1/5/2024 - daniei wrote:

Horribly corked or maderized. Very sad … perfect condition of bottle and cork but the immediately recognizable sickly sweet scent shattered any optimism!

11/9/2023 - daniei Likes this wine:

Youthful, lovely floral and granite nose. Salty at first, opening up into cocoa and raspberry decadence.

9/15/2023 - daniei wrote:

Corked or cooked… no tension and madiera on nose. Disappointed … 1st of 6 auction bottles.

9/10/2023 - daniei Likes this wine:

Beautiful big nose on opening - spicy and herbal. Taste was very left bank… pauillac Pichon Barony. Savory with lovely structure. Then over time turned fabulously vampiric. Blood blood blood. Not for the faint of heart! Fabulous Bordeaux at a good evolution.

12/25/2021 - daniei wrote:

Real shame - this is my favorite wine of late. Slight sweet cork/maderized nose. Certainly drinkable and our company enjoyed it but not a representation of other current spectacular bottles.

12/25/2021 - daniei wrote:

Magnum - bottle and cork in good condition. Disappointed with this bottle as we have very much enjoyed the 1991 Napa (not Bonny’s) in regular format.
When cork pulled, noticed slight sweet smell of corked/madierized. It never left the nose despite 2-3 hours of decanting. Strong taste of green pepper and spicy notes. Certainly drinkable but a bit off.

8/18/2021 - daniei wrote:

Decanted 45 minutes. Opened up nicely. Vibrant and fruit forward with fabulous structure and good length. Everything you would want from a relatively young Barolo.

6/18/2021 - daniei wrote:

: ( bottle very high shoulder, dry cork crumbled; sweet/ madierized nose and no fruit to taste. Corked or madierized.

6/29/2012 - daniei wrote:

A beautiful bottle of wine

9/17/2011 - daniei wrote:

Very hard to pin this wine down. Not Fruity on the nose, more perfumy. Actually it is more like a child's paint box or crayon box (not at all unpleasent or chemically, just different). Taste is very interesting: dense, and fabulous under the and around the tongue. It's like it is trying to be vegetal, but the perfumy influence prevents it. Probably needed more time to open because it is tight (we did give it 90 minutes, but needs more).

6/18/2011 - daniei wrote:

This was very enjoyable. Bottle was top shoulder, in fairly good condition.
Decanted for 45 minutes which allowed the little bit of mustiness to clear. Rounded, delicate, and smooth with adequate fruits still nicely present... Recommend drinking now.

6/6/2011 - daniei wrote:

The Godfather's description below is a very accurate description of this wine.

4/30/2011 - daniei wrote:

Beautiful, intensely packed wine. Dried out cork was a real bitch to deal with & crumbled. Lovely bouquet right away (marzipan (!), cloves, blueberries(?)). Strong tannins, and very concentrated ...needed opening longer, but complemented the t-bone magnificintly. Wonderful and very lengthy barolo-esque fennelly finish.

6/18/2010 - daniei wrote:

Strong wine, drinking perectly right now.

1/5/2010 - daniei wrote:

Stellar wine.
Awful cork, mouldy and soaked through but wine was still base neck. Nose was clean and inviting once the cork finally came out.Beautiful brick colour. 15 minutes decanting and then tasted...so soft and smooth, no harshness; beautiful balance of fruitiness and completely integrated tannins. No staleness or overbearing alcohol that sometimes creeps into wines of this age.
Constant for the 90 minutes we took to finish it.

12/28/2009 - daniei wrote:

Worst cork I have ever experiened...very mouldy and immediately crumbly. wine was low shoulder and so we were very pessimistic.Nose still revealed fruitiness, but nothing striking. After 1/2 hour decant, tasted, and was very surprised. Smooth, soft fruits, no old alcoholy hints at all, just a nicely balanced aged bordeau. Looking forward to our last bottle, but need to find a few more impliments to open it!

12/27/2009 - daniei wrote:

Not the length and depth of the spectacular1999, but still a wonderful barbera. Should still last a long while.

12/2/2009 - daniei wrote:

exceptional ...had no idea barbara's could be this good.Big and bold and very colourful with a long baroloesque finish. This wine will still last a long while.

11/30/2009 - daniei wrote:

This bottle was peaking. Cork in much better shape than the last one I opened, and wine at the base neck. Not a strong immediate bouquet, let it sit for an hour and then it really came together. so smooth, and gentle but lovely structure... very lively fruits...

11/21/2009 - daniei wrote:

half-bottle ....did not smell corked, but tasted almost sickly sweet with no fruits and overwhelming alcohol.

