10/23/2014 - pekingunther Likes this wine:

The wine out of DM was drinking beautifully. Perfect balance front to back palette, length on finish of 40+ seconds. Proof again that wines in largerfFormats that are older, tend to find a balance that 75cl doesn't. Plenty of fruit, fully integrated tannin. Tobacco and a little leather on the nose. Just an amazing wine experience.

8/31/2014 - pekingunther Likes this wine:

While 89 is probably a fair reflection of the wine as it stands now, the actual joy of this drinking this wine is far greater than just it's score. To be able to enjoy a mature white wine - at 28 years old, that many would have written off. You can envisage the wine at its peak (which I'd guess would have been a decade ago) and you can take your mind back to the vintage. Aged wines carry so much emotional content than young wines, that they provide that much more contentment... I'd get more of this over a modern blockbuster just for that alone.

8/31/2014 - pekingunther Likes this wine:

Initially I criticised this for being quite green, but then I let it open and breath a bit, and I think it is more that it is a Paso Robles Syrah that is being made true to style in the Hermitage tradition. In fact it reminds me very much of the Chapoutier style. I would suggest that to do this, they have picked just a little before full ripeness, but the balance that comes through after the wine has air makes this perfectly OK. In fact it makes it a wine that I think many would go to "old world" on a first or blind tasting.

5/21/2014 - pekingunther Likes this wine:

This is a fascinating wine. Extremely powerful nose that initially dominates. The early palette is a little leady. More like a Paulliac than a Pomerol. But then over about 2-3 hours it opens and integrates and the later half of the magnum is all fruit and flavour. Quite inky in texture it paints a great picture. Lovely wine. A WINNER

5/11/2014 - pekingunther Likes this wine:

Classic St Julian. A wine that is the essence of Terrior. Etheral and earthy. Takes quite a bit of time for the fruit to show and it is quite subdued. But the wine has great balance and finesse. A "real bordeaux drinkers wine". Those looking for fruit forward and fresh should look elsewhere. Those looking for a wine with incredible potential, this is a winner.

5/11/2014 - pekingunther Likes this wine:

A bloody revelation. Lovely fruit, soft tannins, great sense of terrior (as is the case with/nature of St Julien wines) - drinking really well now and will do so for at least another decade. I would say it is just coming into its drinking window but it's best is yet to come... if it continues to improve, this could top 95 points and if you compare it dollar for dollar with the more expensive grand Cru's and second growths, that is very good doing. Give it a good hour or so to open - more if you have the time and patience.

2/19/2014 - pekingunther Likes this wine:

Classic St Julian. Not as grippy as the Las Cases, in fact a beautiful elegant wine. Very velvety on the tongue. Nice soft tannins at this age and brushstroke of fruits (for want of a better description). This is not the ideal wine for a big steak (as we had it), but maybe a beef stew. Lamb would destroy it, but would it be very nice say with a baked Salmon (if you wanted to pair with fish). It really has reached a beautiful point and still shows signs that it could improve a little in time. from Mag, opened and then took half a glass out (to taste and to allow better breathing), left it for a good 3 hours. Like this allows a slow evolution which is perfect for this wine.

2/19/2014 - pekingunther Likes this wine:

On the controversy, I am with the high scorers. This is a great wine, but still very young at 25years old. Out of Mag, I reckon it could comfortably improve over the next 20-30 years. Big tannic wine. Real barnyard nose initially and that took about 1.5 hours in open mag and then decanter to soften/disipate. The wayto get the best of this wine from a flavor profile perspective is 1) take a small sip, coat your mouth and leave it on the palette for about 2 minutes 2) then take a big swig and the flavour explodes and mouthfeel is great. Don't ask me why, but that first taste does challenge (is it good or bad), but by preparing the palette, you allow the wine to show its true colours. Big and muscular, but not in an unbalanced way. Great Great wine

1/13/2014 - pekingunther Likes this wine:

How amazing wine can be. A very good winemaker, an avaerage vintage, and at 28 yrs it comes out of the bottle punching well above its weight. Fresh with some reallly good fruit. Plenty to suggest that it could have gone another 8-10 years, but not necessarily getting better. Although a touch of bricking, still essentially a garnet hue and tasting really really fresh. The wine lifts the palette. In terms of fruit, plenty of red berries, I'd say sour cherry and bilberry. It has some green notes but nothing that takes away from the wine. Maybe a hint of tobacco in there as well. A really pleasant surprise.

