January 24, 2024 - From my late father’s s is a very pleasant surprise. Still plenty of deep fruit, and a velvety mouthfeel that picks up some finishing grip. Seems like there’s still some runway on this, and it strikes a balance between sunshiny ripe and structured. I am pleased to have more bottles to work through, and will look to spread them out over the next five years or so.
October 28, 2023 - PNP. Still very dark with only a slight brown tinge at the edge. The nose initially was closed but the first sip was full of fruit. Blackcurrant and blackberry. Good balance, and great length. Still has some hard tannins. After 90 mins in a glass, the nose was still restrained, but blackberry aromas. The tannins had softened and now the dominant fruit was sweet cherries. A very good wine, but so different to a Cote Rotie of the same bottle age.
August 15, 2023 - Ripe and jammy upon opening but not OTT. Gave it a half hr in small decanter to open up and the aromatics became a lot more lean and interesting with a lot more structure and layering evident. This kept improving with air. A nice effort that should continue to show well for the next few years.
March 1, 2023 - First Wednesday Wine Club (Napoli in Bocca, Haberfield): "Served blind
Corked. FLAW"
December 9, 2021 - Fragrant nose of cracked pepper and blackberries. Medium to full weight. Savory finish. Imagine a mid tier Cote-Rotie but then eliminate any microbial induced earthiness or cured blood notes and keep only the fruit and the oak, and this is what I believe you would have. Pleasant but not striking in any way.
P.S. Unfortunately, fell apart on the second day, with the acids becoming disjointed.
November 15, 2021 - Black cherries jam, animal, loads of cherries, almost too much, vanilla... Fresh red fruit and ripe red cherries, loads of integrated tannin, nice balance.
June 3, 2021 - Nose: 90-91; Palate: 90-91
My #4, Group's #1; Tasted blind.
April 8, 2021 - This is maturing in a much better way then anticipated. Drinking very well and looks like it will continue to do so for a while.
July 31, 2020 - Very good cork; dark colour; surprisingly youthful; dark sweet fruit,spice, well-resolved tannins; good soft texture; lots of life yet
May 11, 2020 - Bottle from long term storage.
First taste for more than a decade.
Still a very solid wine after all these years.
Decanted and left for an hour, good nose, nice fruit, very enjoyable sup if not particularly deep & meaningful.
Faded a bit 24 hours post decanting but still more than passable.
Terrific when considering it was a $25 wine from 2002!