obaenninger
Member #290,795 signed up 3/26/2013
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Eric Guido
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2007 Elio Altare Barolo Vigneto Arborina
9/22/2017 - obaenninger Likes this wine: 92 Points
After a two hour decant, this wine started to relax, and so did I :P, with more complex but still restrained notes of ripe if slightly sour black fruit now being detectable under the initial punchy & young menthol / tarry / fennel-seed notes that saturated the nose, and at first, the palate right from opening.
It was obvious from opening this was a class-act in a modern style, but while it was a bit too much for us "old-schoolers" upon opening, it's bark turned out to be louder than it's bite, probably a sign that at 10 years old, this is ready for some secondary /tertiary development to take place.
So, to conclude, memorable wine for me, I'd never drunk anything from this famous producer before, and I understand the fame. Not sure I get Arborina cru (yet) from drinking this now however. Definitely drink when it's cold outside, and, unlike some readers, I'd hang on at least another 5 years before opening another one, to get closer to that 2hrs + effect in the decanter + increased pleasure layered in by more complex notes of development & perhaps greater understanding of Arborina cru that, which opening now, we felt we had forfeited!
The wine looks inky colored. The legs are medium. There is light sediment in the bottle.
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2009 Domaine de Chevalier Blanc
4/1/2016 - obaenninger Likes this wine: 94 Points
Worthy of my 40th birthday! Absolute treat. A little one-dimensional for first 1-2 hours after opening, but really opening up after that, just getting progressively better and better. Huge upside for this wine, I don't think I'll open another one for at least 3 years!
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2005 Robert Mondavi Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley
8/12/2015 - obaenninger Likes this wine: 87 Points
Pleasing sweetness with resolved tannins on what one feels might have once given more promise than it now actually delivers. Nothing wrong with this wine, in fact a more than suitable accompaniment to simple grilled steaks, and agree with previous notes of a dark-fruited maybe blueberry jam sensation. Not massively long or complex, nothing to complain about, competent, but did not over-deliver. Drink-up.
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