1/13/2014 - pekingunther Likes this wine:

Beautiful wine. Initial taste had a strong tannic backbone but this integrated into the wine within about 15-20 minutes of opening. Rich but not heavy succulent but not OTT. Great balance and truly great wine. If you want a tight stringent wine - think Peter Micheal Chard (US) or a cooler vintage sancerre or puligny montrachet, this wine is not for you. Mouth filling (not coating) flavour... it leaves absolutely nothing on the dancefloor. Some apple tart in there as well as butterscotch and burnt orange. It has some more "sour" citrus tones, but they are not seperate, they keep the rest of the flavours in balance.

1/4/2014 - pekingunther Likes this wine:

Pop the cork and pour a glass.
- The initial nose and the palate makes you wonder a bit – is it past it / is it hiding something… it is definitely the later
- Swirl and sip for the next 30-45 minutes and let the wine breath in the bottle. Without the glass, the contact area is the full diameter of the bottle and that is enough
- From 30 minutes – 1.5 hours, the wine evolves really well
- At about the 1.5 hours, you get “soy sauce” - nose and palette -, when the wine is at its best… sounds odd, but when that SS comes through, it is when the wine is giving you everything
- How long it will stay at this is questionable, but if you have been this patient for this long, I am sure it won’t last that long 
The second bottle was quite astounding. decanted and drank gradually. at the 2.5-3 hour mark it seemed to enliven and became a quite different wine. As if it discovered the elixir of youth

12/27/2013 - pekingunther Likes this wine:

300 cases made of this wine and very few in DM, which we were luck to enjoy. I have MGM's of the 2003 and that will be kept for another decade or so. Absolutely beautiful wine, punches well above its weight. Made by a great winemaker, it oozes class. This wines structure, already very good, will get better with age. Lovely subtle fruit, a little cigar box, and the wonderful soft roundness of a very well made 100% Merlot. Not much of it about, much better value than its price. If you find it, buy it. Drink it now or keep another 5 -15 years.

12/15/2013 - pekingunther Likes this wine:

Such a well made wine and really approaching its best. Extra depth from Mgm. Very rich fruit, plenty of ripe berry at the front the slightly lifted rather than mouthcoating flavour that seperates it from Shiraz of the same genre/location/age. This though is a characteristic of the CH wines. Fresh full fruit without being heavy and mouth coating. More red than black berry/cherry flavours.

12/15/2013 - pekingunther Likes this wine:

It took about 1.5-2 hours for this to show some of the fruit that was left and it lasted about 20-30 minutes before falling off. In its day I think it was probably quite an elegant wine, but it has long passed the date where it was at its best. I'd say by at least 15 years. Always fun though to try these older wines, particularly from Bordeaux.

I have lived temperately… I double the doctor’s recommendation of a glass and a half of wine a day and even treble it with a friend.
Thomas Jefferson

11/7/2013 - pekingunther Likes this wine:

About 4 years ago Fox Creek did a review in their newsletter and said that the 1999 should be drunk up. They were a few years too early. This wine has developed so much weight over the last 4-5 years it is incredible. Better than the 98' or the 00'. It is rich, deep, complex and incredibly enjoyable. What amazes me is there is no bricking yet, which indicates that there is a while to go... if you have any drink it slowly, 1 bottle at a time every 6 months. If you don't (like me now), try and get some. It is great value for money at it's market rate. A 99 Grange will set you back 7-8 times as much, and is not that much better... or the HoG for that matter.

11/4/2013 - pekingunther Likes this wine:

Opened up well after 4 plus hours. Very jammy initially and heavy alcohol. But once this "blows off", you are left with a rich fruity wine that will complement red meat and duck well. A keeper with lots of dark red berries infused in the mix. Good value FM. This is what I call a fun occasion wine. Good one for a Christmas / Thanksgiving / Any Party. Obviously a hot year and while the alcohol content is high at 14.5%, it is not explosive. But (and I say but) the alcohol is quite obvious in the nose. More so then the palette (unusual). It is a very good food wine. I wouldn’t eat it with steak, too much full on fruit… but a good Lamb Saddle would work well. It would be GREAT with duck confit or Roast Duck (Chinese Style), Roast Goose or even Roast Turkey with cranberry sauce on the side