11/14/2009 - daniei wrote:

This was an unctuous bottle of wine, the best white that Jill has ever had (granted - not saying much - she really is a red girl). It had great complexity and richness, and food (a fairly boldly flavoured fish dinner) really brought the wine's flavours into light...
Lovely deep golden hue, a full floral nose, and a strong lingering finish. No hint of any oakyness, although I understand it is kept in oak barrels for a time. More minerally.

10/24/2009 - daniei wrote:

Opened, and decanted for an hour. Unlike other reviews, we did not discover much of a nose on this. Wonderful classic barolo taste though, nice and full and continued to loosen up nicely through the meal (lamb). Beautiful fruits, and balanced, big, covering the palate, and wonderful long-lasting finish.

10/1/2009 - daniei wrote:

Wine struggles to muster enough fruit at this stage of its life. Still tannic, not completely past its prime, quite drinkable but a little bit dull. Does not compare to some of the stronger wines of this vintage.

8/28/2009 - daniei wrote:

This wine is amazing. There is such a density of fruits. We tasted within 20 minutes of decanting, and the firmness of the tannins combined with the jam-packed fruitiness made for such richness. Nose is clean and sweet, slight caramel and chocolate. The taste was simply a firehose of intensity..huge. We really could have let it open for longer in order for it to smooth out more , but I do believe that it was more than ideal in less than an hour (with a red meat meal).

7/29/2009 - daniei wrote:

We sucked this wine down. Margauxguy's description was very accurate for us. Not a stellar nose to the wine: a bit subdued. But the taste exploded....wonderfully balanced and packed with fruit...a very lengthy finish. Damn, Jill and I went through this bottle very quickly...was tempted to crack open another, but I think I will save them for special occasions!

7/3/2009 - daniei wrote:

Mint, cocoa, and fennel pollen on the nose. Wine then exploded on the palate, big and bold. It was accessible from the beginning despite being very tannic, and it was fairly constant despite drinking for two hours. We opened it before dinner , and Jill tasted it before decanting...and then could not leave it alone despite her prosecco aperitif on order, and food yet to arrive. It will last a long time, but there is no need to wait.

6/26/2009 - daniei wrote:

As the late (as of yesterday) Michael Jackson would say, don't stop till you get enough! Well I have a couple more in the cellar and was very tempted to open them up after this bottle. It simply tasted like MORE. inviting fruity nose, and a very big wine.... dill (licorice), molasses, nutmeg, with a gloriously long finish. Still a long long life ahead of it, but a lovely age to it, and right now magical. We enjoyed with lamb chops, and only decanted for 20 minutes.

6/19/2009 - daniei wrote:

This was a beautiful bottle of wine. Did not decant, just poured. It was big and vibrant, but balanced...coming of age quite perfectly.

6/4/2009 - daniei wrote:

Well, Wrighty was right...
We opened the bottle, cork in good shape, and bouquet not powerful but optimistically fruity.
Decanted for 1/2 an hour and tasted with our steak dinner, and we were not at all pleased...too much astringency, confused, difficult to identify...(past its prime?). Jill began eyeing it for her vinegar barrel! And so I bolted, and ridiculously enough, I switched to a 2007 Chateau Neuf (Cuvee Herve) in search of full frontal fruit!. But after being hit over the head after a glass of the grenache, and after an hour of this wine settling in the carafe, we went back to it (thank god), and we actually really enjoyed it: the astringency was resolved, tannins were recognizable and mellowed (it found some structure) and it actually balanced out.
So...give this wine some time to settle and you should be in good shape. It is certainly not the typical evolution. BTW, I have no idea about its longevity...might as well enjoy now!

5/31/2009 - daniei wrote:

Big wine weekend - an '82 Giacomo Conterno Barolo on Friday for our anniversary (fabulous), and then this wonderful Barolo on Sunday. Opened easily: very little penetration in the cork, and immediate Christmas (mulled cider), baking (cookie dough), toasted marshmallow aromas. We had a brief sample after an hour of decanting: firm structure, but still quite tannic, and in fine Italian form, was begging for the food accompaniment. After 2 1/2 hours poured with braised lamb shank stew ... and it was heavenly. Loads of structure, very big, tannins balancing the rich meat perfectly. Hard to put the glass down. A superb lengthy finish on this wine (experienced similar with the '01).

5/10/2009 - daniei wrote:

Well, I was inspired to try this bottle after having been blown away by the spectacular 1970 last week, but I toned down my expectations. I was concerned that this (and the other 5 in my cellar) was past its prime based on prior reviews. This bottle was reasonably high in the neck. The cork was slightly problematic and crumbled a bit. Seepage was to about 1/4 inch of the top of the cork. But the bouquet was immediately noticeable, flowery, not powerful but encouraging. We decanted for about 30 minutes. Beautiful deep brick color, not too much sediment. The wine was lovely: caramel and dried fruits that never faded throughout, structure was good - no hint of flatness.