November 26, 2023 - a spectacular effort in this beautifully evolved bottle
initial coffee dark aged fruit evolved in 30 minutes to an integrated lengthy elegance
went well with all the dishes at mfk but especially with the roasted snapper
July 9, 2022 - Deep dark red, very dark core.
Intense dark berry with a rich spicy herbaceous note.
Strong briary cassis flavours, blueberry and sherbet, intense but well balanced, seems incredibly young, red and black berries, ink and tar spice, licorice, charcoal, a little ferrous character. Slippery smooth, excellent acidity, fine but gripping tannins. Needs a decade to open up properly. Awesome.
June 24, 2022 - WOTN 🏆 Wine of the Night.. even in exalted company such as Unico Especial and the Ygay.. beautiful aged Valbuena, with such precision, complexity and it kept evolving through the night too.
Beautiful candied cherry nose, with intoxicating natural sweetness and quite remarkable.
Powerful with super fine tannins, Oak and vanilla roundness and finish.
Thanks to @Joe Yee Wong for storing this so carefully over so many years, and letting us 5 share it together on the night of Spanish giant wines, at Pinchos in KL.
Kuala Lumpur City Centre, Malaysia - 24 Jun 2022
January 30, 2022 - Excellent!!! I won't add to the copious notes already on the site that adequately describe the flavours of this wine. Slight tannic dryness and oak taste at the back of the palate. Drinking well...can age for much longer. Shows Great balance and hides it's 14.5% alcohol well.
Wish I had more.
January 1, 2022 - Classic, classic Ribera! Possibly the best I have ever had. Really needs a good decant, minimum 4 hours. This will go on for another 10+years. Lovely stuff!
December 25, 2021 - Opened for Christmas Day dinner. Nose was good. But so tight. Never opened up fully even after decanting for 5 hrs. Felt either a bit disappointing that it just doesn’t have the stuff or that it really needs more time. A lot more time.
October 30, 2021 - another treat from uncle victor’s stash... and what a treat it was. big, dark and beautiful. nose of dark berry fruit intertwined with earthy, woody, floral and smoky aromas. palate was balanced and nuanced with good fruit up front and some tasty mineral and herbal flavours on the back end with structure and tannin on the long finish. highly recommended. (tasted blind alongside an 06 tua rita giusto di notri). 94+
October 24, 2021 - PNP at Clos Madrid
Balanced beautiful albeit slightly tannic
Cherry, blackberry and guava.
Hour 2 it opened up and some of the tannic bite diminished
May 9, 2021 - Very dark crimson color; full bodied. Poured first glass through Venturi, and decanted the rest. Blackberry, black cherry, violets and a hint of spice. Luscious; tannins seem reasonably integrated to me. Fine with cheese, but a mistake to pair it with chimchurri marinaded steak: too much spice in the food, which obscured the wine. Chocolates at dessert redeemed the pairings.
January 8, 2021 - Perfect - still some fruit but very integrated with tannins.