1994 Castello di Ama L'Apparita Toscana IGT

Community Tasting Notes (13) Avg Score: 93.4 points

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  10/20/2023 - despore Likes this wine: 91 Points

  A: med garnet with lots of bricking
  N: muted at first, earth, vegetal, cocoa, chocolate, dried black fruits, smoke
  P: dry, med (+) acidity, med very smooth tannins, 13.5% ABV, med body
  C: very good wine = took about an hour of air for this to really open up, balanced acidity and tertiary components, med intensity, med (+) concentration, med (+) complexity, long finish. Drink now - surprised it held up this long. Does not present as typical Merlot, mostly loads of tertiary and some remaining dried black fruit. Really fun.

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  10/26/2022 - forceberry wrote: 91 Points

  100% Merlot from Vigna l'Apparita Cru in Chianti Classico, planted in 1982. Fermented spontaneously in stainless steel, macerated for a month with the skins, aged for 14 months in a combination of new and old French oak barriques (normally 50/50). 13,5% alcohol.
  
  Quite deep, somewhat opaque and rather evolved blackish-red color with an aged maroon hue. The nose feels somewhat aged and tertiary with complex, subtly sweet-toned aromas of ripe dark plums and savory wood spice, some notes of asphalt, a little bit of wizened dark berries, light meaty nuances, a sweet hint of black cherries and a touch of blackcurrant marmalade. The wine is dry, evolved and quite savory on the palate with an open-knit texture, a medium body and somewhat tertiary flavors of leather and wizened dark plums, some ripe redcurrant tones, a little bit of pipe tobacco and old wood, light meaty notes of umami, a hint of dried dates and an oxidative touch of beef jerky. The wine is high in acidity with firm medium tannins that feel quite gentle at first, but quite suddenly turn the wine into a quite grippy effort. The finish is dry, evolved and moderately grippy with layered flavors of wizened blackcurrants, some leathery tones, a little bit of sour cherry bitterness, light raisiny nuances, a hint of tobacco and a meaty touch of savory umami.
  
  An evolved, complex and rather open-knit vintage of l'Apparita that is aromatically getting quite aged, but structurally remains still rather stern and sinewy, even at almost 30 years of age. Compared to the surrounding vintages, this feels a bit more evolved in character, coming across as subtly oxidative - a stark contrast to the still remarkably youthful and vibrant 1995 vintage. The 1993 vintage was stylistically much closer to this, coming across as slightly softer and structurally more resolved, but fruit-wise slightly less aged and tertiary. This is an enjoyable effort, but near the heights the best vintages of l'Apparita can attain - although one must remember that at this age there are only great bottles, not great wines. It's perfectly possible our bottle was more advanced than it should've been and one that was less evolved would've performed much better.

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  4/10/2018 - RichardP wrote: 93 Points

  This might be slightly past its prime. Camphor and a note of plum on the nose; on the palate, cherry, currant, plum, and notes of savory spice and a hint of leather on the medium to long finish, with no noticeable tannins and well-balanced acidity. A beautiful wine, and a fair to good value at about $80.

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  1/25/2017 - andtheodor wrote: 92 Points

  Lots of licorice and chocolate on the nose and an intense, spicy, chalky mineral sense to the palate that repeats the chocolate note. Sweet with clear pedigree and polish. Pretty tasty.

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  1/9/2017 - Tim Heaton Likes this wine:

  Wow wine, for me, anyway. It was served double-blind. I guessed north of Campania, west of Umbria and south of Aosta, but darn if I could guess the wine/variety. I suppose it's because I've never had a l'Apparita with some age on it before. And '94? WTH, that's on no one's radar. But this wine just dripped with class, with purity and precision - and depth and charm; it seemed to have it all. I/we detected the tiniest degree of TCA, but it was not conclusive, and it certainly did not detract from the sweet core of fruit. Full(-) body, well-balanced, red and blue fruited, with really great structure and a welcome touch of finesse, to boot. highly recommended
  
  Served double-blind, cork, color and fill in exc. cond.
  
  https://italianwine.blog

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