November 26, 2013 - most of the bottles in this purchase group were corked to the point where even I, a non-sensitive, couldn't even smell it without retching.
February 26, 2012 - Nice. Much better than last bottle. No decant. Complex flavors. I wouldn't wait much longer on this.
Very good to excellent.
January 21, 2012 - early impressions: nice nose, floral, wild berries. J finds it restrained. really old world.
decanted but started drinking after 15 minutes. soft, not overly fruity. J says puckerish.
we have decided not to try too hard with the specific flavors because we are not very good at it. J thinks we need a class. O thinks J likes classes.
an hour later: ate with pasta con sarde, J thought still puckerish. O thought fruit came out a bit more. became a little heavier, maybe brooding.
O says 88, J says 84 (using CT guidelines without grade inflation). Averages to 86. so I guess very good.
March 1, 2011 - Very very nice QPR - deep, complex, great with food or on its own. No need to decant for long. Was just as good on second day (I used inert gas in bottle overnight).
January 10, 2010 - 6 hour decant, plenty worried due to the musty cork, wet nearly 3/4 of the say up. Inside the wine was lightly bricked and translucent. The nose had no trace of TCA, similarly with the juice. Overall, this was rather one-dimensional redfruit, with noticeable, but controllable tannins on the hit mostly. The Sangiovese was discernible, but I prefer more earth. GOOD, perhaps its in a dumb phase. Hope so, still have 3 bottles. WAIT
November 16, 2009 - Bottle Flawed: No fruit, only heat and alcohol on the finish. Cork was discolored all the way through. Disappointing as I was looking forward to having this with my meat sauce.
June 22, 2008 - This bottle had more earthy notes than previous ones.
March 8, 2008 - Consistent with earlier note.
February 8, 2008 - Brought this to a family dinner as we were having ziti and it really shined. Less acidity than most Chiantis, and a little richer and fuller due to the cab and merlot blended in. My father in law and brother in law (who hardly drinks wine) are splitting a case after hearing the price. 89+
February 1, 2008 - Very dark for a Sangiovese based wine, but does not have the lushness or full body one might guess from that, instead being light to medium body with somewhat restrained fruit. Nicely balanced with good, but not overt, acidity to go with flavors of cherry and currants. Very little in the way of earth or leather that you might expect. A very nice wine for the <$13 price I paid, but not a wine that grabs attention.