11/4/2013 - pekingunther Likes this wine:

This wine just blew me away. It has been a long time since I just sat there and tried to get my head around a wine. It is the kind of wine that you don’t come out and say, that is the best or one of the best bottles I ever had… but it is hard to think of a better bottle. When you taste a Grange, you know from the get go what you have and that it is a great wine in your hand. This wine is sheer craftsmanship. The winemaker has set out to use the quality of Australian fruit but build a Hermitage. And it is probably one of the few wines outside of Hermitage that could be aligned with those that come right from the top of the hill near the Chapel. On the nose it is Hermitage – if a warmer fruitier one, but the palette is a mix of the beautiful earthy flavor of hermitages' great wines with a classically smooth Australian fruit. The palette is full and flavoursome and long. So strong that after an hour or two it still dominates the flavors in your mouth… and leaving it overnight (after extracting the air), it barely budged an inch. Jade and I did our due diligence and got out the wine scent kit to try and identify the flavours present. While it has a rich earthy sense (I say sense because it is hard to define between nose and palette with this wine it is so seamless) as a base, the fruits are just beautiful. Red and black currant, blackberry and prune… nothing too sweet. I also felt a little pepper was there, but Jade didn’t agree with me on that one

10/20/2013 - pekingunther Likes this wine:

Glorius in its aging and its style. Same as the 81 CM Pavillon Blanc, it had a nuttiness that was sublime, a hint of citrus fruit still remains, but just a hint. It didn't have the length of the PB, but wow, what a wine. If you have any, drink it soon but have it alone. Don't challenge it or match it with food. Just enjoy the essence of what a well made wine can achieve with age.

10/20/2013 - pekingunther Likes this wine:

Big Bold and Beautiful. You drink this while playing ACDC, Hoodoo Guru's, Midnight Oil or the Rolling Stones… it's not for the faint hearted. At 16+% alcohol surprisingly it is not hot or heavy. It is jammy with plenty of mulberry and blackcurrant but well balanced. Chocolate is there as well, but that will come through more as it settles into middle age. I don't know if this has the backbone to carry on developing for the next 10 or so years, but I'll be checking along the way to find out.

10/20/2013 - pekingunther Likes this wine:

On an evening we had wines from the diners wedding anniversary's the 95' Monte Bello Ridge shone - from Magnum. Up against the Grange 98 and Mollydooker Carnival of Love 07 this was for me the best wine (I know different wines and different styles). More class, more elegance, more balance. The Grange has in its favour the fact that it will continue to improve, but here and now, the 95 Monte Belle was stupendous. A lesson in tasting for young Nick as well. I had him taste it through its evolution over 3-4 hours. It improved slowly but steadily the entire time. At about the 3 hour mark it peaked and plateaued. Not sure when or if the drop would have been because we finished it before that occurred.
As a note, the wine needs a good 1.5 hours decanting before it really starts to open up its fruit which is quite subdues till that point.

10/11/2013 - pekingunther Likes this wine:

Big and fruity but elegant at the same time. The high altitude and cooler nights shows through in this very typical but not typical Napa Cab. It has the blackberry, the deep purple couple, the big nose and richness. But it is elegant on the palatte and not mouth coating. So flavours of a NV cab, sensation of a warmer year Left bank Bordeaux or Piedmont Italian. one suggestion is to keep the bottle at 16-18 degrees (celcius) and let it warm naturally in the glass. It really allows you to maximise the experience with this wine.

9/13/2013 - pekingunther Likes this wine:

The wine was bricking significantly and probably past it's best. Was quite flat out of magnum and remained that way even after 1 hour decant, but really came into its own after about 2 hours and was there for about about 1 hour before it started to lose it. Some fruit still there, tannin all integrated, a little dusty and a touch sour (a sign of age) but obviously a good wine from a great vintage.

8/19/2013 - pekingunther Likes this wine:

Delectable wine. From the first sip to the last drop. While only 19% the pinotage has a real influence here giving the wine a deep rich earthiness which neither the cab sav or the merlot would deliver. As with many of the 07's I've tried from SA, there is a wonderful balance to the wine. I am not sure about it's longevity but at a guess I would say this wine has another 3-4 years before it peaks. Plenty of blackcurent and a little bilberry to lighten the fruit. Could drink this wine all night. One tip, best straight out of the wine fridge at 12-15 degrees and let it evolve in the glass. A hottish vintage so if you startvit warm you'll feel the heat.

