April 18, 2024 - Vanilla bean crème, unripe cherry, dill, earth/barnyard notes, herbal notes. Old school rioja, and dare I say this can go many years or needed more air. I probably underestimated the amount of air (2hrs) this could take.
Rioja aficionados will appreciate it for what it is…others, maybe not so much.
April 6, 2024 - Charity Wine Pairings for Hospice House Auction winners; 4/6/2024-4/7/2024 (Bellingham): Our nightcap or digestif. One of our guests wanted to try a rioja. Tobacco, sour cherry and dark berries, smokey leather, moist earth. While I think it's a great wine, it probably suffered by following a glass of port. Still, I think its best days are ahead. I'll never turn down a LdH Tondonia or Bosconia, Reserva or GR.
April 1, 2024 - After 15 minutes this was singing. This has been sleeping for 15 years in my wine fridge and showed beautifully. That subtle spur cherry with earth tones and hints of tobacco make this a beautifully balanced wine
March 24, 2024 - Astonishingly for a 23 year old wine this was not even close to ready. Super sour and oaky. This dissipated into something resembling balance after eight, that’s right, EIGHT hours in the decanter. At which point it was really quite nice. Red fruit, tobacco, even a little dark chocolate. I know Tondonia can have significant bottle variation but I won’t be opening my next 2001 for several years at least.
March 17, 2024 - Women Who Wine & Their Arm Candy (Estelle, St. Paul, MN): Dark red color. PNP, drank a glass over an hour. Baked cherry, a bit stewy, sappy, dried herbs.
March 8, 2024 - Young, perfumed and still a touch oaky. Showing well. 92
March 7, 2024 - Tainted bottle
March 5, 2024 - Restrained aromas of dried red fruits, forest floor, leather and sweet oak tones give way to a refreshing, saline, dark berried, mushroom and lingering soaked wood flavors.
February 21, 2024 - Porzana (Porzana, Mpls): Stewed.
January 22, 2024 - Finally, this wine is coming along, beautifully and displaying secondary and tertiary notes. Palate is oaky and still full of acidity. Just beautiful