Community Tasting Note

• ciesel wrote: 88 points

  April 27, 2023 - OK, herbal and earthy. After decanting drank over the next two hours. Little bitter at first and fruit for lack of a better phrase was "weird". However, toward end I sensed a lot of tannin left, and fruit went more toward berry and the wine came together. Hanging on to last bottle for a couple of more years.

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1 Comment

• oldwines commented:

  4/27/23, 5:19 PM - I’ve been drinking Montelena Estate since the earliest vintages and one thing that is constant is the “old-school” style that requires a long decant. In my experience they need a VERY LONG decant. 3-5+ hours in great vintages. 2004 is one I think you can give as much air as possible. I often open in early to mid afternoon for dinner at 8pm. I think you will have a much different bottle if you do this on your last one. Don’t let the age scare you…I gave a 1974 3 hours and it was exquisite, despite someone from the winery suggesting little to no decant. In 2016 I had this wine at the winery and then they decanted at 8:30 am for a tasting at 3PM.
  
  Good Luck!
  
  Cheers!
  
  “oldwines” aka Dave
  www.DTPWineAdvisors.com

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