Community Tasting Note

• pizzamaker wrote: 89 points

  April 14, 2015 - Usually when I drink a wine I look for aromas of fruit, then yeasts, then oak influences. But right away when I drank this wine it forced me think about tannins. I can only imagine that 5-10 years ago the tannins in this wine were powerful and gripping with a mouth-drying persimmon like astringency. I can imagine the tannins creating a long, narrow bitter finish in a wine that likely was completely out of balance.
  
  But now? The passage of time has smoothed and beveled away at the tannins resulting in a wine with a full and creamy mouthfeel, a wide middle, and a long and velvety smooth finish. The tannins are in good balance with the alcohol. The fruit has mainly faded, (subtle, very subtle cherry notes are present) so I have to issue a demerit because only 10 years out of the vineyard. Still there is a pleasant aroma of earth, mushrooms, and spices. Makes me want to search for the 2007/2008 to appreciate what this wine is like before the fruit fades.

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2 Comments

• Gordonium commented:

  4/14/15, 9:31 PM - Excellent note. Thanks so much for sharing.

• zscheiner commented:

  4/15/15, 3:27 PM - There was a significant change in winemaking style starting in 2006, changing the extraction and oak regimens at the domaine. Wines from 2006 and later are much less tannic and rustic than those from preceding vintages. So your idea of tasting '07 or '08 to experience this wine "before the fruit fades" won't work exactly as you expect... later wines started quite differently. That being said, in my experience, the old-school Faiveley rusticity mellows with sufficient age, revealing fruit beneath the tannin at 20+ years of age. So find a 90s version of this if you can. I'm holding my 2005s for at least 10 more years.

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