October 25, 2019 - One of the best wines I have had this year. Explosive blue and currant fruit flavors yet completely balanced. Nearly perfect. I rarely think that 15% alcohol wines live up to their ratings. This one is an exception. Should drink at peak for another decade or so.
January 3, 2019 - tasted blind
nose-aromatic bouquet of roses, raspberries and other (wild) berries, with a whiff of acetone
mouth - wild berry, confected, fruit forward with a touch of heat. a good cocktail wine.
December 27, 2018 - Christmas evening. Together with Valbuena 2003. The Erasmus was more elegant and mineral then Valbuena. Both Dark color and mature in the nose
and both very fine.
July 22, 2018 - Goes well with chocolate chip cookies.
November 17, 2017 - {bought on release and cellared; perfect fill; double decanted at home 1.5 hours before arrival at MK & BS's house, decanted there x another hour before we poured} Huge, heroic wine. Liquourishly lavish nose, with exotic Garnacha, touch of petrol, port-like concentration, immense palate presence and length, lots of minerals as well as the fruit. Just the right side of too big. Great match to lamb chops, skirt steak and then cheeses. Complex. Despite size and alcohol (label lists 15%, who knows what the real number is) one keeps going back for another sip....No, not using words like ethereal or finesse... but elegance is there too. Sexy, smoky, great balance, very very fine tannins. Not a sledgehammer wine despite the size and concentration. As Sleeping Bear wrote, "Lush but not heavy."Fascinating wine, especially for a Burgundy person like me.
This 11 year old wine was double decanted then decanted again for a total of 2.5 hours. If you PopNPour I doubt you will see the pleasures of this wine. Look at prior notes, the longer the decant... the higher the scores. Tonight at least 94 pts, could be 95. This will live a very long time as the balance is very very good.
June 10, 2016 - Really liked this wine....Fan of Priorat....but this had the nose of an old mellow port and not typical bigger red fruit/blue fruit with touch of minerality/earth
Taste was less so with no noticeable sweetnessand no heat....instead ripe red fruit and dried strawberries/cherries....with a hint of earthiness.
very smooth and well balanced.
Really surprised by this bottle, but really enjoyed.
June 3, 2016 - A Capella - 'E' (Engadin Valley, Switzerland): Over the course of two days I went back and forth between thinking that this was Kind of flawed to that this just sometimes tastes like this.
October 2, 2015 - Wow, this is wild stuff. Smelling like a young vintage port, one's hair is blown back by the billowing waves of booze, licorice, cacao, sweet black fruits. There is loads of acidity (added, I'd guess) and a minerally streak which keeps this from careening out of control. This isn't quite my style and I doubt it will ever develop much nuance, but it is impossible to resist this sexy fruit bomb. I should note that it improved with air time, growing more seamless and whole. 91-92 pts.
October 1, 2015 - Virtually abuzz with cooked cherries, dark cocoa, pine trees, spice cookies, almost like a very young vintage port at times. Smoldering, spicy, intense, like drinking an electric ball of energy. Revealed a lot with several hours of air.
February 2, 2015 - stunning even in its youth. i will need to seek out way more of this.
1-2 hour decant was just fine although im sure it could stand up to more.