8/11/2023 - PFra wrote:

The notes on this wine are hard to comprehend. The super low numbers are incomprehensible. This wine is stellar. It is not the best bricco rocche ever, but it is excellent. It has the classic 2008 qualities, good, approachable but clean fruit, with just enough structure to carry the wine. 2008 is on the elegant side, which I love, but this wine has enough heft, it’s not boring. Great.

8/30/2017 - PFra Likes this wine:

Nice bricking on the edges, it's starting to round into shape, good tangy red/black fruit, tannins, tea, some early tertiary flavors and it is light on the oak for the producer, with a nice finish. This is an excellent Langhe that is drinking well.

8/19/2017 - PFra wrote:

Oxidized, or it's completely roasted and done. I am choosing oxidized based on everyone's notes.

8/7/2017 - PFra Likes this wine:

Modern leaning, there's noticeable oak but it's not over the top, the fruit is really nice and I think it's on a good trajectory. Surprisingly open now.

4/3/2017 - PFra wrote:

Initially it was strange, little tannin and very light fruit, I was concerned. But the wine put on major weight in the fruit, still not much structure. It's ripe, fruity, has mellow tannins for Nebbiolo, and there's an easy drinking quality, almost not believable it's a 2010, I have no idea what they did to this wine to make it taste like this. This is atypical Nebbiolo, but it's drinking well with air and I doubt it's a long term ager.

3/18/2017 - PFra wrote:

Rounding into shape, this wine is very enjoyable with some air. Dusty cherry, flowers, balsamic, nice long finish with moderate tannins.

2/13/2017 - PFra wrote:

This is really rounding into shape. It's added considerable weight, the lighter, elegant red fruit is now complemented by some darker, richer fruit heft. This still needs time to develop, but it is really tasty now and appears to be headed in the right direction. Another 2008 that is showing the merits of the vintage.

12/24/2016 - PFra Likes this wine:

Drunk alongside the 2000 du Terte, it's got the Merlot dark fruit, earth and mineral, but, thankfully, does not have the modern right bank painful over-concentration and mocha/oak/dark blobby plum that is common among some of the newer wines. Still, it is definitely a more extracted St. Emillion than the left bank du Terte, which maintains more Cab acidity and red fruit vs the lower acidity, darker fruited Merlot, which in my mind suffers by comparison. Still, both wines are excellent. At this point, it's starting to turn toward maturity, but it still has a ways to go to hit tertiary status for my palate

12/24/2016 - PFra Likes this wine:

This is a delicious wine at a near mature (but not quite there) stage of development. I can see this wine going for a long time depending on the cellar. Classic Margaux, dusty/spicy/cherry/cedar nose, cherry, flowers, resolving tannins, nice acidity, and a bit of the earth coming through, this lacks the concentration and complexity of the best, but it's an excellent mid-level value. The palate is still a little out of balance, and it could use time to resolve everything, which may never happen. Still, I like it a lot. Drunk alongside 2000 Faugeres, which was a great comparison, the du Terte had the Cab red/light blue fruit and herbs and the Faugeres had the softer dark fruit Merlot with a long graphite mineral streak. Styles differ, both have their advocates.

9/23/2016 - PFra wrote:

Continuing this wine's problem with balance it's had from day one, the nose is decent with some emerging complexity, but the palate is not following. Very tart, tannic, and showing some buried zingy cranberry and not much more. I don't see this having enough fruit to survive and it has never been much fun. This was consumed as part of a 20 year 1996 retrospective, and while the competition was very stiff, this wine finished at the back of the pack.

6/11/2016 - PFra wrote:

Initially very closed, dark and angry. After 12 hours of slow o, followed by a double decant, and opening in the glass, this showed big red and black fruit, spice, spice, iron and a long smooth finish. Really remarkable, 5-10 years away.

4/2/2016 - PFra wrote:

Very high acidity, red raspberry and sweet cherry, quite tannic on day one. Day two the acidity still is in the front, the tannins have mellowed. If there wasn't a bit of a darker earth/tar thing way in the background I'd probably think this was Barbera. Not sure where this will end up but it is not near ready at this point.

2/20/2016 - PFra Likes this wine:

Clean, vibrant Chablis. We drank this on the heels of a Phelps Chard, and it was no contest, the Michel was far superior.

2/20/2016 - PFra Does not like this wine:

The nose is interesting, full of eucalyptus and dark fruit. But the palate is still very oaky, much too much for my palate. It's a shame, there's a decent, powerful wine underneath, but it's drowned in the winemaking.

