North Square
Tasted Saturday, July 12, 2014 by coremill with 476 views
Gorgeous nose with intense, sweet blackberry fruit, lots of mint, hints of chocolate and vanilla. Very tannic, at first a bit dry in the middle before fleshing out some with air, a really nice mineral, gravelly edge, long mint chocolate finish. Excellent. My WOTF.
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Less expressive aromatically than 03, fruit a little more purply, shows a little more oak and cedary character, richer, bigger, rounder, lusher than 03, with the tannins better integrated. Not quite as mineral or complex as 2003, but much more of a crowd-pleaser. Group WOTF.
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Clearly a step down from the first two. Shows as much more mature, a fair amount of tobacco and earth and cedar, not showing a lot of fruit today. Some discussion about whether this was in a grumpy adolescence or starting to fade. Weakest wine of the night.
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Very dark color, lots of chocolate, shows some oak/baking spice, lots of black fruit, lots of acid, lots of structure, nice mineral edge, even better with food which helps cut the structure. Outstanding. My WOTF.
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Redder fruit, hint of grilled herbs, much more primary, shows some oak but in the lighter toast side of the spectrum, with more vanilla and less chocolate. Richer and rounder than 06 with slicker tannin and less acid, long finish, nice with lamb.
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Riper and sweeter, showing candied cherry and mocha. Round like 2007 but less concentrated, lots of very ripe tannin but less acidity, more modern and sweeter in style, less interesting and a touch sweeter than my preference. But the group's WOTF.
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Beautifully pure black cherry, touch of herbs, just gorgeous fruit. Lots of acid, not as much extract, juicy and gulpable with sneaky structure that asserts itself a little more without food. This is a delight and a little less serious than some of the others but extremely delicious.
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Bigger than 09, fleshy dark berry fruit on the nose, more of everything (fruit, tannin, extract) going on here, nice minty edge on the finish. A little more serious than 09 but not quite as fun to drink right now, although will probably have a longer future.
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Plump black cherry, big herbal streak, some ashy tobacco, much lighter with less extract and concentration, very earthy and elegant, much more Bordeaux-like than any of the others. I like this a lot, probably more than most, it shows the vintage and is quite different in style from the others.
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Wow. Ripe black fruit, intense with real depth, slight vanilla overlay that works well. Totally different in style from the regular 09, this is much more serious and structured with greater depth and concentration, needs more time in bottle. Easily WOTF and WOTN for me.
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My notes started to get a little short at this point. Big and powerful, riper and plummier than the 09 SS but not as expressive, lots of acid, concentrated, really excellent.
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Tobacco, some green, very pretty fruit, far less ripe, concentrated, or structured than 09/10, much higher acid, still very good with a nice ashy finish but not as much distinction from the regular bottling as 09/10.
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2012 Arnot-Roberts Ribolla Gialla Vare Vineyard 89 Points
USA, California, Napa Valley
Lemon, floral, piney, almost like pine sol but in a good way and without the chemical element. Extremely earthy in the mouth, some body but not super concentrated, clean and crisp, I very much like the earthiness.
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