Decanted and tasted over 2+ hours. 100% Tinto Fino aka Tempranillo, aged in new French and America oak barrels for 25 months. Wholly dominated by the oak induced aromas and flavors. This is a wine that confirms my bias against Tempranillo as one of the most overrated red wine grapes that is one-dimensional unless heavily oaked and then simply tastes like it. There is plenty of vanilla and tobacco and nondescript red and black fruit notes. A brute force wine that lacks soul. In it’s youth this got some high scores probably due to the oak-induced aromatics which never makes sense to me. Had with a strip steak with which it was not an enhancer of the meal.
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Had at a party at our house with Mexican food. I don’t remember any details except on decanting it wafted with smoky berry and spice that was quite pleasant. Should have taken notes but didn’t.
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Garnet color in the glass, fairly clear looking. Nose of smoke, pepper, berries and a bit of dust. Flavors of berries, cherries and minerals. Medium acidity, medium tannin, medium to full bodied. Drink now.
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Defiantly towards the end of its lifetime, but two hours in the decanter and the nose comes out nicely. Still wonderfully complex, but lighter on the pallet than last year.
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Cork completely disintegrated upon opening. Strained with an in bottle aerator and let decant for 2 hours. Still had some remnants of cork, but over all a tasty bottle.
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Smokey nose, rich mid palate and long finish. Definitely high alcohol/high glycerin wine with plenty of oak to support it, which is not a style I general go for. But this one is surpisingly elegant and not at all overbearing.
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Hurricane Night: This bottle showed very nicely. Decanter 2 hours. Nice rich nose, dark fruits, complex in mouth and showing it's age very nicely. Chocolate, earth tones, dark fruits. Will last a while longer.
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Garnet color in the glass, slightly dusty looking. Nose of flowers, leather, berries and a bit of raspberries. Flavors of berries and cherries. Medium to bright acidity, medium to firm tannins, medium to full bodied. Drink or hold.
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Double decanted for 2 hours. I was really quite surprised at the richness of this wine; I thought this would be much more mellow after 10+ years but I decided to double decant after pouring the first glass. Wow, big, oaky and smoky. Bold flavors of tart cranberries, raspberries, and sour cherries with hints of earthy funk and spicy black pepper. Lots of secondary flavors underneath the primary fruit and oak; celery, bitter kale, and bell pepper notes on the mid-palate accompanied by oak vanilla, black licorice and a dry, leathery tanninc finish. Great richness of flavors, complexity, and palate development. Downsides- the tannins are still very bitter and astringent, and predominately oak tannins, so there is no hope they will drop even with more age (and why they were still so strong even after 11 years). The wine is also heavily extracted and the combination of new oak results in an off-putting medicinal quality. Combine this with lower acidity levels and the wine is really good but doesn't have what it takes to be outstanding. Drank with a grilled leg of lamb and honestly the wine was actually too rich and extracted for seasoned lamb. I can see why this wine was originally $80+; thank you WTSO for the $44 delivered, which I feel is a good price for this big, bold, spicy wine. But I do not think that quality of the wine warrants the original $80+ price tag. Overall Rating- A-.
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Inky purple in the glass. The nose encountered leather and mint and roasted pepper and dried oregano. The tongue found peach and mint and herbs and quince with soft tannins. There also was a medium and interesting finish. This is a nice quaff that should drink well for the next few years.
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Decanted for about 2 hours. The nose had lots of damp earth and cherry, a little spice and woodsy herbs, and a touch of vanilla and cedar. The palate was rich, with cherry and dirt, herbs and pepper, and a very good vanilla and cedar finish.
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Big Steaks and Big Reds (Arlington, VA): tasted blind. ruby colored. the nose is intoxicating: meat, leather, barnyard and olives. the balance between the tannic grip and the silkyness is amazing. i got lots of black fruit, cherries, pine, beef jerky. picked up some rosemary on the finish. guess: 2000 chateanuef du pape.
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Steak Night @ Ian's; 7/8/2010-7/9/2010 (Alexandria, VA): Another surprising bottle for all of us upon the reveal. Almost a consensus that this was a Chateauneuf de Pape...nose was filled with kirsch, black pepper, meat drippings and musty olives. Very rich body with subtle clove spice, succulent cherry and strawberry with hints of a light espresso. Very nice.
