Top neck fill level. Cork in good condition. Not decanted. Very youthful hue; more like a 10-15 year old Cab blend. Classic Medoc nose tobacco and earthy notes as well as faint plum notes. Slight herbal notes in the best sense possible; adding complexity without falling into bellpepper category. bright acidity, almost fully resolved tannins, surprisingly nice texture. Spicy finish with cigar box aromas. This makes for a great food pairing wine, which - after all- what it is all about. Quite long finish riding the acidity, spices and cedary notes. Not going to improve...
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Surprising! At first very hard and thin, quite unyielding I chose not to decant but to let it evolve in the glass. This wine has quite a bit of volatile acidity; most likely from brettanomyces. However, as the wine evolved, some of the off-aromas dissipated and more traditional tertiary aromas developed: earthy, tobacco; could use more complexity
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Similar to the last bottle in that it had a great mix of classic secondary elements and a modicum of fruit that is still hanging on. Definitely drink up, but I was slightly more happy with this bottle than the last,
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Cornucopia - Christmas Wimps (La Trompette, Chiswick): From magnum. This showed an old fashioned nose with earth, iron filings, but still with life and freshness. Medium bodied on the palate, with dried red fruits, earth - a touch austere with dusty tannins prominent on the medium length finish. Not bad though and certainly drinkable. **.
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Decanted and drank immediately....Great nose with slight hints of dark fruit, tobacco, cedar and coffee. Palate is rich and balanced with notes of blackberry and dark cherry, saddle leather, coffee and chocolate. With 45 minutes the nose became very funky/earthy, drowning everything else out, but the palate held on for another 30 minutes. After and hour, it was completely gone. Drink up and drink quickly!
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Second bottle consumed of 3 purchased at auction, unlike the first, which I described as past it, this was a really great wine. Fully bodied, yet with the subtlety I expect from a Margaux. Great nose of Forest floor still with some hints of red fruit and menthol. Not so much fresh fruit on the palate, but great texture and long finish. opened 45 minutes before drinking, this was still improving 2 hours later as we finished the bottle. Hope the third bottle is like this and not the first!
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taste: There is an elegance to the medium feel with some refined tannins. Balanced with very good tones of cedar box, dark red cherries, sandalwood, leather and tobacco leaf tones.
overall: This was a very nice and mature Claret. It feels like it's slightly on the downslope right now, but is enjoyable nonetheless.
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- Crimsom color with fast forming legs and aromas of phenolic, cedar, dusty and tobacco. It's lacking fruit and has flavours of licorice anise, cloves and mint with a light/medium body. Linear texture with a medium finish - Lacking complexity, no tannins or fruit left to speak of. Opened a little after approx 45 minutes, faded quickly after 2-3 hours open. Somewhat past it's prime I suspect.
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11/30/2020 - vagrantone Likes this wine: 91 Points
Top neck fill level. Cork in good condition.
Not decanted.
Very youthful hue; more like a 10-15 year old Cab blend.
Classic Medoc nose tobacco and earthy notes as well as faint plum notes. Slight herbal notes in the best sense possible; adding complexity without falling into bellpepper category.
bright acidity, almost fully resolved tannins, surprisingly nice texture. Spicy finish with cigar box aromas. This makes for a great food pairing wine, which - after all- what it is all about.
Quite long finish riding the acidity, spices and cedary notes.
Not going to improve...
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12/28/2018 - JackCMac Likes this wine: 91 Points
beautiful color. ripe old cab nose. nice finish with medium weight & length.
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9/16/2016 - vagrantone Likes this wine: 88 Points
Surprising! At first very hard and thin, quite unyielding
I chose not to decant but to let it evolve in the glass. This wine has quite a bit of volatile acidity; most likely from brettanomyces. However, as the wine evolved, some of the off-aromas dissipated and more traditional tertiary aromas developed: earthy, tobacco; could use more complexity
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11/29/2015 - Bill Bucklew wrote: 90 Points
Similar to the last bottle in that it had a great mix of classic secondary elements and a modicum of fruit that is still hanging on. Definitely drink up, but I was slightly more happy with this bottle than the last,
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10/30/2014 - Bill_wine wrote: flawed
Bottle left too long - gone off
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4/8/2014 - Bill_wine Likes this wine: 91 Points
Very nice wine - second glass opened up a lot more and more fruity -
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12/11/2013 - Paul D wrote:
Cornucopia - Christmas Wimps (La Trompette, Chiswick): From magnum. This showed an old fashioned nose with earth, iron filings, but still with life and freshness. Medium bodied on the palate, with dried red fruits, earth - a touch austere with dusty tannins prominent on the medium length finish. Not bad though and certainly drinkable. **.
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12/27/2012 - Bill Bucklew wrote: 89 Points
Decanted and drank immediately....Great nose with slight hints of dark fruit, tobacco, cedar and coffee. Palate is rich and balanced with notes of blackberry and dark cherry, saddle leather, coffee and chocolate. With 45 minutes the nose became very funky/earthy, drowning everything else out, but the palate held on for another 30 minutes. After and hour, it was completely gone. Drink up and drink quickly!
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12/12/2012 - rickibc Likes this wine: 91 Points
Second bottle consumed of 3 purchased at auction, unlike the first, which I described as past it, this was a really great wine. Fully bodied, yet with the subtlety I expect from a Margaux. Great nose of Forest floor still with some hints of red fruit and menthol. Not so much fresh fruit on the palate, but great texture and long finish. opened 45 minutes before drinking, this was still improving 2 hours later as we finished the bottle. Hope the third bottle is like this and not the first!
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12/2/2012 - KeithAkers wrote: 89 Points
Second Annual Butcher&Larder dinner (Butcher&Larder, Chicago IL): nose: Showing off it's age a bit on the nose with tones of leather, tobacco, dark red cherries, sandalwood, and cedar box. Lacking some depth, but it is refined and mature.
taste: There is an elegance to the medium feel with some refined tannins. Balanced with very good tones of cedar box, dark red cherries, sandalwood, leather and tobacco leaf tones.
overall: This was a very nice and mature Claret. It feels like it's slightly on the downslope right now, but is enjoyable nonetheless.
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9/9/2012 - rickibc wrote: 87 Points
- Crimsom color with fast forming legs and aromas of phenolic, cedar, dusty and tobacco. It's lacking fruit and has flavours of licorice anise, cloves and mint with a light/medium body. Linear texture with a medium finish - Lacking complexity, no tannins or fruit left to speak of. Opened a little after approx 45 minutes, faded quickly after 2-3 hours open. Somewhat past it's prime I suspect.
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7/7/2012 - wenderoth wrote: flawed
Good fill to base of neck and cork intact, but strong ammoniac aroma on opening. What a shame!
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6/15/2009 - plitton wrote: 88 Points
Soft with no tannins. A very nice drink but not alot of depth and lacking structure.
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