PM
I'm getting so annoyed with Apple's developer registration process that the first public @winesky.app release might just be a progressive web app.
October 29, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Having revisited it, at the price, it’s more of a 3.5 ⭐️- not bad, but hard to justify.
Valbusenda Klein by Bodegas Valbusenda (2015) - 4 ⭐

Blood, cherries, something lighter and fresh... Then pepper, chorizo, coffee, coffee liqueur, spices. Not bad, but expected more of 10 years. Although I might just be being a dick here. ... 1/2

🍷 #winesky #spanishwine
October 29, 2025 at 12:50 PM
I've been publishing lots of wine ratings lately, so what do they mean for me? What's the difference between 3 and 4 stars?
Dr. H's Wine Rating Scale
doctors-corner.leaflet.pub
October 29, 2025 at 7:57 AM
Campo Altoso by Louis Montemagni (2024) - 3 ⭐

Flowers, pricot, and lots of it, peach nectar, cirtrus. Salt on a homemade boar paté made it pop.

White Wine from Corsica

🍷 #winesky #frenchwine #corsica #vermentinu
October 24, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Bandol by Domaine Lafran-Veyrolles (2022) - 3½ ⭐

Light licorice, wormwood, herbs - mint? Dark velvet as it opens up.

Lighter than I expected, given the 14% and the Bandols I’ve had recently.

Nice, but hard to justify the €30 price.

🍷 #winesky #frenchwine #provence #grenache #cinsault #mourvedre
October 19, 2025 at 11:45 AM
La Bastide Blanche by Domaine La Bastide Blanche (2020) - 3½ ⭐

Well, that has a character! Plums, prunes, shoe polish, licorice, dark chocolae. Dark and stormy.

Red Wine from Provence

🍷 #winesky #frenchwine #provence #grenache #cinsault #mourvedre
October 19, 2025 at 11:42 AM
Finca los Quemados by García Georgieva (N.V.) - 3½ ⭐

Cherry, raspberry, something nice and spicy. A Clarete. Had it by itself, late in the night, but it would be a perfect pairing for a tuna tataki.

Clarete Wine from Extremadura

🍷 #winesky #spanishwine #extremadura #tempranillo #evadelossantos
October 18, 2025 at 7:48 PM
La Bergerie by Clusel-Roch (2022) - 3½ ⭐

Pineapple, ash, sweet pineapple, then some unexpected peaches and cream, something floral when mixed it with the creamy dish I had it with. Aligoté, even if Winesky says it’s Voigner.

White Wine from Rhône

🍷 #winesky #frenchwine #rhone #viognier
October 18, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Champagne Coquard-Bour Brut Blanc de Blancs by Coquard-Bour (N.V.) - 3 ⭐

Bone, apple, with something salty on the back. Crisp and direct Blanc de Blancs.

Only had a glass and I don’t know the bottle price. May adjust rating after I have an opinion on value.

🍷 #winesky #champagne #chardonnay
October 18, 2025 at 9:02 AM
Sambrena Bianco di Toscana by Tenuta La Novella (2023) - 3½ ⭐

Chilled apricots, green pears, something oily like a software version of the bergamot oil my mom used to use.

I wouldn't have known it was a natural wine hadn't they told me - it was surprisingly... 1/2

🍷 #winesky #italianwine
October 16, 2025 at 2:48 PM