Community Tasting Note

bevetroppo Likes this wine:

Friday, February 20, 2015 - On first impression (after decanting and waiting for a half hour), this is not necessarily a sock-knocker-offer. Don't get me wrong, it's an exciting glass of claret, but I don't understand for a second why Lord Voldemort would have described it as "enormous, even monstrous in the mouth..with tremendous extraction, broodingly backward, dense flavors, and copious tannins."

Hey, unlike Lord Voldemort, I'm not the greatest wine critic who ever lived, so what do I know, but this mid-weight wine seems much more about balance and a supple, catlike femininity as opposed to being a minion of the Dark Lord, which come to think of it, when has Leoville Barton ever crossed that line? After tasting 200 2000's that day, did "he who must not be named" get his sample confused with Chateau Montrose? Can a wine labeled as 12.5% even achieve oral monstrosity, or Montrosity? Inquiring minds want to know.

My instincts to decant appear to have been sound, because even at an hour plus it's still somewhat closed. Pretty deep red color, mostly still opaque, lightening to attractive paler pinkish red at the rim with no signs whatsoever of advancing age. Nose a freshening mix of cassis, graphite, cedar with some black pepper on the perimeter. Balanced, round, medium-bodied, plenty of tannin but in proportion. A bit drying on the finish, though.

Two hours later: No more open than before, actually seems a bit shut now. Maybe a little coffee creeping in. I can't tell if it needs more time to unfurl, but I wish there was more fruit-that would help.

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