2/5/2016 - PFra wrote:

A bit oxidized, slightly flawed bottle.

12/10/2015 - PFra wrote:

Great wine, dark powerful fruit, almost black currant, herbs, huge mineral and a long tannic finish. So young but delicious.

10/16/2015 - PFra wrote:

First bottle opened was oxidized. This bottle had a pretty ugly nose, sulfur and funk, and not the good kind. Palate was earthy and acidic, with some dark cherry fruit but it's in the background. Maybe it's in an awkward phase, this wasn't very good tonight.

10/3/2015 - PFra wrote:

Dark and closed initially, opened with air but the fruit stayed quite dark and the structure predominated. Day 2 was better, but it's fairly stern on the fruit right now. Graded on potential.

8/19/2015 - PFra wrote:

The nose is full of dark cherry, flowers, and vanilla oak, gorgeous. The palate is the same but has waves of smooth black cherry fruit and a great mineral streak with excellent tannins throughout. It's a few years from prime drinking but is delicious now. I was surprised at the oak level but it's very high quality and is in proportion to the rest of the wine. Really remarkably good for a 2005 Brunello if you can tolerate some oak, I am anxious to try this when it approaches maturity.

8/19/2015 - PFra wrote:

This is a curious wine. There is a golden hue which seems to indicate a rich, aged experience is coming. And it's 100% Chenin, so the RS and richness seems guaranteed. Then you taste, and it's remarkably lean, full of stone, pit fruit, mineral, and crispness. The mousse, however, is delicate and rich. There is no big fruit, thick mouthfeel, RS or other things you associate with Chenin. Instead, you get some hints of apple/melon, lots of somewhat bitter mineral, and a long seltzer finish. Very unusual and great stuff.

6/15/2015 - PFra wrote:

Fairly dark red/purple with orange beginning to show at the edge. A big nose of black fruits and eucalyptus. The palate is still fairly young but with air it opens dramatically, there's the black cherry, lots of eucalyptus (causing one non-Nebbiolo fan to equate it to cherry cough drops), spice, and mineral. As it opened, the fruit sweetened and there was a hint of orange peel and brown sugar, though it was buried beneath the other flavors and still potent tannins at this point. Still, this is entering an early stage of maturity, not the most complex Barolo but I disagree with those who say it's monolithic.

6/15/2015 - PFra wrote:

Medium red, this picked up color with air. It was pretty, with some sweet, ripe red fruit, spice, and some of the usual Giacosa stylistic elements. The palate was fruit forward and more approachable than I expected. It gained some weight with air, but I don't see this as a long ager, although there was some disagreement around the table. A nice but not profound Giacosa.

6/9/2015 - PFra wrote:

Black and blue fruit, the latter from the Cab Franc, mocha, and integrating tannins. Slight bitterness on the finish to balance the ripe fruit. In a good place right now, should hold for several more years.

6/9/2015 - PFra wrote:

Surprised by this. It's evolved and is showing raspberry and cherry liquor, herbs, viscous mouthfeel and has a smooth finish. Really good with air.

5/27/2015 - PFra Likes this wine:

Dark and concentrated for Barbera, there's good richness to the black and red berry fruit and Barbera spice. The acidity on this bottle was just screaming, more than the last bottle. I like it with a chunk of Parmagiano but you need to be ready for it.

5/25/2015 - PFra wrote:

Medium red/purple, the flowers and red fruit jumped out of the glass. The palate follows the nose, medium bodied. Very nice but it needs time.

5/25/2015 - PFra wrote:

A perennial over performer, this is not everyone's idea of Bordeaux, but I think it is very good. Dark purple. Rich spiced plum, graphite, smooth tannin and finishes with some vanilla oak but much less than a couple of years ago. I don't see this developing huge complexity, but it's solid and great value.

5/25/2015 - PFra wrote:

I thought this was corked initially, so we put it aside until day two and tried it again. Initially I thought I might have been mistaken, but it was definitely slightly flawed, which was too bad as it had the dark fruit and scorched earth of a Saint Estephe. Kind of tangy. I almost talked myself into drinking it anyway.

5/25/2015 - PFra wrote:

I have read several notes indicating this wine is ripe and fruity. My experience has been that it has enough fruit but is more mineral driven. With air, this is drinking very well, there is plenty of dark fruit, flowers, cedar and graphite. Still quite tannic. Not getting much tertiary complexity, but it is enjoyable.