8/10/2013 - pekingunther wrote:

On opening, apart from the fruit I would have said a warm season cote rotie, lovely nose and great fruit - that was at 12-15 degrees out of the eurocave. Then the charm dropped a little as the tannin started to overtake the initial fruit burst - it was cherries / Blackberry not much cassis or coffee. It dropped off from an initail wow (this will be close to mid-90's) to ok - the final score. This is a pretty well made wine. It felt more alcoholic than its 13.9%, that may have been the tannin or the season. The big question is will it get better. Plenty of fruit and a good tannic backbone, but will they integrate to be a better wine, or will it stay on the current plateau till it just drops off when one or the other go. I think the later.

8/10/2013 - pekingunther Likes this wine:

On the nose and on the money. 2007 was a good/great year for SA wines in general and the Kanonkop Pinotage is a great wine. I would suggest it is at its best now at 6 years. Could add 2 or 3 but right now brilliant. Deep and rich, a very velvety texture, lots of dark fruits, blackberry and dark cherry, a hint of chocolate in there. Wonderful, and a bit of a decant works wonders as well, 1 + hours at least. (the 1999 and 2000 Pinotage Kanonkop I had in SA showed that the wine is not a really long term keeper. Based on thise I'd say 7-10 years is the window with a fairly major drop off after a decade.

7/31/2013 - pekingunther Likes this wine:

Lovely fragrant wine. Very lifted palatte and a lot of back pallette for such a young wine. Floral notes on the nose and richer stone fruits on the palatte. A very very morish wine. Great for summer drinking and a great wine that can be had without food as well as with... don't serve it to cold. Straight out of the Eurocave/wine fridge at 11 or 12 degrees is perfect.

7/26/2013 - pekingunther Likes this wine:

This wine was losing it's fruit but was still quite elegant in style. The saltanta sweetness I associate with Zinfandels was very evident as well as the end of the dark fruits. Fine wine, would have been a few points higher 5-6 years ago.

7/26/2013 - pekingunther Likes this wine:

This wine is still just evolving in the bottle. Not ready yet to show its potential. But it has the makings of a classic wine. Right now it is lean with a very tannic backbone, plenty of lemon and possibly garpefruit in there. I think stonefruits will come with longer cellaring as well as a fleshing out. Watch this space...

6/12/2013 - pekingunther Likes this wine:

This wine is past it's best, but still a very enjoyable wine. It is elegant, still has some fruit but has thinned a little with age. While probably never a world beater it was i'm sure a wine many would have enjoyed. What Amazes me is it's lightness and freshness on the palate. No dryness or dustiness that you often experience with older new world wines. If you have any drink it now, possibly with a lamb stew.

6/10/2013 - pekingunther wrote:

From DM - This wine has a long long way to go. It is really a baby, but even at this stage (as quiet eloquently said by Iain Seow "This is a beautiful wine"). It has a lovely tannic structure and lots of lush fruit that is not overpowering but very prevalent. Obviously a Cab dominant wine, but with some of the softness of a blend built in there. Looking forward to the next DM on Jade's 21st :-)

6/10/2013 - pekingunther wrote:

Really big and jammy out of the blocks. First impressions were - overripe balckberry jam at about 17%, but it is actually 14,5% and after about 1 hour it settlied down to a dull roar. Still big and fruity, but more of a back palette develops with time. More typical of Zin than Petite Syrah, it is bone dry on the finish. I enjoyed it more as it opened, and know that it is a quality wine. Just undecided as yet if it is a quality wine for me.

5/17/2013 - pekingunther Likes this wine:

From Mag, popped the cork on this because it started to leak, which made me worried before opening. Like the 75, the initial nose indicated that the wine was not in great condition, but as soon as it hit the palette, you knew this wasn't the case. The nose settled after a while and the wine opened beautifully. Silky smooth, plenty of fruit. The overriding adjective for this wine is Elegance. Trot in the 70's seemed to produce beautiful long lived wines while the major houses struggled to do so. Don't decant this wine. Pour enough into a glass to leave it open at the bottom of the shoulder, it will open well just inside the bottle and importantly, maintain its fruit. It is a great wine and showed again that great wine makers can make good-great wines in average years.

