2003 Antinori Solaia

Community Tasting Notes (68) Avg Score: 93.4 points

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View Uncle Victor's profile
  • Report Issue

  1/21/2024 - Uncle Victor Likes this wine: 94 Points

  Good-bye to my last bottle of '03 Solaia - I will miss you (and so will my wife!). Tasted against other '03s from Dunn Howell Mtn and Calon Segur as per notes from #1 or #2 below. The bouquet on this wine is almost tangible, and the experience is transportive (unfortunately it took #1 or #2 to the wrong place, but that's another story). Succulent stewed berry and plums, dark chocolate and licorice, with funky notes of mushroom, garrigue, and dried herbs. The ripe fruit explodes on the tongue, and the funk gives way to pleasant complementary earthy and herbal tones on the mid-palate. The finish is long and leaves me wanting more. Benefited from 2-3 hour decant, and still strong on day one and two after opening. Another few years left I would think, but why wait? - drink.

  1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View #1 or #2?'s profile
  • Report Issue

  1/19/2024 - #1 or #2? Likes this wine: 94 Points

  wine night @ uncle victor’s! …in a cab fwd line up blind, alongside the ‘03 calon segur and ‘03 dunn howell mtn, regretfully i didn’t guess this (and in hindsight, a foolish miss). wonderfully funky yet sweet and the most perfumed of the three. aromas of plum, cherry, moss, smoke, leather and mushroom. mature savoury notes up front, black currant jam and blackberry fruit still hanging on. on the back nine but wow, this still alive and well. delicious and showy.

  Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View NCWW's profile
  • Report Issue

  12/23/2023 - NCWW Likes this wine: 95 Points

  Has only improved since last bottle. Everything is perfectly in place. Not fragile but I suspect it won't hold many years more, maybe 5-8 years max. It defies the vintage in Tuscany completely. Nothing cooked or jammy here.

  Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View Benoit Hardy's profile
  • Report Issue

  5/16/2023 - Benoit Hardy Likes this wine: 95 Points

  Nose of tobacco, cedar and undergrowth.
  
  Very dense on the palate, the juice is black as ink, with perfectly integrated notes of mushrooms, smoke and plums that respond to each other. Black fruits and tobacco literally invade the mouth before leather and notes of undergrowth take over. It is complex, intense, but of a beautiful freshness which offers elongation and balance to a concentrated whole. Silky texture and at the same time robust to open on a magnificent finish where the undergrowth dominates with a great length of leather and meat juice.
  
  An excellent Super Tuscan.

  1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View FabesMTL's profile
  • Report Issue

  4/1/2023 - FabesMTL Likes this wine: 95 Points

  April 1 - Antinori Solaia 2003 - not an April fools joke
  Opened at 3:15. Smell in the bottle reveals barnyard.
  5:30: poured glass. Barnyard. Cedar. Mysterious smells. Needs decant. Color is towards inky purple.
  6:30: poured from decanter. smells of barnyard and meat. Black earth. Raw meat/game. Cedar and damp forest floor. Graphite / pencil shavings. Potpourri/incense. Dark fruits with minerals. Green pepper.
  Comments: this is a BIG wine at the onset, palate is tannic and majorly austere with a tannic follow-thru but then a burst of fruit and spice. This is a serious wine to be reckoned with but it dances between smooth feminine and chiseled masculinity. As it gets air in the glass it just goes down in a blaze of glory (paired with different meats -raclette supper). Smooth finish, no rough edges, the sheer complexity is just mind blowing but it lacks a bit of precision I think? Chalk up a 95 for this bruiser that has Bordeaux notes written all over it. Still very youthful, can easily go another 5 years, probably longer. Excellent.

  Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

View all 68 Community Tasting Notes

Professional reviews have copyrights and you can view them here for your personal use only as private content. To view pro reviews you must either subscribe to a pre-integrated publication or manually enter reviews below. Learn more.