Italian Night with the Evans (Our house): Deep crimson color. Aromas of red fruit and florals with meaty, smoky undertones. Lovely balance, with flavors of red fruit, herbs, underbrush and meat.
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Opened during dinner at Kimera in Irvine. This is one of those wines that smells better than it tastes. Intense aromas of blueberry and blackberry jam, sweet plums, and framed with vanillin oak and a touch of mocha. On the palate, ripe blueberry and black raspberry fruits, almost shiraz-like in flavor, followed by an acidic and harsh finish. A couple hours in a decanter helped to mellow it out a little, but upon taking the wine home and trying it again later that night, it never really seemed to come together. A shame, really, because with the exception of the finish, this was really a lovely wine. 88-89 points.
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I have found my new love in California - in a sangiovese! We all know the hype that vintners have for the care and feeding of their product. Well, it's UNDERstated here, if you can believe it! Altamura has managed to approach perfection with this glorious, aromatic, bounteous wine. I salute them. Intense in fruit, great legs, berry-filled, it was a fabulous pair for my pasta dinner. The length and breath of the finish was stunning - so much so that my son asked my wife "What's wrong with Papa?" as I savored the swallow, and she replied "he's found love...again". How better to sum this up? Farmer Mike
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Chronicle: Intense, concentrated blackberry, oaky vanilla thickness, a little bit of tar; rich but not gooey mth, good rustic t’s, good acidity. Med. long fin. A over extracted SG, character lost to me, too much oak. Potential w/lower oak? 2nd: after breathing--some nice black cherry notes instead of blk berry.
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Impressive Cal-Ital that will nonetheless never be confused with Italian Sangiovese. This is a big, concentrated wine, with a powerful nose and full palate of cherries, pepper and vanilla. Big but soft tannins leave little question this will only improve with age. Finishes a bit short, but that's the only quibble with this bottle, which is well worth its $35 price tag.
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Staff Favorites (Farpointe Cellar): Deep ruby. The nose on this wine had a nice mixture of raspberry, plum, cedar, spice, and vanilla. In the mouth were sweet berries, and spice. It finished nice and long, with ripe tannins. A little expensive, but tasty.
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Good match with leg of lamb and garlic potatoes. Very tannic, but not overpowering. The flavors of this wine were more mellow than I expected, but plenty of fruit, licorice, and pepper.
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Very nice Cal Ital wine and a nice QPR at <$30. Still pretty tannic and will need some time to show its best; this really could be considerably better when it integrates and the tannins mellow a little. Nonethless, at this point it has a nice array of plum, anise and black pepper. Going to get a few more and hold them to see how they evolve. Not to be confused with a chianti, but wonderful flavors in its own right.
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10/29/2011 - AllRed wrote: 92 Points
Italian Night with the Evans (Our house): Deep crimson color. Aromas of red fruit and florals with meaty, smoky undertones. Lovely balance, with flavors of red fruit, herbs, underbrush and meat.
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8/26/2010 - mcnfarmer wrote: 91 Points
best sangiovese I have had from any U.S. winery; layer it in!
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4/6/2009 - profiler54 wrote: 91 Points
Very tasty big bright fruit and a decent finish
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1/3/2009 - TwoSmoochies wrote: 90 Points
Yum - a much bigger Sangio than we've had in a while.
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11/2/2007 - Paul Lin wrote: 88 Points
Opened during dinner at Kimera in Irvine. This is one of those wines that smells better than it tastes. Intense aromas of blueberry and blackberry jam, sweet plums, and framed with vanillin oak and a touch of mocha. On the palate, ripe blueberry and black raspberry fruits, almost shiraz-like in flavor, followed by an acidic and harsh finish. A couple hours in a decanter helped to mellow it out a little, but upon taking the wine home and trying it again later that night, it never really seemed to come together. A shame, really, because with the exception of the finish, this was really a lovely wine. 88-89 points.
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10/1/2007 - mcnfarmer wrote: 93 Points
I have found my new love in California - in a sangiovese! We all know the hype that vintners have for the care and feeding of their product. Well, it's UNDERstated here, if you can believe it! Altamura has managed to approach perfection with this glorious, aromatic, bounteous wine. I salute them. Intense in fruit, great legs, berry-filled, it was a fabulous pair for my pasta dinner. The length and breath of the finish was stunning - so much so that my son asked my wife "What's wrong with Papa?" as I savored the swallow, and she replied "he's found love...again". How better to sum this up? Farmer Mike
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3/28/2007 - BailliSacks wrote: 89 Points
Every inch a Napa wine, big juicy concentrated. Lots of structure too, though, and some spice. Responded well to a few hours airtime.
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12/5/2006 - bicchierino wrote: 89 Points
Well balanced wine
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8/13/2006 - peternelson wrote: 88 Points
Chronicle: Intense, concentrated blackberry, oaky vanilla thickness, a little bit of tar; rich but not gooey mth, good rustic t’s, good acidity. Med. long fin. A over extracted SG, character lost to me, too much oak. Potential w/lower oak? 2nd: after breathing--some nice black cherry notes instead of blk berry.
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7/23/2006 - jmull wrote: 91 Points
Impressive Cal-Ital that will nonetheless never be confused with Italian Sangiovese. This is a big, concentrated wine, with a powerful nose and full palate of cherries, pepper and vanilla. Big but soft tannins leave little question this will only improve with age. Finishes a bit short, but that's the only quibble with this bottle, which is well worth its $35 price tag.
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4/29/2006 - mmurry wrote: 89 Points
Staff Favorites (Farpointe Cellar): Deep ruby. The nose on this wine had a nice mixture of raspberry, plum, cedar, spice, and vanilla. In the mouth were sweet berries, and spice. It finished nice and long, with ripe tannins. A little expensive, but tasty.
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1/28/2006 - david.scott wrote: 88 Points
Good match with leg of lamb and garlic potatoes. Very tannic, but not overpowering. The flavors of this wine were more mellow than I expected, but plenty of fruit, licorice, and pepper.
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6/30/2005 - TomTom wrote: 90 Points
Very nice Cal Ital wine and a nice QPR at <$30. Still pretty tannic and will need some time to show its best; this really could be considerably better when it integrates and the tannins mellow a little. Nonethless, at this point it has a nice array of plum, anise and black pepper. Going to get a few more and hold them to see how they evolve. Not to be confused with a chianti, but wonderful flavors in its own right.
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