Nebbiolos that cool kids drink these days et al. (Chicago, IL): At the end of the day, I thought this was probably more interesting than good. Nonetheless, it's a Ridge wine and therefore worthy of attention. The nose is slightly porty, with a lot of shriveled black fruit and a slight bit of spice. Certainly this is nowhere as sweet as a Port (in fact, the way to think of this wine is as a dry, non-fortified Port). There's a shrivelled character to the fruit here, and just a slight hint of sweetness. The acidity is low, though it amps up if you drink this with some dessert. Overall though, this is still a chewy wine (at 22 years!) where the tannins still need time to resolve. I'd absolutely love to see what this is like in 10 years; I think the stuffing for that kind of aging is in the wine, and that aging will serve to smooth out some of the more harsh elements. I should add, this has a very generous helping of American oak.
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Rich port-like tones. Still good black fruits and some tannin. Deep red almost to edge. Surprisingly youthful appearance in fact, though no doubt more restrained on palate than would have been at half this age. Very enjoyable with char grilled rib eye and Toulouse sausages.
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Like the person before me, I didn't mean to hold the btl this long. Pop and pour, pepperoni pizza. Full flavor, alcohol while high it is great. Good integration, good mouthful and upper palate finish, very bright color, good, drinking very well. Youthful? Wife says it is a buy.
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Did not mean to hold this long, but it was in pretty good shape. Tasting before and after decanting with 30 min wait revealed a big difference. More fruit and finish obtained with the decanting & 30 min rest. It more than held up its own with a nice steak dinner.
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Great balance, not a pruny fruit bomb even though it was late picked. Seems perfectly mature, with a beautiful deep red color and amber rim, zin spice and mature berries on the nose with a bit of root beer, great balance and not at all chunky on the palate. A touch of alcohol might detract, but I could see this as perfect with the Spanish cheese suggestion below. Wish I had more.
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6/4/2019 - acyso wrote: 88 Points
Nebbiolos that cool kids drink these days et al. (Chicago, IL): At the end of the day, I thought this was probably more interesting than good. Nonetheless, it's a Ridge wine and therefore worthy of attention. The nose is slightly porty, with a lot of shriveled black fruit and a slight bit of spice. Certainly this is nowhere as sweet as a Port (in fact, the way to think of this wine is as a dry, non-fortified Port). There's a shrivelled character to the fruit here, and just a slight hint of sweetness. The acidity is low, though it amps up if you drink this with some dessert. Overall though, this is still a chewy wine (at 22 years!) where the tannins still need time to resolve. I'd absolutely love to see what this is like in 10 years; I think the stuffing for that kind of aging is in the wine, and that aging will serve to smooth out some of the more harsh elements. I should add, this has a very generous helping of American oak.
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5/29/2016 - brittain Likes this wine: 89 Points
Rich port-like tones. Still good black fruits and some tannin. Deep red almost to edge. Surprisingly youthful appearance in fact, though no doubt more restrained on palate than would have been at half this age. Very enjoyable with char grilled rib eye and Toulouse sausages.
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5/28/2016 - jlgnml Likes this wine: 92 Points
Like the person before me, I didn't mean to hold the btl this long. Pop and pour, pepperoni pizza. Full flavor, alcohol while high it is great. Good integration, good mouthful and upper palate finish, very bright color, good, drinking very well. Youthful? Wife says it is a buy.
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3/4/2015 - ludja Likes this wine:
Did not mean to hold this long, but it was in pretty good shape. Tasting before and after decanting with 30 min wait revealed a big difference. More fruit and finish obtained with the decanting & 30 min rest. It more than held up its own with a nice steak dinner.
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5/28/2009 - sawira wrote: 91 Points
Good character. Interesting and different. Earthy, dark, slightly off dry.
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4/27/2009 - ginfizz wrote: 90 Points
Great balance, not a pruny fruit bomb even though it was late picked. Seems perfectly mature, with a beautiful deep red color and amber rim, zin spice and mature berries on the nose with a bit of root beer, great balance and not at all chunky on the palate. A touch of alcohol might detract, but I could see this as perfect with the Spanish cheese suggestion below. Wish I had more.
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12/29/2006 - win wrote: 86 Points
Sampled at large tasting - minimal notes.
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