4/8/2013 - pekingunther Likes this wine:

WOW. Exceptional. I think the best DdC I have had to date, and it is already my favourite bordeaux blanc. Depth and richness but still fresh and enjoyable. That mmm on the palate is uplifting and it has quite good length for a wine of it's age. Plenty of time still before it reaches it's best.

4/8/2013 - pekingunther Likes this wine:

Well made elegant Chardonnay. Heavy on the front palete without the depth of some of the really good Cal. Chards I have had. It is a wine that probably has a few more years in the bottle, but without developing a better balance. Plenty of honey and stewed apple, enjoyable and good with food, but not spectacular.

4/8/2013 - pekingunther Likes this wine:

(2013 - btl's 4-5) At dinner with Andy - farewell from HKG, this wine rocked. Elegant and full but not at all heavy. I'll savour the last one, like many wines I wish I had more of it. For anyone who wants to understand why Sth Rhone can match Bordeaux for elegance, Burgundy for Finesse and Italian Bordeaux Blends for richness, just drink this wine. Decant for at least 45min-1hour. If can be decanted longer but the joy of tasting the change in the glass after this length of time would be lost... (2010 retrospective note 92) Still very young and unlike the 1990, very fruit driven. Jury out on which is better, currently I prefer the 1990, but the others (Richard and Mitch) preferred 1998…

4/8/2013 - pekingunther Likes this wine:

I have scored this wine low, because on an objective level it is well past it's best, light on the palette and little more coming through. BUT I like it personally. Maybe it's where wine becomes subjective, when in your mind you like a wine without any logic, there is something you like about it. This is the case with the Certan Giraud. I have had the 82, 90 and 98 and loved them all, now have the 81, 83, 90 and 98 to drink, and looking forward to each bottle... logically, illogically or otherwise.

2/13/2013 - pekingunther wrote:

I am at about the middle of the case with this one, and while the wine has been good (91-92) it has always held something back. It has been about 8 months since my last bottle and the wine is really hitting its stride. It's no longer a gangly kid but a young adult. Still with plenty of years in the bottle, but it is just WOW out of the bottle right now. If you have any, open one and see for yourself. My one cautionary note is the temperature. When it is too cold, it doesn't give much away. 12 degrees (or wine fridge temperature) is pretty good, maybe a degree or 2 colder if that is too warm for you. It is a wine to just sit and enjoy.

12/13/2012 - pekingunther Likes this wine:

- Pop the cork and pour a glass.
- The initial nose and the palate makes you wonder a bit – is it past it / is it hiding something… it is definitely the later
- Swirl and sip for the next 30-45 minutes and let the wine breath in the bottle. Without the glass, the contact area is the full diameter of the bottle and that is enough
- From 30 minutes – 1.5 hours, the wine evolves really well
- At about the 1.5 hours, the nose becomes that classic Hermitage “soy sauce”, when the wine is at its best… sounds odd, but when that SS comes through, it is when the wine is giving you everything on the palate
- How long it will stay at this is questionable, but if you have been this patient for this long, I am sure it won’t last that long 

Drink it now

12/12/2012 - pekingunther Likes this wine:

- Just brilliant out of the bottle and beyond. Doesn’t have a high or low point. drinking great, may have had more exuberance in its youth, but this wine is a class act. My one suggestion note, is don’t drink it too cold
- Take out of wine fridge and pour a glass at fridge temperature, allow to open while bottle chills in the fridge (sip slowly), when chilled enough pour the chilled into what remains and then go from there
This wine is a real class act, but I would say that if you have any drink it in the next 12-18 months

9/28/2012 - pekingunther wrote:

It gets to 92 if it shows longivity. Real full on fresh ripe red berries in the mouth. Long finish. No sign of cassis or dark fruits - in fact I thought it was between a Merlot and a Pinot on tasting. Enjoyable, not as sweet and structured as the 03 Merlot, but that is because the CS dominates thisi wine. If it gets better with more age it will be a great wine. If it dies as teh fruit dissipates, it would qucikly drop to teh mid-80's. Right now it seems it could go eitehr way.

9/14/2012 - pekingunther wrote:

The Gardener - This is such a beautifully structured wine, that it seems perfect, without being good enough to be perfect. Like a well constructed innings, as opposed to a brilliant one, but with the same final result. It is as well a balanced wine as I have had in a very very long time. A great deal of attention has gone into this and the results show. Even at a young 7 years, a perfect balance of fruits and tannin. The paleete is even from front to back with an emphasis on the back palette - nice mineral/tannin/red currant and blackberry notes and a very very long finsih.

