Community Tasting Note

• JLuch1 Likes this wine: 96 points

  December 15, 2019 - Checking in on this having not had a lot of the 17 vintage and this being my first Dr. Crane. Pour half the bottle in to a decanter and another half in to a storage bottle for tomorrow.
  
  On pnp, nose was expressive with sweet maraschino cherries, floral and reminiscent of edleflower liquor. Palate was fairly primary and dominated by big dark berry fruit, dark chocolate chunk and heat. Was too hot and disjointed on pnp so placed decanter back in the cellar for a couple hours.
  
  Much better after the decant, nose fairly similar but incredibly expressive and wonderful. Palate was also more expressive. Creamy mouthful, dark berries/blackberry, anise, St. germain, dark chocolate, dark earth. Finish was long and not cloying after the decant. That said, I would recommend decanting for a couple hours for best results at this time. I will check in on the second half of the bottle tomorrow and report back.
  
  Day 2
  
  Returned half bottle in to decanter, similar notes to day 1, but a little smoother and toned down comparatively. However, my wife who is arguably more of a wine snob than I, commented on how delicious it was and specifically paused after 30 seconds of tasting it and said "wow, the finish is still lingering." So perhaps I was having an off day.
  
  Things to note during the day 2 tasting: Wine had decent grip day 1, but was generally smooth/sweet day 2, so not sure you would need to age this wine to make it more approachable. Furthermore, the acidity is there but there is also a fair amount of sweetness to the wine, so it is hard to say where this wine will go as it integrates further. That said, if you want the high octane version of this wine, drink it now with a decant.
  
  Based on this tasting, I preferred this wine after a 2 hours decant.

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3 Comments

• Mark1npt commented:

  12/15/19, 7:34 PM - Great notes, ty. This was a very hot vintage. I suspect most of these wines are either going to need time in bottle or time in the decanter. Mark

• JLuch1 commented:

  12/15/19, 11:36 PM - When drinking the wine tonight, I tried my best to ignore the vintage and moreover the negative view it has been getting thus far. It was easier than I thought it would be as this wine was still very dense and concentrated, packed with flavor. Nothing really stood out to me at all where this seemed like it would be lacking in the future. In 2011, I remember even the pedigree wineries had the same vegetable/bell pepper quality to them and it was hard to repeat the density and concentration of 09 and 10 before it. I remember not too long ago opening an 11 Fairchild Sigaro and while liking it, still feeling the same way about the vintage. Either way, it was promising to me that this tasting went well, so will continue to keep my fingers crossed on this vintage.

• Mark1npt commented:

  12/16/19, 6:16 AM - I like your logic. Any of us who had the '11s knows where you're coming from. My fear regarding the '17s is that in their own flawed ways, they won't change much over time either, just as the '11s did not. Having said that, there are some good '17s out there, just not 98-100 pointers. My disappointment is in paying the prices for the better 98 pointers and getting 92's instead in a year like '17. I limited my buying to about 30-35 bottles of the '17s personally, for just that reason.

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