Community Tasting Note

• cristian_m wrote: 88 points

  October 19, 2015 - Drinking really poorly this weekend and yet the wine has a complexity that is something to admire, even if the flavors making up that complexity are not as good as they should be.
  
  The nose is tremendous and fantastic. Taking a whiff, you get copious and complex hints of cola, strawberry, cherry, a touch of vanilla and a tinge of earthiness. I wish I would have left things there.... The first sip reveals a wine that is totally disjointed from that initial nasal sample. A millisecond of brief fruit is overtaken by a strong punch of green stem heavy tannins. Completely out of wack. Way beyond anything I've ever had even from some Bordeaux and Traditional Barolos. The mouth is almost completely lacking in fruit, instead its sour, bitter and grating, but its not flawed. I'm speculating that the tannins are evolving out very slowly and that the wine may not have the fruit core to be able to balance it. No idea if the whole cluster treatment maybe took this one a little over the edge or not.... At any rate, the length is indeed something to marvel at, but alas, the flavors in that finish are not pleasing. Dry dry earth, barkiness, mineralitiy, petrol. Several of my guests who tasted the wine as the first offering of the night chose not to finish their glasses, it was that jarring of a flavor profile. Tried the wine paired with a variety of cheeses and sausages and while a heavy fat accompaniment helped tame the tannins, the wine was left devoid of any fruit and came across very muted. I'm going with a score of 88 based mostly on the fantastic nose and the complexity and length. Had this wine maintained the fruit core it had when I sample and bought these, I'd be willing to score it higher as I did at that time.
  
  At this point, I'm going to relegate my remaining bottles to the back corner of the cellar and hold them for a min of 10 more years before bothering to see where this vintage goes. Huge disappointment for me.

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