Barolo 2004 with the Jeroboam Club (Little Shop and Pantry, Bristol): Something not quite right here. The colour is good - dark ruby, nicely translucent. But the fruit is a bit stewed, reminiscent of a cherry-berry cordial. Some biscuity notes and an unwelcome whiff of sweaty sock. On the palate it's quite lean, with a bit of a sour milk taste to it and a watery finish. Odd and not at all typical. Not sure what the problem is but it must be a sub-par bottle. NR
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Not the experience we had expected from a top producer in a good year. The wine was decanted 5 hours before drinking. You get a bit of cherries in the nose - the palette gives you more mature cherries, some plum fruit, a lot of spices and clearly leather. Medium+ acidity and tannins - tannins a bit dominating - still and okay balance. Not a long aftertaste. This is clearly a masculine powerful wine but I had expected more - can only end on 91. I still have one bottle left hope that will be better.
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I have a history of mixed experience with the '04 Francia, at least in the U.S., with flawed bottles that don't seem to be either heat damaged or corked. But this bottle tasted in Italy was perfect, and from a perfect bottle, this is an epic wine and one of the best vintages I have tasted of Francia.
The nose was super expressive from the beginning, but gained complexity with air, with dark red cherry and red plum fruit, tar, dark red floral tones, orange peel, and sweet spices. On the palate, the wine is massively concentrated, but the tannins are buried under the mass of the wine. There is so much energy here with a very high acidity level. I found rich dark red cherry and plum fruit, tar, roses, and towards the finish, balsamic and sweet spices.
As I find across vintages, the Francia is the archetype of a traditional Barolo, a massive wine with a core of red fruit, roses, and tar, but the '04 is endowed with an unusual level of concentration and acidity, even for this wine.
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(Giacomo Conterno Barolo Cascina Francia) Medium garnet red color with pale meniscus; funky herbal, hibiscus, baked orange, Clementine nose; tart herbal orange, hibiscus, mineral palate with depth and medium acidity; medium-plus finish
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3/20/2024 - wineamateur wrote: flawed
Barolo 2004 with the Jeroboam Club (Little Shop and Pantry, Bristol): Something not quite right here. The colour is good - dark ruby, nicely translucent. But the fruit is a bit stewed, reminiscent of a cherry-berry cordial. Some biscuity notes and an unwelcome whiff of sweaty sock. On the palate it's quite lean, with a bit of a sour milk taste to it and a watery finish. Odd and not at all typical. Not sure what the problem is but it must be a sub-par bottle. NR
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1/13/2024 - ILarsen wrote: 91 Points
Not the experience we had expected from a top producer in a good year. The wine was decanted 5 hours before drinking. You get a bit of cherries in the nose - the palette gives you more mature cherries, some plum fruit, a lot of spices and clearly leather. Medium+ acidity and tannins - tannins a bit dominating - still and okay balance. Not a long aftertaste. This is clearly a masculine powerful wine but I had expected more - can only end on 91. I still have one bottle left hope that will be better.
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11/22/2023 - Robmcl920 Likes this wine: 96 Points
I have a history of mixed experience with the '04 Francia, at least in the U.S., with flawed bottles that don't seem to be either heat damaged or corked. But this bottle tasted in Italy was perfect, and from a perfect bottle, this is an epic wine and one of the best vintages I have tasted of Francia.
The nose was super expressive from the beginning, but gained complexity with air, with dark red cherry and red plum fruit, tar, dark red floral tones, orange peel, and sweet spices. On the palate, the wine is massively concentrated, but the tannins are buried under the mass of the wine. There is so much energy here with a very high acidity level. I found rich dark red cherry and plum fruit, tar, roses, and towards the finish, balsamic and sweet spices.
As I find across vintages, the Francia is the archetype of a traditional Barolo, a massive wine with a core of red fruit, roses, and tar, but the '04 is endowed with an unusual level of concentration and acidity, even for this wine.
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10/14/2023 - Tartiflette Likes this wine: 96 Points
Decanted about 8 hours and it was just beautiful and still young. Very drinkable but many years ahead still. Sadly my last
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11/12/2022 - mchern02 wrote: flawed
Bad bottle; cooked
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