Actually seemed tighter than the last bottle I had a couple years ago... Good structure, enjoyable, but felt restricted. Will hold off on the others for a bit.
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Some wines stand out amongst almost all others and richly merit loquacious panegyrics; this is one of those.
Deep crimson to purple in color.
The bouquet creates a sensory overload! Spring flowers, violets, summer fruit blossoms, Petit Verdot fragrance, ink, graphite, blackcurrant, dark sweet berry fruit, and wondrous Tuscan terroir come forward in tsunami-like waves.
The medium to full-bodied palate offers a tour-de-force in hedonistic complexity! Juiciness, ink, red and dark fruits, sweet berries, and graphite, followed by mind-bending Tuscan terroir show on the attack and mid palate respectively. Incredible, and warmly inviting, dusty to grainy tannic grip clamps down torward the back of the mid palate, through the protracted and exceedingly complex finish.
This ethereal elixir ranks among the most inspiring wines I have ever tasted. The perfect balance of fruit, terroir, tannin grip display the visionary talents of the winemaker. A gorgeous wine in all regards, 95-96!
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Even though it is a 2007, its character is still young. Thick, dense black and red fruits, some leather and herbs, ripe tannins which are wonderfully integrated. When opened, it needs time and keeps developing. Long finish, complexity, freshness. A mighty wine. Decant.
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This wine is a bit young, but it is still enjoyable now with a decant. Nose is lovely, with a nice mix of dark berries, caramel and earth. Decanted about an hour, and the nose was at its best around the 2-hour mark, with the earth and mushroom aspects really shining. On the palate, this is quite tannic and acidic, making food a must and hence the thinking that a few years should make this much better.
Weird pairing alert: had this with a bison steak, which makes a lot of sense, but also had some lemon basil oil (lemon basil, not lemon and basil), which really brightened up the wine. Notes of lemon - which don't seem like a good pairing for reds - sometimes surprise me like that.
Anyway, 90+ for now, with anticipated improvement next time around.
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First an explination....this wine is made from 12..... count them, twelve types of grape! Most unusual to say the least....yes it is mostly Brunello and Cabernet but it includes varieing amounts of ten additional grapes from mostly Italy but also some additional Bordeaux mix varietals. So five years out is it a symphony or cacaphony? I am going to have to say cacaphony although it is not awlful and maybe there is hope for its future. The nose is mind bending but confusing with all kinds of berries, flowers, spices and savory stuff. With air it moves constantly but not always pleasingly. On the pallet it is highly extracted and dense almost like the texture of a Calif Cab or an Amarone or both. Again name it and you can almost find it. It's funny....I like complex and evolving wines but this is worse then a late Philip Glass orchestra piece but much less focused. The finish is dusty and relatively short or maybe I was just burned out? The wine lacks focus and it's trying to be everything at once. Maybe with time the battle will be won.....but I am going to give it time. Mind, nose and pallet bending....how can that be bad?.....but it didn't feel good?
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1/8/2017 - lifeattable wrote:
Pretty similar to the 2012 notes. Solid stuff, though not all that memorable.
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10/26/2015 - Motz wrote: 91 Points
Lacking the freshness and vivacity of the previous bottle, but the stuffing, structure, and tannins are still there.
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8/14/2015 - Buick455 wrote: 90 Points
Nice, even with the many different grapes, it was balanced.
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11/27/2014 - lifeattable Likes this wine: 90 Points
Actually seemed tighter than the last bottle I had a couple years ago... Good structure, enjoyable, but felt restricted. Will hold off on the others for a bit.
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11/7/2014 - Sgift wrote: 83 Points
See previous note.......cacophony......waste of good Brunello!
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12/29/2013 - Motz wrote: 95 Points
Some wines stand out amongst almost all others and richly merit loquacious panegyrics; this is one of those.
Deep crimson to purple in color.
The bouquet creates a sensory overload! Spring flowers, violets, summer fruit blossoms, Petit Verdot fragrance, ink, graphite, blackcurrant, dark sweet berry fruit, and wondrous Tuscan terroir come forward in tsunami-like waves.
The medium to full-bodied palate offers a tour-de-force in hedonistic complexity! Juiciness, ink, red and dark fruits, sweet berries, and graphite, followed by mind-bending Tuscan terroir show on the attack and mid palate respectively. Incredible, and warmly inviting, dusty to grainy tannic grip clamps down torward the back of the mid palate, through the protracted and exceedingly complex finish.
This ethereal elixir ranks among the most inspiring wines I have ever tasted. The perfect balance of fruit, terroir, tannin grip display the visionary talents of the winemaker. A gorgeous wine in all regards, 95-96!
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4/12/2013 - Bustink wrote: 90 Points
Even though it is a 2007, its character is still young. Thick, dense black and red fruits, some leather and herbs, ripe tannins which are wonderfully integrated. When opened, it needs time and keeps developing. Long finish, complexity, freshness. A mighty wine. Decant.
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6/24/2012 - lifeattable Likes this wine: 90 Points
This wine is a bit young, but it is still enjoyable now with a decant. Nose is lovely, with a nice mix of dark berries, caramel and earth. Decanted about an hour, and the nose was at its best around the 2-hour mark, with the earth and mushroom aspects really shining. On the palate, this is quite tannic and acidic, making food a must and hence the thinking that a few years should make this much better.
Weird pairing alert: had this with a bison steak, which makes a lot of sense, but also had some lemon basil oil (lemon basil, not lemon and basil), which really brightened up the wine. Notes of lemon - which don't seem like a good pairing for reds - sometimes surprise me like that.
Anyway, 90+ for now, with anticipated improvement next time around.
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4/20/2012 - Sgift wrote: 85 Points
First an explination....this wine is made from 12..... count them, twelve types of grape! Most unusual to say the least....yes it is mostly Brunello and Cabernet but it includes varieing amounts of ten additional grapes from mostly Italy but also some additional Bordeaux mix varietals. So five years out is it a symphony or cacaphony? I am going to have to say cacaphony although it is not awlful and maybe there is hope for its future. The nose is mind bending but confusing with all kinds of berries, flowers, spices and savory stuff.
With air it moves constantly but not always pleasingly. On the pallet it is highly extracted and dense almost like the texture of a Calif Cab or an Amarone or both. Again name it and you can almost find it. It's funny....I like complex and evolving wines but this is worse then a late Philip Glass orchestra piece but much less focused. The finish is dusty and relatively short or maybe I was just burned out? The wine lacks focus and it's trying to be everything at once. Maybe with time the battle will be won.....but I am going to give it time. Mind, nose and pallet bending....how can that be bad?.....but it didn't feel good?
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