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awesome, finishing off a spanish tasting. I would say that there may be a couple of more years in there but you really should not wait. dark fruit, fair to complex aroma, round soft tannin with a bit of spice. medium long finish.
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A surprise as it drank better than most of the reviews that I've seen on CT. Definitely a smooth, pretty wine, not some huge behemoth that makes you pay attention. Drank next to another Ribera del Duero - 2004 Aalto and the difference between the two was stunning. This opened up nicely after a few hours in the decanter and was definitely ready to drink now whereas the 2004 was much more tightly wound and massive.
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A smooth drinking wine that provides a good balance between fruit and old flavors. Nice medium balanced nose of dark ripe fruit, cedar, trace of tobacco and earth with a bit of vanilla sweetness. Balanced flavors of cherry, vanilla, pipe tobacco, forest floor and smooth integrated tannins with lingering tastes of the tobacco.
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nicely balanced with deep dark fruit and wood/oak. easy drinking and well balanced. nice earthiness and vanilla flavors. overall i think this is a very good bottle.
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Wonder what Parker and Tanzer tasted? Certainly not this. Nose of deep purple fruit, wood, hints of sweet phenol. Took a good two hours to open up, then revealed roasted plums, hints of sour cherry, mint, well integrated tannin. What in the he double touthpicks happened between what was given to the critics and what was released here. Certainly not a horrible wine, but mid nineties???? Do not let someone tell you this is the Vendimia Seleccionada which is clearly a much better wine than this. Worth about $25.
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This medium body wine is not overly complex but quite pleasant, balanced and definitely ready to drink now; don’t let it sit much longer. A bit closed upon opening but shows better after an hour or so. It has a light nose of cherry, raisins, leather, oak and vanilla with a touch of alcohol. Sweet fruit on the plate, like strawberry jam, cherry, soft oak that throws off vanilla tones, nice earthiness that melds into a soft and well integrated tannic finish that support the sweet fruits to linger on.
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richer than 99 aromatically with roasted components to the nose and all the standard oak aromas for rbd. This is better than the 99 tasted along side of it but it is on its way out as well. the palate is thinning out and on its way out. drink up.
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Color (5/5): Dark red purple with magenta highlights. Nose (12/15): Black cherry and tobacco; roasted earth and berries. Aroma leapt right out of the newly opened bottle. Rich and full; moreso with air. Palate & Finish (16/20): The wine clearly needs air. Rich medium-full palate of cherry tobacco (think pipe) with firm yet silky tannins. Decadent and refined. The finish is long and yields leather boysenberry, perhaps a bit of smokey spice. Potential & Quality (7/10): Very sturdy wine that's drinking marvelously now but still has some time left. Three years of development maybe. Should last a bit beyond that though. Definitely a wine of quality. Some may balk at standard pricing, but it's worth it. Just give it the respect it deserves when pairing. Spanish or Cuban beef dishes beg for this.
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Not worth $53, but dramatically superior to the prior bottle. This wine has a closed nose of fresh raisins and some alcohol. There is some nice red berry framed by a pretty good dose of acidity to provide a snappy sip. Maybe a hint of wood and underbrush (sous bois) also makes and appearance with a finish that is nice but not overly long. Certainly not a good QPR and one wonders what the experts were tasting...special samples from the winery that did not represent the final blend?
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Solid Wine, especially considering some of the other swill i've had from the vintage. Smoky and Oaky, but in perfect balance with the fruit, which had a cherry, and blackberry profile. Decant now, or wait a year or two.
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Really, despite the pro's accolades, this bottle was weak, one might say ho-hum. Long ago I learned that the French are right, you should smell the cork because TCA is often picked up on the cork, then found in the wine (although a TCA'ed cork does not necessarily mean the wine has absorbed the funk). In this case, the cork was definitely corked, but the wine had only the faintest note of TCA. Mama and I debated this and in the end, we decided there were very, very low levels of the stuff in there and we are both sensitive to it, her more than me. So while thankfully you had to search for the TCA, the wine just did not pop, and I believe the TCA was somehow responsible for this. There was TCA in hinting in the nose with just a small amount of dark red fruit. On the palate TCA, leather, tar and some sour cherry. But that small amount of TCA really muted the whole thing out. I have never really experienced this phenomena before, TCA not necessarily making the wine reek, but killing everything else about the wine. I will be interested to taste another bottle to determine if the accolades are merited.
