July 18, 2020 - From magnum. Opened beautifully, but only after 3-4 hours.
August 6, 2018 - Opened and slow-oxed for 6 hours. The notes were taken over about 3 hours of drinking.
Remarkable vibrant ruby-red colour with some translucent brick at the rim. The colour became a bit cloudy at some stage but cleared up again later.
Initially some funky and pruny aromas. They blew of quickly to make way for some lovely black fruit and sour cherry evolving with hints of leather, dark chocolate and some tea leaves. Very smooth and silky on the palate with nicely resolved tannins resulting in a dusty mouthfeel. Still balanced and fresh with some sweetness of fruit and a very long finish that remains nicely balanced and slightly drying.
Beautifully aged and with a lot of that typical aged Brunello refinement and complexity. Probably still a fair bit of life left but not expected to further improve.
Just a shame I had only one bottle of this wine/vintage.....
August 15, 2016 - This is a day 2 note from a wine opened at dinner last night with that noted CT scribe, Outplaying.
Color is still a murky purple at the core, lightening out to translucent ruby on the rim. I didn't get this last night (although Jeff did mention it), but there is a noticeable pruniness to the fruit tonight - perhaps the heat of the vintage coming to the fore.
Ripe black fruits on the palate, decent persistence and adequate acidity - not bad, but definitely a wine that was better on day 1. I would say this is fully mature at this time.
August 15, 2016 - Hirtzberger Hochrain (Sovana Bistro, Kennett Square, PA): Initially I thought the nose showed a pruney, stewed note but that went away with time. Dried fruits and some leathery, earthy notes. A nice, dry finish. Pretty solid.
January 13, 2015 - Decanted off the sediment and poured back into the bottle to take to a local BYOB. This showed well with dried fruit leaning towards the red spectrum and dried mushroom initially. Tannins are resolved and the wine has good acidity. As the wine opened, more fruit emerged but this remained elegant throughout the meal and paired well with food.
December 5, 2014 - Exceptional.
November 22, 2010 - An Exceptional wine from an exceptional vintage. I let it breath for 2 hours. Great depth and a very lengthy finish. They don't get much better than this.
December 11, 2005 - Very nice BdM, certainly worth the $53 I paid in '01 or '02.