12/9/2021 - joebigwig Likes this wine:

I enjoy aged Brunello, so this worked for me. It was nice, but this bottle is also at the end of its drinking window and starting to flatten out The cork was perfect and firmly in tact with no leakage. Nice color with signs of oxidation, slight browning, but not really bricked. That told me the wine has been well stored and has aged in a proper way. So far so good. Muted nose even after coming up to room temp; dried flowers and earth. On the tongue it is exactly what you would expect from a 15 year old Brunello. All secondary. Cherry, must, cellar, cinder block, tobacco, some minerality. Mildly tannic and pleasant. Expected medium finish with lovely lingering tobacco. It was well integrated and composed, and I would suggest anyone holding the 1400 bottles still cellared to drink now. Based on this bottle, this is in its sunset and will decline from here.

1/20/2021 - joebigwig wrote:

Wow. I last had this bottle in 2013 and I did not care for the wine. This bottle today is outstanding. Cab, merlot, aglianico. This is in a very good place. Beautiful with the pepper crust on this filet mignon. Still pleasantly tannic, neutral mouth feel, fruit has faded yielding to lovely secondary characteristics. This wine has aged well.

4/18/2020 - joebigwig wrote:

This wine took quite a while to settle down. Did a slow decant from the bottle. The color did not give away the age at 15 years. No bricking. Consistent dark ruby color. After evaluating color and nose, the first three sips told me to let the two glasses sit for 3 hours.

Solid and mild on the nose. It was barn, old leather, damp basement. The attack was cool with mild tannin that gripped just a little, and low acidity. There was still some dark red fruit, more than I expected, but also unpleasant bitter and sour notes. The finish was mildly tannic. It wasn’t pleasant. After a glass I decided to put it away for a night.

Day 2 was much better. Same nose, but the unpleasant notes were gone. The fruit had faded and more pleasant secondary characteristics emerged. Mildly tannic finish.

Still some life left, but drink now or soon. For the 200 bottles you all still have out there...I’d suggest a very long decant, or save for day 2.

3/27/2020 - joebigwig Likes this wine:

Wow. At 16 years this wine is in a great place. No decant. Let the glass breathe for 30 minutes and it changed quickly over that time. Settled right down. Beautiful menthol and cherry on the nose. There is sweet cherry as it hits the tongue. Nice bright acidity. Mildly tannic and dry. Medium body and a beautiful long dry finish. Very pleasant. Will follow up with notes on day 2.

Day 2 - declining today. The nice bright acidity has faded so it is falling flat. Still some nice cherry and pleasant tannin. If you have some, finish on day 1.

1/3/2020 - joebigwig Likes this wine:

Oh wow. At 18 years this bottle is in a very good place. No signs of age in the color and no bricking. Dark purple. Fruit on the nose and with a nice buttered popcorn smell. Mildly tannic with some grippy-ness. On the tongue its "grapey" in a way similar to nero d'avola, and again buttered popcorn. Finish is long and pleasant, not sweet, not bitter. Slightly fruity. Somewhat remarkable at 18 years. We might hope that all tempranillo, as unruly as it can be, ends up here.

1/1/2020 - joebigwig Likes this wine:

Has held up very impressively. Deep red color with no bricking at 25 years. Hard to believe. Rich with secondary characteristics you would expect from a cab of this age. Round, full, moderately tannic, and grippy with a pleasant lengthy bitter finish. Really very good.

1/24/2017 - joebigwig Likes this wine:

An unexpected surprise. Had this 2 years ago and it was not pleasant. Well past its time and unpleasant. This second bottle, however, was balanced and well aged. Firm tannic structure and pronounced secondary characteristics you would expect from a bottle of this age. No fruit at all. Orange coloration, medium acidity, smooth texture, and long typical satisfying aged finish. Slightly better on day two. I learned a lot from this bottle. This is the reward you are looking for when you are 20 years patient with your Barolo. Drink now if you have any. According to my cellar, you have a 50-50 shot at a nice sip.

11/22/2016 - joebigwig wrote:

I have been drinking 2 cases of this bottle over the last number of years. It is severely in decline at this point. I would not recommend buying this, and would suggest drinking any that you have now. The last 6 or 8 bottles have shown a consistent decline. Also, I do not believe this wine is cold stable. Every bottle has had both heavy bottle staining and significant tannic precipitate.

5/26/2016 - joebigwig Does not like this wine:

This is Grand Cru grade wine (the lowest grade in St Emilion) and that makes sense after a taste. Its pleasant on the nose, but the prevailing bitterness on the tongue makes it very un-Merlot like (it is 70% Merlot as you might expect from St E). I disagree with the previous tasting notes, and think the scoring is too high. It is nice and round as expected, but too bitter and unrefined on the mid-palate. The finish is average, pleasant, and long. Overall this wine is being scored too high. There are too many flaws to accumulate 90 points for this wine. Very Good, but not excellent.

2/28/2013 - joebigwig wrote:

Such a great QPR. So inexpensive and yet so good for the money. I drink Nero all the time and really like this one.

