Community Tasting Note

Xfactor wrote:

Friday, April 15, 2011 - Popped, tasted, and put in the flat-bottom decanter to open up, certainly needed time – big tannins and structure as anticipated. Deep garnet red with crushed Victorian brick edges, explosion of black licorice at the pop, dissipated quickly. Black cherry and sweet orchard plum, hints of new leather and licorice on the nose. The body burst with blackberry and black cherry. Initial taste prior to decanting included a big licorice and dried black fruit component. Time put forth some black plum, hints of tobacco and brown root spices. The finish was long, full of black cherry and sun-ripe blackberry, some leather and spice; tannins were micaceous and dusty, but mellowed with aeration and time, less prominent and sweeter. Each bold sip reminded me of a long walk through a hillside orchard - apple - in the early fall – dry, earth, and mellow orange sun. We paired this with a flat iron steak and haricot vert about 1.5 hours after decanting. It was very red meat friendly at that point, more balanced, much smoother, and less dry. With time, it was big, solid, and approachable; great nebbiolo fruit. B+/92 = 50/5/12/9/8/9 (91-92 now, 92-93 in near future, the structure is there).

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