A shameless plug for WinesTilSoldOut.com whom I purchased this bottle from - they refunded my money, no questions asked. Gotta love those guys.
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1/18/2024 - jsibley99 wrote:
Oaky but still drinking pretty well
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9/24/2023 - oldwines Does not like this wine: 87 Points
Decanted and tasted over 2+ hours. 100% Tinto Fino aka Tempranillo, aged in new French and America oak barrels for 25 months. Wholly dominated by the oak induced aromas and flavors. This is a wine that confirms my bias against Tempranillo as one of the most overrated red wine grapes that is one-dimensional unless heavily oaked and then simply tastes like it. There is plenty of vanilla and tobacco and nondescript red and black fruit notes. A brute force wine that lacks soul. In it’s youth this got some high scores probably due to the oak-induced aromatics which never makes sense to me. Had with a strip steak with which it was not an enhancer of the meal.
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6/30/2018 - oldwines Likes this wine: 90 Points
Had at a party at our house with Mexican food. I don’t remember any details except on decanting it wafted with smoky berry and spice that was quite pleasant. Should have taken notes but didn’t.
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12/13/2017 - Jthewitt2000 Likes this wine: 92 Points
Prune and strawberry with a little bit of leather
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1/29/2017 - wineismylife wrote: 92 Points
WIML92
Tasted non blind.
Garnet color in the glass, fairly clear looking. Nose of smoke, pepper, berries and a bit of dust. Flavors of berries, cherries and minerals. Medium acidity, medium tannin, medium to full bodied. Drink now.
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3/2/2015 - shapsplace wrote: 91 Points
Popped and poured. Stewed plums, boysenberry preserves, other black fruits, with a touch of spice. Very easy drinker with great balance.
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3/20/2014 - jconwell wrote: 90 Points
Defiantly towards the end of its lifetime, but two hours in the decanter and the nose comes out nicely. Still wonderfully complex, but lighter on the pallet than last year.
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9/30/2013 - CarpeVinum Likes this wine: 93 Points
Was drinking beautifully. Very well integrated, soft velvety tannins, nice fruit and elegant oak
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9/27/2013 - Petek26 wrote: 85 Points
Cork completely disintegrated upon opening. Strained with an in bottle aerator and let decant for 2 hours. Still had some remnants of cork, but over all a tasty bottle.
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7/14/2013 - CarpeVinum Likes this wine: 87 Points
The bottle was corked but not so badly that it couldn't be consumed. The wine had nice character and good structure
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2/3/2013 - juffer Likes this wine: 93 Points
Smokey nose, rich mid palate and long finish. Definitely high alcohol/high glycerin wine with plenty of oak to support it, which is not a style I general go for. But this one is surpisingly elegant and not at all overbearing.
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8/28/2011 - cpsmith33 wrote: 91 Points
Hurricane Night: This bottle showed very nicely. Decanter 2 hours. Nice rich nose, dark fruits, complex in mouth and showing it's age very nicely. Chocolate, earth tones, dark fruits. Will last a while longer.
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7/23/2011 - wineismylife wrote: 90 Points
Sacred Cow Rocky Mountain Offline - Day 4 (CAVU Cabin, Hartsel, CO): WIML90
Tasted non blind. Opened and served immediately.
Garnet color in the glass, slightly dusty looking. Nose of flowers, leather, berries and a bit of raspberries. Flavors of berries and cherries. Medium to bright acidity, medium to firm tannins, medium to full bodied. Drink or hold.
