November 16, 2023 - Leather, dried porcini mushrooms, fennel seed, anise, cranberry, lingonberry, cocoa powder, dirt/earth and allspice on the nose. Not all that fruity, almost "fruit backward". Only a medium intensity of aromas; but it works in an "elegant" sort of way. The palate adds violet petals, ripe blackcurrants, fresh mint leaves, and musk. What's the aromas in older womens' makeup bags? Because it has that. Anyway, the palate overall "darker" than the nose as well as a little more primary and a lot more intense (say medium +). Texturally powdery. Pair it with venison and the meat cuts through everything; making the palate perfectly rounded. Finishes with a burst of over ripe dark fruit.
Full bodied with medium + acid and still present medium tannin. Drink now; unless you really like tertiary stuff and are turned off by the ripe dark fruit on the palate. In that case, you could age it 5 more years in the bottle.
At this age, it paired very well with seared venison backstraps and a side of sauteed king trumpet mushrooms.
March 25, 2023 - This wine is in the running for my favorite wine in the world in this price range. The structure is similar to that of good left-bank Bordeaux. The flavor profile is different though: prunes, raspberries, roses, lots of damp soil, sandalwood, and herbs. Not a crowd pleaser. But if you’re looking for an affordable wine with the structure, balance, and complexity of the world’s best red wines, this is it. (The riserva is even better.)
March 4, 2023 - Wine club
October 5, 2022 - Corked!
May 4, 2022 - This was delicious and elegant, strong floral jasmin quality, elegant tannin, graceful.
Several of the others tasted cooked/malty, including the 2010 same bottling and a few of the others.
February 7, 2022 - Day 1 - closed and odd, showing such a paradoxical way of aging. I was expecting this to be still youthful and unapproachably tannic. On contrary it’s totally advanced in terms of taste - aromatically a lot of sawdust, mushroom, dried orange peel, volcanic ash, on top of dry port-wine like raisin/alcohol (my wife said “Chinese medicine”, I almost suspected TCA initially). Palate is also round - initially silky tannin (for Taurasi!), as suggested by somewhat transparent brick brown/garnet color (hinting gentle extraction). A lot of dried cherry/cranberry lingers, combined with some dark flowery note, and rough sandy tannin comes only at the end. What’s not advanced is the improvement after opening - after PnP, it was slowly regaining youth, but still utterly unapproachable even at the end of the day, in an old-wine way. This requires as much patience as young Taurasi, without being fresh…
Day 2-3 - improved drastically, all the dusty medicinal elements are now jointed by a melty big core consisting of warm/sweet balsamic vinegar, dried fig, and autumn leaves. Still silky at the attack, very clean palate contrary to the complex nose, all linger long and accumulate to form a big explosive body. Still not rated, as I can’t totally rule out minor TCA, and also it feels much more advanced than its actual age.
Day 4 - finally I can tell it’s corked for sure. It took 3 days, on a positive side, which tells how intense/solid other aromatical elements are. It’s still puzzling as I can’t detect TCA from the cork itself…
November 7, 2021 - Appearance: deep ruby, garnet highlights, light bricking, light staining, heavy tearing, moderate sediment.
Nose: clean, pronounced intensity, developing, black cherry, red plum, blackberry, mint, rose, dusty earth, black licorice, star anise, sandalwood, smoke, worn leather, prosciutto, fig.
Palate: dry, high acid, high tannin (but resolving), high alcohol (14.5%), full body, pronounced intensity, medium+ finish, some bitterness, black cherry, red plum, blackberry, mint, rose, dusty earth, black licorice, star anise, sandalwood, smoke, worn leather, prosciutto, fig.
Overall: Complex, intense, and satisfying. A great mix of developed earthiness along with a solid core of savory fruit, and surprisingly floral for such a full bodied wine. Paired wonderfully with a grilled steak. I feel that structurally it is just a tad hot, and there is some noticeable bitterness in the finish, but overall rather well balanced by refreshingly high acidity, solid tannins, and high concentration of flavor. Drinking really well right now, but certainly can hold for a few more years easily.
September 5, 2021 - An earthy, floral, truly Old-World delight. It's hard to think of many wines that have as feral and wild a lineup of flavors - soil, soot, crushed rock, wild berry, smoke - while also delivering a distinctly elegant mouthfeel and structure. The tannins are perhaps more present than other typically elegant wines but the florals, acidity, and restraint shown in this wine is truly remarkable and well worth the 3rd Monthiversary celebration that it marked for me and my girlfriend at Marea Restaurant in Manhattan. So good it brought me back to the marketplace for the (reportedly) even more aromatic 2010 of the same, single-vineyard bottling, which I will open years from now. The 2008 can also go up to a decade more, probably.
October 19, 2019 - Impeccable balance, soft black fruits and fully integrated tannins. Not sure further aging could improve this, but it might.
Perfect with grilled meat!
August 5, 2019 - This has softened really nicely. Sweet herbs and smoke nose. Bright fruit overlaid with aglianico char. Still plenty of tannin and acid but it is drinking well. I will keep my one more bottle another 5 years. I think Taurasi is the best wine ever for grilled meat.