5/18/2015 - PFra wrote:

Light red, not much sign of aging. Nice nose of flowers, cherry, asphalt that carry over to the palate. Tannins are still prominent and somewhat woody, and there's not a ton of complexity here. Still too young, I'm not sure this will turn into anything special but I'll hold for another few years.

5/9/2015 - PFra wrote:

Ripe raspberry and spice but a lot of cinnamon and cola, not my favorite style.

2/15/2015 - PFra wrote:

Light red, pretty red berries and very floral, a lighter style that still needs a few years to round into shape but it's very nice now.

1/16/2015 - PFra wrote:

Dark, black cherry, plum, spice and some light wood on the smooth finish. Approachable and tasty.

1/16/2015 - PFra wrote:

Much better than the last bottle, silky cherry, flowers, minerals and really nice balance. Quite nice.

10/16/2014 - PFra wrote:

Dark, very dark, black fruits, loads of tar, scorched earth and still tannic. I'd say there's too much char here, but there are some redeeming features.

10/13/2014 - PFra wrote:

Medium purple with some translucency at the rim, but no bricking. The nose jumps out with dark fruit and scorched earth. On the palate it's muscular and dark in the fruits, black and dark berry. The tannins are chalky and fairly potent but not offputting, and there's some graphite mineral. There's a hint of sweetness to the fruit but it's pretty sturdy now. There's upside to cellaring.

10/13/2014 - PFra wrote:

The nose is really intoxicating, red and black berries, vanilla, spice, a hint of flowers and even some cooling mint or eucalyptus. The palate is full of lots of flavors, but the sweet, pure fruit is remarkable. There's definitely some oak, but it's very fine and adds to the whole rather than overwhelming any one element. You get pencil, minerals, some cocoa powder, and spicy complexity, but the fruit is the star here, it's just great. There's some almost silky chocolate cherry in there. I've read mixed reviews on this wine, and can see how people who like their Claret more structure driven or restrained might not love it. It's extremely well made and almost irresistible now, but it should continue to age and evolve positively.

9/30/2014 - PFra wrote:

Dark berry and mineral nose. The palate has black fruits, iron, meat, chocolate, and it's really brooding. Serralunga with extraction. The fruit is quite dark and hidden behind the structure. It's still tannic. I put some aside for day 2, it softened but still wasn't giving a lot. It's pretty concentrated, but a little out of whack right now. Obviously not the right time to drink this, I'd wait a few more years to try again.

9/5/2014 - PFra wrote:

Dusty cherry, rocks, spice and still potent tannin. Wait.

9/5/2014 - PFra wrote:

Flawed

9/5/2014 - PFra wrote:

Red berry, leather, bright acidity and smooth tannins. Very nice bottle.

9/5/2014 - PFra wrote:

Dark red, plum, cocoa, still fairly tannic. Wait a couple more years.

8/22/2014 - PFra wrote:

It is an inky purple wine. There is some dark casis, vanilla and rocks on the nose. It seems like it's going to be a big fruit driven wine. Uh, no. The palate is very closed, just a hint of dark, liquor like black fruit followed by a wave of tannin. There is some oak (vanilla and spice), mocha and mineral. It's intensely concentrated, big extraction but not the least bit fun to drink. Day two saw almost zero movement as did day three. I'm surprised by the reviews lauding this wine at this stage of its development, needs time.

8/18/2014 - PFra wrote:

Dark berry, spice and succulent mouthwatering acidity, there is a deep fruit and softness to the wine that makes it irresistible. Great Barbera.

8/12/2014 - PFra wrote:

Just another solid 08, light bodied (and light colored) bright red fruits with dusty minerals and tannins and a tangy berry finish, but there is a succulence to it that keeps you coming back. Well made at this price.

8/12/2014 - PFra wrote:

Fairly unexceptional but enjoyable, medium dark berry with a sappiness that is appealing, some cocoa, mild asphalt, smooth tannin, well made. Interested to see how it ages but another solid 08.

8/9/2014 - PFra wrote:

Bright red, sweet fruit, integrated tannin, just barely getting hints of tertiary elements. Early maturity window.

5/5/2014 - PFra wrote:

Oxidized.

5/5/2014 - PFra wrote:

Medium to light red, asphalt, berries, eucalyptus and tannic finish that mellows with air.

5/5/2014 - PFra wrote:

Medium purple, rich, dark red fruits, spice and some tar, medium finish with a fair amount of tannin. Hold.