October 4, 2011 - after a little while, it seemed a bit corky
September 18, 2011 - still going strong. Sour cherries with a zippy finish.
October 14, 2010 - This wine has lots of life ahead of it. Opened this bottle a week ago, immediately poured into a 375ml -recorked and put in the fridge... my wife opened the half 2 days ago, tonite I drank the last glass and it was drinking very well, showing no age, and it has become more round, but still showing some nice sangio notes.
May 10, 2009 - nice, but seems a bit flabby. Still cant help comparing it to the 2001, where the sangio is just sharper, more delineated and amped up.
November 4, 2008 - Ooo laa laa , tuscany here we come! A surprisingly dark and brooding garnet with a light thin rim of brick, Lots of smoky cherries, baking chocolate, flowers, salami. On the Palate initial flavors are iron, sour cherry, and meats that give way to very high italian acid that seems to be the delivery device for a ton of savor.....the finish is loaded with dried cherries, dusty tannin and baking chocolate. short-med finish, med + acid, med + tannin, med concentration
This wine seemed much sweeter, almost super tuscan like initially, but has moved firmly to pure sangiovese with 2 hrs open. I really felt that this is cut with something when i first opened it and im not sure what this region does, so its all a guess. The acidity was also less prevalent on the palate right out of the bottle.
July 31, 2008 - its hard for me not to compare this to the 2001, to which this seems to be more acidic and tart. I remember that I liked the 2001 when I first bought it, but it wasn't until years later that it really started to show so well, and I did buy more. Bought a case of the 2004 and will wait awhile to see where its going. This first bottle was not handled to show its best as in I did not have time to wait (popped and poured the first glass - then left corked on the counter for 4 days) its still alive but a bit too much acid for me.
BOY do I owe this wine an appology! I first openeing this bottle on Sunday nite, drank a short glass with my wife. Left the bottle out, corked on the kitchen counter in Sag Harbor (it is summer and kinda hot) now its Thursday and I poured us glasses to have with Ortolano, and wrote the note above based on my impressions from when I first popped it, and from when I first started to drink it tonite... but at the end of my pasta, teh wine really changed its profile ALOT, the sangio fruit is very evident and could not be mistaken for anything else (there is that touch of leather and sour cherry) but all of the acidicness is gone - its drinking beautifully!
Who wouldda thunk that after 4 days it still needed time to open up! add 2 more points to this wine 89.... going to put the remaining 11 away for a few years, but I really wanted to share my experience tonite as I was very pleasantly surprised.
March 5, 2008 - Alot of funky action on the nose...almost reminded me of trash mixed with dark fruits....on the palate this was a very nice pleasant drinker...smooth fruity...not over the top...86+ , higher if it wasnt for the nose.
March 1, 2008 - Nice flavor and structure. Not spectacular but I would buy it again.
July 5, 2007 - Modest nose of red and black berries, little else, nose and taste tending toward international style for this blend of Cab and Sangio. Mostly Sangio flavor but cab structure. A tad short on the finish, and simple, and unlikely to pick up much with age since it has artificial closer. Bad purchase at $17 because of its simplicity, but nothing really wrong with it.
June 28, 2007 - Strong tulip on the front plate at first, then it opened up to a nice balanced Italian taste, but a bit thin. Round, but not full. Finish is weak.
Came back to this one after sitting under gas for a week - was fading, but showed much greater depth than the prior bottle. May be one to sit for a few more years.