March 16, 2024 - Nice wine in the luncheon claret category.
January 29, 2024 - A far cry from New World merlot, and a master class in the grape’s possibilities. I really like Bordeaux at 10-15 years, especially the off vintages, but this one proved to be just a baby. The dark purple color showed little oxidation and not much of an age ring around the edge of the pour, with stout legs as well, belying a big wine coming.
This is definitely one for those of us who prefer funky, earth-driven merlot. The first aromas out of the glass are startling - mushroomy funk, truffles, smoke, tobacco snuff. Heady stuff. Even with a three-hour decant this was slow to open up, the fruit is dark, black currants and blackberries of intense concentration hide behind the smoke and earth, peeking out when coaxed.
On the palate, the rich fruit is kept honest by firm but silky tannins and an unctuous body evoking the tar of fine tobacco, with the darkest of cocoas and vanilla with a hefty clutch of spice. The finish is chewy and resinous keeping tobacco in front of mind, and goes on and on.
Roast leg of lamb with veal glaze, maitake mushrooms, and dumplings. Perfect pairing. I would have appreciated more balance between the fruit and the smoky, tobacco and earth funk, and came away feeling like this will likely improve further for another ten years. A tremendous achievement in a difficult year. It’s delicious now but I’d say better to hold another 5-10 years.
September 16, 2023 - Clear deep garnet; clean medium nose of balsamic, green pepper, stewed blackberries, dates and bruised fruit; dry; high acidity; high tannins; high alcohol; medium body; medium plus flavour intensity; palate is tarter with addition of cocoa; medium plus to long finish; very disappointing; a bit of a hot mess on the palate - it hasn’t graduated into cohesive elegance yet; first of four bottles - I’ll save the others for a few more years and hope they come together
December 26, 2022 - Deep garnet in the glass. Nose is dominated by already developed fruit, but there is some fresh plum and blackcurrant in there as well. Dried tobacco, charred cedar, pencil shavings also come out strong on this. Nose is nice, but the palate is quite boring, very one-dimensional without enough depth to make it a stand-out edition.
July 8, 2022 - 10 years old and Barley any color on the rim..ripe black fruits, secondary notes of violet , savory sanguine, earth hints of baking spice in the background
Tannin is soft at a medium still plenty of acidity
May 6, 2022 - A clear deep ruby color.
The nose has plum, blueberry and slight herbal aromas.
This has structured tannins with balanced acidity.
Aired in bottle for two hours and had it over a 2 hour meal. Whilst the tannins mellowed with time, I found it less complex than I had imagined. Makes me wonder if it needed even more time.
It went really well with spicy dishes.
March 8, 2022 - Bordeaux 2012 - 10 Years On - 33 Reds: All wines tasted blind. Not decanted. A few observations: 1) 2012 is a good quality vintage without the depth/length of great vintages. Still, one of the better “off-vintages”. 2) Many but not all wines are drinking well today. They are generally open, round and fleshed out. 3) Further cellaring is advised as there are hardly any tertiary aromas yet and that extra complexity will render the wines more interesting. The wines generally have the structure and fruit to age gracefully. 4) The level of ripeness/alcohol are not a concern (09, 10, 15, 18 have more problems in that area). 5) Left bank (avg. 92.2 pts) beats right bank (91.0) (group has right bank a notch ahead). The overall group avg. score is at a good 92.1, but unsurprisingly below past retrospectives of better vintages (00, 09, 10). 6) There are highlights on both sides: my best wines today were Ausone (96 pts), Mouton (96), Cheval (95) and Margaux (95).
TN: Medium expressive nose with a bit of intrusive oak, lots of minerality and not enough fruit to balance it out. On the palate, this shows better with fine red and blue berries, some herbal notes, lots of minerality but not a perfect balance as some fruit and sweetness is missing. Not overly complex and complete. Nevertheless, this is a good wine with a good structural frame. 91/92pts.
Decanting: A short decant should be sufficient.
Group rank: Shared 14th out of 33 reds
Group average score: 92.0
More information, vintage comparisons, top and worst 10 list, appellation rankings from the group in the story link.
March 6, 2022 - Flowers and black raspberries with chocolate on the nose and palate. Medium-bodied, firm and fresh, with a reserved character, you can drink it now, or wait a few years hoping for more softness to develop.
February 7, 2022 - Bordeaux 2012 10 years on tasting: A 2012 Bordeaux vintage horizontal hosted by a private collector. Main observations were: 1/ Left bank beats right bank thanks to Paulliac, St Estèphe and Margaux, 2/ (over-)extraction was a frequent issue, making this a vintage where winemaking decisions and skill mattered, 3/ as such, unsurprisingly, first growths and right bank equivalents clearly outperformed the pack, 4/ highlights were Ausone (97) followed by Cheval Blanc, Mouton, Pichon Lalande (all 96), 5/ the lowlight was an over-extracted Pape Clement (88). Complete ranking and additional observations included in the tasting story.
Tasting note:
Leather, earth, a bit of mocha, caramel and a pinch of vanilla. Ripe, red berry fruit of raspberry and maybe cherry. A nice and fruity palate with medium length finish.
February 6, 2022 - 2012 is a Bordeaux vintage described as one to to be taken seriously, and we were all grateful for @[1|1258030|SKT]'s sharing.
I got the pleasant mild mint mouthfeel and guessed Left bank!Perhaps that's the 9% Cab Sauv singing (humming!).. Enjoyable!
CNY gathering at my home (SKT, DQ, WMK, EC, KN, Mika & JY) this Year of the Tiger 2022. ???? v ???? theme ?? and the final score after we concluded 4 pairings.. was ???? 3 - ???? 1. It was a close match but a conclusive and very much fun gathering ?? ??