January 21, 2023 - So I bought a cellar; 11/12/2022-12/31/2030: The cork on this bottle was fairly saturated, and I should have used a Durand, but only had an ah so where I opened it. Cork broke. But the wine inside was great. Still deep red in the glass with only slight bricking around the edges. Lots of red fruit on the nose, and no musty smell at all. On the palate, more red berries - cranberry, sour cherry, and a bit of leather. Certainly in a tertiary phase, but it tastes great, and I like this one better than the 1995 Georges de Latour Private Reserve that we had a few weeks ago. This one does not have the stewed fruit profile that that one did. This one has a 20 Second finish. Really enjoyable wine.
January 20, 2023 - Friday Night Brown Bagger (R&D's): Double blind. Aromas of clay, black fruit, dried plum and root beer. Soft tannin. Flavors of plum and black fruit abound. Long finish. Doesn't change much during the flight but becomes more amplified and forward. Balanced. So very fine. Guessed "old school" Napa. (J&J)
January 20, 2023 - Double decanted two hours before service. Dark red in color. Perfectly balanced wine with great red fruit showing. This wine shows no signs of decay at this point. It looks and drinks much younger than its 27 years of age.
December 31, 2022 - Another super 1995 Tapestry! This ‘95 Tapestry was one of the wines that lured me into wine in the late ‘90s and early 2000s. I’ve since located a handful of bottles at auction (now about 20 years after those original bottles were depleted). This bottle was a superb wine to enjoy with New Year’s Eve appetizers. Tannins mostly resolved and just a tender beam of acidity, but wow, what wonderful and special fruit that remains! Other than the calmer, silkier, less tannic nature of this wine, there’s precious little age-indicative or tertiary notes showing. None of the earthy/tobacco notes that sometimes attend an aged Bordeaux blend wine like this. Bravo BV!
July 16, 2022 - This bottle is in fantastic shape. Wine is still pretty youthful looking, garnet color, even a little purple at the core, just starting to brick at the rim. Up front the nose has graphite, cedar box, wood shavings, sweet pipe tobacco. Black cherries are the main fruit component. Menthol in the background.
In the mouth, acidity is medium, tannins are present but silky smooth wine quality. Surprisingly, the prominent flavor is of black cherries, blackberries, and only afterwards comes the graphite, tobacco, and cedar characters. Held up nicely on day two, with even more focused fruits in the mouth.
A lovely bottle that went spectacularly well with a Denver steak. There is no rush to drink, this bottle at least seems to be on a comfortable plateau and in no danger of the backslope for 5 years or more. Enjoy!
December 18, 2021 - Back in the late 90s I bought a case of this ‘95 Tapestry and I gradually drank through it until perhaps 2002-2003. It was an epiphany wine for me at the time - the beam of fruit and its balance was unforgettable. Recently I found a stray bottle at retail. I was prepared for the wine to be a shadow of its former self, perhaps even unrecognizable. But wow was I wrong - on day one the wine was a little firm, but surprisingly on day two the beam of fruit from 20 years ago revealed itself. Just as tasty as 20 years ago though very gratifying to know this beauty is still dancing!
October 6, 2021 - Very dark red color with a 6mm transition to clear edge. PNP, drank a couple glasses over 3 hours. It's been almost exactly a year since having a previous bottle of '95 up at the ranch. This bottle was from a different source. The experience was nearly a carbon copy though. I'm thoroughly impressed again. What a gorgeous nose; perfumed with sandalwood, leather, pencil, cassis, raspberry and hints of anise, gradually becoming really earthy a lovely pipe tobacco note. The palate starts out filled with pencil, tobacco, oak spice and minerals with dark fruits than slowly build to become more dynamic with this pure streak of cassis intertwined by dark berries. Further on still the palate has a scorched earth note and shows the same pipe tobacco notes as the nose. The palate is medium bodied, very suave and has fine grained tannins. Fantastic bottle.
October 11, 2020 - Dark garnet hue with a 3mm clear margin. PNP, split bottle over 2.5 hours. Brought this up to the ranch to have with my dad for probably our last fishing trip of the year. Boy was this a treat. I hadn't had a Tapestry with this much age on it before, and this sure showed that it can age and then some. This had a constantly evolving, complex nose that has forest floor and funk, fine tobacco, cigar wrapper, cassis, and hints of scorched earth. The spice profile adds in a high toned Christmas spice mix of cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg that is quite distinct. The palate is full bodied with a great wood influence, funk, very autumnal with notable graphite and cigar, fine tannins, cassis, black cherry and dark rapsberries; harmonious and long. This showed a ot depth and complexity and seemed like it was nowhere near the end either. It makes me want to seek out more of these with age. My dad was just giddy over this too. 93+ to 94pts.
December 20, 2019 - Past it's prime. There's a hint of dark fruit but the tannins and acidity are gone. 1.5 glasses over 2.5 hours is all I can take.
March 9, 2019 - This wine showed red currant, cherries, sweet tobacco; and with additional time, cedar, spice, licorice, and a slight note of mint. The tannins are fully resolved, but it maintains nice weight and moderate acidity. The finish was 20+ seconds. It did not fade over the course of 2-3 hours.