Community Tasting Note

• chablis28 wrote: 91 points

  February 7, 2015 - Opened this, mainly for fun,to celebrate my daughter's 30th Bday. I had hoped this might be great but realized at 30yrs old it could have slipped just past its peak. Very enjoyable but not a wow wine. In very good condition but showing significantly less complexity and power than a recent '91. I popped & poured and put the cork back in between pours as it really didn't need a lot of air. The fruit was a velvety cherry dominated profile. Lovely fruit aromas. An elegant old dame that should be drank up.

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5 Comments

• oldwines commented:

  2/13/15, 9:23 AM - With all due respect, I have found that Mondavi Reserve's from the 1980's often need a lot more air than it sounds like you gave it...after a few hours it gets very rich and chocolatey. It often seems to go through a dumb thin, astringent phase about 30 minutes after decanting lasting sometimes a couple hours. Then it opens up into a completely different wine. It does depend somewhat on the way it was kept, but if you've had it in your temp controlled cellar it's whole life, I'd bet it would improve with decanting and breathing. That is however my bias. Cheers!

• chablis28 commented:

  2/13/15, 3:43 PM - Thanks good to know if I ever acquire another. This was sourced through HDH about 4 months ago. I probably played it too safe by assuming it shouldn't need much air but, it was also a wine that I had no idea about its prior history.
  
  Cheers!

• oldwines commented:

  2/13/15, 5:33 PM - I have bought some wine through HDH and have had mixed results. I have just one bottle left myself and will probably drink it later this year. I will be sure to post my note then to see if it helped to let it breathe.

• marka commented:

  2/21/15, 5:46 PM - You must be pretty old if your daughter is 30:)

• chablis28 commented:

  2/22/15, 8:57 AM - Indeed

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