March 23, 2024 - 4th Saturday Brown Bagger (J&L's): Blind. Mature brick red color. Aromas of tobacco, plum and lavender. Full-bodied with soft tannin and flavors of red berry fruit, coffee, tobacco and dried herbs. Easy to pick out as our Don Melchor in this flight. WOTF for a few of the tasters.
A sentimental favorite of Domino's, this was our final bottle and had been double decanted off its sediment 1.25 hours earlier. Fully mature- no reason to hold any longer.
July 8, 2023 - like new cork; some bricking; quick double-decant; lot's of sludge at the bottom. At first, rather disjointed. It started to knit together with tired dark fruit, soya sauce. Bad bottle? If not, time to drink up
May 3, 2023 - Just stunning. Still got many years ahead, but drinks very nice now. Decanted and left for 2 hours before drinking. Still opened more in the glass.
January 8, 2023 - Very dark ruby color. Decanted just before dinner. Cassis and plum, along with a hint of graphite. Main difference with the ‘06 opened first was that the tannis seemed fully integrated here, vs not quite for the younger one. Beautiful wine. Excellent paired with the pan-seared bison ribeye and roasted potatoes and squash.
December 30, 2022 - Holiday tasting (EBCC): Our penultimate bottle, double decanted off its sediment an hour before the walk around tasting began. Somewhat youthful dark color belies its age. Black fruit with herb and loam undertones. Has a subtle green quality as well. A terrific showing- opened some eyes tonight.
September 30, 2022 - Took this to dinner at Salt of the Earth restaurant in Fennville, Michigan. 6th time I have had this wine and one of the best showings yet. Not decanted. Soft and supple texture. Integrated tannins. Notes of sesame seeds, cassis, licorice and rich black fruit. 94 points.
July 19, 2022 - what allred said...dark with some bricking; plum and must, then leather and bramble, with residual tannins on the finish; more tertiary on day two, albeit still with smooth plum and some tannin; drinks younger than expected
April 23, 2022 - Fabuleux!
March 12, 2022 - Decanted off its sediment and followed over a couple of hours. Crimson red core with just a bit of bricking- not sure I’d guess this is twenty years old. The first glass shows plum and mulberry aromas with hints of saddle leather underneath. The palate is integrated and shows plenty of dark plummy fruit. After an hour or so this develops a bit of a brambly profile. It also adds bay leaf, herb and loamy qualities, finally revealing its South American roots. Excellent. Two bottles left, which we will drink of the short term, within the next eighteen months. 92+ for me; 93 for Domino.
February 26, 2022 - Better than the last bottle for sure. Changing and improving over 3 hrs in decanter. Fruit is relatively muted but huge savory, earthy, cooling quince/herbal notes, with that persistent and (slightly too much for me) oaky chocolate note. Fine grained nearly resolved tannins and at least moderate acidity that stood out, I think a little out of balance to the structure otherwise. Gives me confidence to hold my next bottle with no rush.