9/1/2012 - pekingunther wrote:

Double decanted this about 2 hours before dinner and then over the next 2 hours - in bottle and glass, it opened up into a stunning example of Haut Brion. From what was not regarded as a geat vintage, comes another great wine. At 36 years, stil plenty of fruit wonderfully balanced with a velvety mouth feel. I'd say that it is not a 4-5 decade wine, it'll be starting to decline in another few years, and is probably past its best (whatever that is). A great wine.

9/1/2012 - pekingunther wrote:

A wine I had high hopes for but one that fell short. Had both tannin and fruit, but almost as seperate entities in the same bottle. There isn't any sign of integration. Good wine with a steak but not one to write home about.

7/18/2012 - pekingunther wrote:

This was a wonderful discovery. A wine that punches well above its weight from a price perspective. For a 1997 Napa - at 13.5% it is reserved from an alcohol perspective. Many of it's peers are 14+%. It is a classic Bordeaux style. Very complex. It reminded me of a Paulliac. A little lead in the pencil, earthy and a real sense of the terrior. I have a vertical from 1996-2002 (no longer the 1997 now) and will be interested to see if these charactaristics are consistant. I hope so. Blind I suspect many would be in the old world with this. Bordeaux or maybe Spain - Sassicia comes to mind... Actually it doesn't require the comparisons. It stands up tall all by itself.

7/18/2012 - pekingunther wrote:

This is a Californian Cab for Burgundy lovers. If that sounds contradictory, you have to try the wine to understand. It has such a clean fresh palatte. The fruit is pure and the mouthfeel silken. Plenty of nice ripe red berruies here. A real class act.

7/7/2012 - pekingunther Likes this wine:

Weighing in at a WHOPPING 12.5% alcohol level :-), this wine shows us how good Australian wines were/could be, without the big fruit and high alcohol readings. This was the first Shiraz to win the "best of label" at the Royal Adelaide Wine Show... now Shiraz is seen as one of Australia's best grapes. The wine still had legs, but not a lot more life in teh bottle. Well structured and elegant. It was a little dusty/dry on the palette due to age, but it oozed class. Very very enjoyable. Wish I had just 1 more, but don't we always.

6/11/2012 - pekingunther wrote:

WOW. What a beautifully balanced fresh, lively glass of wine. This is just fantastic out of the bottle. Lots of fruit, but not Jammy at all. Blackcurrant, blackberry, so many nuances. But it's the impact of the mouthfeel that gets you. Satin rather than silk, very full and very well balanced. There is just enough tannic backbone to suggest it will continue to age well. But if there was one word to describe the wine, it would be FUN. It is a fun, enjoyable, pleasant, refreshing wine. Just great. Hats off to Dehlinger.

5/12/2012 - pekingunther wrote:

Two 95 pointers in one night. A rarity. Out of magnum, this wine requires a good 2 to 3 hour decant in order to do it justice. Simply put, the quality of the wine IS without doubt a great sign of respect to their father. There is love and reverence in all it's glory. And it will continue to be that for another 30 - 50 years.

5/12/2012 - pekingunther wrote:

I still say there is no such thing as a perfect bottle, but the balance in this wine shows no flaws. It definitely requires decanting to achieve it's best. Straight out of the bottle, it is just a veneer of the wine it is. Thin would be the best description. Chill to about 10-11 degrees and put it in a broad decanter in a shallow ice bath. That allows it to circulate as the base cools and the surface reacts to the air. After about 45 minutes, you will experience an incredible wine. Rich but not too much so, softer flavours, no biting tanin and showing white peach and pear with some orange, not silk but satin in texture. Not a WOW but a wine that is immediately thought provoking. And if you have the patience, a wine that will be great over at least a decade.

5/6/2012 - pekingunther wrote:

Score is based on the simple joy of the flavour of the wine out of the bottle. There are not a lot of nuances to this wine, it is fairly one dimensional, but it is enjoyable. A good wine to bring out for a dinner with some friends, it won't be a centeriece, but a very good accompaniment to the evening. Plenty of frui, lots of blackberry and a little chocolate, even palette through teh mouth and medium finish.