2/28/2013 - joebigwig wrote:

Darn. This bottle was way past its drinkable window. Maybe it was stored differently that the very impressive previous bottle (we just bought it now, so no idea where its been for 32 years). Stale, "old refrigerator," past its time old cab quality to it. We still have one more of these to try.

2/28/2013 - joebigwig wrote:

I have noted before that this wine does not noticeably improve with air. This bottle actually peaked at 4 hours, and we didn't leave any to sip after that. Good stuff.

1/27/2013 - joebigwig wrote:

IMO the '08 does not hold up against previous vintages. The '07 bloomed a day after opening, but no amount of air helped this one. It will not be better on day 2 or 3. Its ok, but not at all special. I suggest aerating upon opening and drinking when average wine is good enough.

1/4/2013 - joebigwig Does not like this wine:

I could not be more disappointed in this wine. From a winery who holds itself out there as a high quality producer, this is a real let down. Nice nose, nice But out of balance, no complexity, coarse, bitter, astringent, unpleasant rubber on the mp, and a somewhat lingering unpleasant finish. Over maceration is my guess. A real bummer...and I have 3 more to drink. For all the family know how, Mark Berringer missed badly on this one. I will note the other three bottles as we open them.

1/4/2013 - joebigwig Likes this wine:

Probably the best smelling wine I've ever sniffed. It really makes the entire house smell good. Delicious to drink as well, and worth the relatively high $80 price point. However, consistent with the first bottle we had, this wine declines quickly with air. Pop, pour, and finish within a couple hours. Within four hours, the wine is noticeably worse. A day later, its common supermarket quality. Unless this wine is just at an odd spot 4 years young?

10/16/2012 - joebigwig wrote:

Last in a string of 8 Neros we have tasted over the last month...and probably the worst.

9/2/2012 - joebigwig wrote:

Well this was just remarkable. One of my favorite wine drinking experiences. Slow decanted, and drank this bottle over 5 hours. The nose was rich and balanced. After 31 years we were amazed that there was still fruit, followed by delicious secondary flavors that you would expect from a wine of this age. It was fantastic. Initial tasty fruit was followed by earthy flavors; dirt, moss, mushroom, leather, muddy creek bed. The finish was mild, long, and perfectly balanced. A fully integrated and balanced wine, pleasant start to finish. Really a total delight.

This is the outcome that all wine makers are going for when they take all those labored steps to make their wine...and what we all want to happen when we write "Im going to lay this one down for 5 more years.”

7/18/2012 - joebigwig wrote:

I stuck my nose in this glass a dozen times because I kept discovering new hints of this and that. Most notably were green vegetables, peppers, black cherry, smoke, and tobacco. Very slight bricking just beginning to show the age of the wine. At the nine year mark this wine needs no air. Open and drink now. Tannins are well integrated. This wine, while pleasant, doesnt taste like a cab to me. It doesnt taste typically like anything. Its just unusual. Add vanilla on the tongue. Long finish with similar green, cherry, vanilla notes. In general this is a very strong wine with powerful flavors. Its not hot, its just strong. If you enjoy very strong wine, this one is interesting. If you prefer your wine little softer or milder, this one may be overpowering to you.

4/26/2012 - joebigwig wrote:

Earthy. On the nose I smelled earth, dark berries, and must. The smell was very pleasant and warm. Let it breathe for 2 hours and tasted over 5 hours. The wine peaked with 5 hours air. Dark sweetness on the tongue with earth, wood, and dark fruit flavors. The wine has a good mouth feel. Its a complex wine with moderate pleasant tannins, a medium and smooth finish. This wine is a pleasantly different cab.

4/25/2012 - joebigwig wrote:

Vanilla and cherry are prominent on the nose with hints of blueberry and orange. Simple and light with vanilla on the palate and pleasantly easy to drink. Light to medium tannins and a medium vanilla finish. This is uncomplicated wine, lighter and less tannic than typical sagrantino....but very pleasantly so. Drink immediately upon opening. This wine needs no air to bloom.

Addition: Both the smell and taste of the wine declined a day later. While a days air often helps, in this case it degraded the integrity of the drink. Open it, drink it all, and enjoy.

4/24/2012 - joebigwig wrote:

Upon opening, lovely fruit, sweet and very strong. Powerful and full nose of round ripe fruit. Beautiful start, and unusual for a Napa Cab. We could smell it all the way across the kitchen. 30 minutes of air before the first sip was still very powerful on the tongue, again with ripe full fruit. To that point probably the most powerful wine I have experienced. The wine peaked 30 mins to one hour after opening. The most pleasant thing being the nice fruit and how the mid-palate drops off to nothing before a more pronounced finish. Over the next 7 hours the best qualities of the wine diminished into wine that was just too hot. The pleasant fruit that covered the alcohol disappeared, and the wine devolved into a damn hot mess! I find this wine to be one dimensional. Nothing complex. Medium or lighter tannin, fairly long and non-irritating finish. Would not buy again.