Community Tasting Note

Triforwine wrote:

Thursday, November 28, 2019 - Paired with classic thankgiving dinner including a huge turkey, broccoli casserole, chestnut stuffing, sweet potato puree, Cranberry crumble, wild rice with dates and apricots, and later on cheese and desserts included apricot pie homemade, and store-bought fruit tart and a lame pumpkin pie.

Wine was opened at about 3pm with dinner planned about 6 but actually starting around 6:30

Bottles had mid-neck fill. Capsules fine. Corks both had what seemed to be yeast on the top. Both, but especially the first bottle was difficult to open with the Durand as the side arms had trouble advancing. The cork was really adherent to the glass. However, the cork came out wihout incident otherwise. IN succession , each bottle decanted and had light crimson color which darkened only slightly with time and air.

The nose was extremely reticent. You could get a sense of cassis and cherry and certainly some earthiness and tobacco but it is all really in the distance. So polished but just not robust. It was really hard to say if this is fruit fading or if it just isn’t ready, perhaps a little of both. I am not an expert and it seems this wine is in a relatively dumb phase but compared to some of the early drinking wines, it is not at all tannic and it doesn’t seem super concentrated so I am confused. The mouthfeel was plush and really complimented the meal and was best at the time we ate the cheese but still the complex nose and flavors though there seemed far away. It was excellent but I had expected so much more. I can’t give it more than a 90 right now but I am hoping that given the reputation of this wine, it is going to be improved. I am not sure if the yeast in the cork was a factor, the corks were almost saturated but they seemed OK and certainly not leaking and there wasn’t a hint of awkwardness to the wine, it had appropriate amount of sediment and definitely no cork on first or second nose, no maderization, no funk, no metallic and no bitterness. To me it seemed it is a wine with complexity that is off in the distance and I suspect it is still just a little too young. But is seems so light in weight and so not tannic that it is hard to call it young. But, maybe it is a burgeoning adolescent. I hope so. Certainly the wine seemed appropriately cellared so if it is just not quite ready, we should be in for a treat in a few years. Perhaps the food pairing was not ideal but there was something missing here from what should be a great wine.

90+

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