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7/3/2011 - WineKnurd wrote: 90 Points
Double decanted for 2 hours. I was really quite surprised at the richness of this wine; I thought this would be much more mellow after 10+ years but I decided to double decant after pouring the first glass. Wow, big, oaky and smoky. Bold flavors of tart cranberries, raspberries, and sour cherries with hints of earthy funk and spicy black pepper. Lots of secondary flavors underneath the primary fruit and oak; celery, bitter kale, and bell pepper notes on the mid-palate accompanied by oak vanilla, black licorice and a dry, leathery tanninc finish. Great richness of flavors, complexity, and palate development. Downsides- the tannins are still very bitter and astringent, and predominately oak tannins, so there is no hope they will drop even with more age (and why they were still so strong even after 11 years). The wine is also heavily extracted and the combination of new oak results in an off-putting medicinal quality. Combine this with lower acidity levels and the wine is really good but doesn't have what it takes to be outstanding. Drank with a grilled leg of lamb and honestly the wine was actually too rich and extracted for seasoned lamb. I can see why this wine was originally $80+; thank you WTSO for the $44 delivered, which I feel is a good price for this big, bold, spicy wine. But I do not think that quality of the wine warrants the original $80+ price tag. Overall Rating- A-.
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7/3/2011 - prufrocksabogado wrote: 91 Points
In a good window now. Ruby red, nice legs, and a perfumed nose. Hint of cherry anise and vanilla. Not world class but very good and a fair value.
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5/22/2011 - paindude wrote: 91 Points
Drank over 4 days. Got better every day. I feel that this wine is ready and should be great over the next 2 years.
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4/14/2011 - cpsmith33 wrote: 88 Points
this bottle disappointed me compared to the last one. didnt have the depth and complexity i was hoping for.
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11/18/2010 - Gringo wrote: 91 Points
Inky purple in the glass. The nose encountered leather and mint and roasted pepper and dried oregano. The tongue found peach and mint and herbs and quince with soft tannins. There also was a medium and interesting finish. This is a nice quaff that should drink well for the next few years.
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9/18/2010 - mmurry Likes this wine: 93 Points
Decanted for about 2 hours. The nose had lots of damp earth and cherry, a little spice and woodsy herbs, and a touch of vanilla and cedar. The palate was rich, with cherry and dirt, herbs and pepper, and a very good vanilla and cedar finish.
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7/8/2010 - isaacjamesbaker wrote: 92 Points
Big Steaks and Big Reds (Arlington, VA): tasted blind. ruby colored. the nose is intoxicating: meat, leather, barnyard and olives. the balance between the tannic grip and the silkyness is amazing. i got lots of black fruit, cherries, pine, beef jerky. picked up some rosemary on the finish. guess: 2000 chateanuef du pape.
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7/8/2010 - tooch wrote: 90 Points
Steak Night @ Ian's; 7/8/2010-7/9/2010 (Alexandria, VA): Another surprising bottle for all of us upon the reveal. Almost a consensus that this was a Chateauneuf de Pape...nose was filled with kirsch, black pepper, meat drippings and musty olives. Very rich body with subtle clove spice, succulent cherry and strawberry with hints of a light espresso. Very nice.
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6/6/2010 - patrickt wrote: 92 Points
awesome, finishing off a spanish tasting. I would say that there may be a couple of more years in there but you really should not wait. dark fruit, fair to complex aroma, round soft tannin with a bit of spice. medium long finish.
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12/17/2009 - mlunt wrote: 90 Points
A surprise as it drank better than most of the reviews that I've seen on CT. Definitely a smooth, pretty wine, not some huge behemoth that makes you pay attention. Drank next to another Ribera del Duero - 2004 Aalto and the difference between the two was stunning. This opened up nicely after a few hours in the decanter and was definitely ready to drink now whereas the 2004 was much more tightly wound and massive.
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12/4/2009 - Bob in NC wrote: 89 Points
A smooth drinking wine that provides a good balance between fruit and old flavors. Nice medium balanced nose of dark ripe fruit, cedar, trace of tobacco and earth with a bit of vanilla sweetness. Balanced flavors of cherry, vanilla, pipe tobacco, forest floor and smooth integrated tannins with lingering tastes of the tobacco.
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11/20/2009 - Beck wrote: 86 Points
a little austere. dry with leather and coal controling. i'll let the other bottle breathe more.
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9/7/2009 - cpsmith33 wrote: 92 Points
nicely balanced with deep dark fruit and wood/oak. easy drinking and well balanced. nice earthiness and vanilla flavors. overall i think this is a very good bottle.
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8/1/2009 - guitarguy wrote: 88 Points
Wonder what Parker and Tanzer tasted? Certainly not this. Nose of deep purple fruit, wood, hints of sweet phenol. Took a good two hours to open up, then revealed roasted plums, hints of sour cherry, mint, well integrated tannin. What in the he double touthpicks happened between what was given to the critics and what was released here. Certainly not a horrible wine, but mid nineties???? Do not let someone tell you this is the Vendimia Seleccionada which is clearly a much better wine than this. Worth about $25.
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8/1/2009 - wmventura wrote:
Second bottle. decanted for 2 hours and was a solid, well structured wine. Much better than what CT is saying. 91
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3/15/2009 - Bob in NC wrote: 88 Points
This medium body wine is not overly complex but quite pleasant, balanced and definitely ready to drink now; don’t let it sit much longer. A bit closed upon opening but shows better after an hour or so. It has a light nose of cherry, raisins, leather, oak and vanilla with a touch of alcohol. Sweet fruit on the plate, like strawberry jam, cherry, soft oak that throws off vanilla tones, nice earthiness that melds into a soft and well integrated tannic finish that support the sweet fruits to linger on.
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2/15/2009 - LPskeleton wrote: 87 Points
richer than 99 aromatically with roasted components to the nose and all the standard oak aromas for rbd. This is better than the 99 tasted along side of it but it is on its way out as well. the palate is thinning out and on its way out. drink up.
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2/12/2009 - Stickan wrote: 89 Points
Dark red/purple in colour, smell of earth, smoke, wood and oak. Firm tannins, medium dark fruits. Better with food. Ok Ribera.
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2/1/2009 - iByron wrote: 90 Points
Color (5/5): Dark red purple with magenta highlights.
Nose (12/15): Black cherry and tobacco; roasted earth and berries. Aroma leapt right out of the newly opened bottle. Rich and full; moreso with air.
Palate & Finish (16/20): The wine clearly needs air. Rich medium-full palate of cherry tobacco (think pipe) with firm yet silky tannins. Decadent and refined. The finish is long and yields leather boysenberry, perhaps a bit of smokey spice.
Potential & Quality (7/10): Very sturdy wine that's drinking marvelously now but still has some time left. Three years of development maybe. Should last a bit beyond that though. Definitely a wine of quality. Some may balk at standard pricing, but it's worth it. Just give it the respect it deserves when pairing. Spanish or Cuban beef dishes beg for this.
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8/3/2008 - guitarguy wrote: 90 Points
Not worth $53, but dramatically superior to the prior bottle. This wine has a closed nose of fresh raisins and some alcohol. There is some nice red berry framed by a pretty good dose of acidity to provide a snappy sip. Maybe a hint of wood and underbrush (sous bois) also makes and appearance with a finish that is nice but not overly long. Certainly not a good QPR and one wonders what the experts were tasting...special samples from the winery that did not represent the final blend?
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6/29/2008 - vbellore wrote: 94 Points
Solid Wine, especially considering some of the other swill i've had from the vintage. Smoky and Oaky, but in perfect balance with the fruit, which had a cherry, and blackberry profile. Decant now, or wait a year or two.
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3/29/2008 - guitarguy wrote: 80 Points
Really, despite the pro's accolades, this bottle was weak, one might say ho-hum. Long ago I learned that the French are right, you should smell the cork because TCA is often picked up on the cork, then found in the wine (although a TCA'ed cork does not necessarily mean the wine has absorbed the funk). In this case, the cork was definitely corked, but the wine had only the faintest note of TCA. Mama and I debated this and in the end, we decided there were very, very low levels of the stuff in there and we are both sensitive to it, her more than me. So while thankfully you had to search for the TCA, the wine just did not pop, and I believe the TCA was somehow responsible for this. There was TCA in hinting in the nose with just a small amount of dark red fruit. On the palate TCA, leather, tar and some sour cherry. But that small amount of TCA really muted the whole thing out. I have never really experienced this phenomena before, TCA not necessarily making the wine reek, but killing everything else about the wine. I will be interested to taste another bottle to determine if the accolades are merited.
A shameless plug for WinesTilSoldOut.com whom I purchased this bottle from - they refunded my money, no questions asked. Gotta love those guys.
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