December 8, 2019 - Light garnet in color. Notes of leather, dried cherry, tobacco and chocolate. Dry, medium acidity, light tannins, med body. Shocked at how well this was still drinking. Still nice acidity, but still some fruit showing. Lots of those notes you expect from an older wine. Started to fall off after an hour. But for a 31 year old wine it was amazing.
May 19, 2018 - Beautiful nose with eucalyptus for days integrated with mature plum fruit. Palate has resolved tannin with good fresh acidity and lighter fruit. Lingering finish with more of that eucryaluptus.
May 19, 2018 - Wines Tasted at HDH Auction (Spiaggia - Chicago IL): Small glass, brief note. Wonderful combination of fully mature black fruit, mint and eucalyptus with overall good balance and length. Finish is a bit firm. Drinking well now, best to drink up soon.
May 19, 2018 - HDH auction at Spiaggia; 5/17/2018-5/19/2018 (Chicago, IL): The nose is a touch funky, but it does blow off with a little bit of swirling. There's intense green eucalyptus notes on both the nose and palate here. The palate is fully resolved; honestly, this has likely seen better days, and it probably nearing the end of its life. But there's good fruit still, and a nice touch of earthiness.
December 13, 2016 - How does one rate a 28 year old wine? On the same absolute scale as younger ones? Or do we have a different standard? My rating is a compromise at best. This bottle showed stunningly perfect right now. Bright cherry fruit, soft acidity, a little spice, almost no tannins left, beautiful fragrant nose, a quite feminine character. Medium body. The wow factor was very high. Perfectly stored all these years.
January 19, 2004 - This finished 2nd in the overall voting for WOTN at Otis' Cellar Diminishment Party and actually got the most 1st place votes. I did not like it as much as some. My main beef was that most of the fruit had faded. It had a delicious earthiness though and very smooth tannins. Not much in the way of secondary flavors that I could detect. I think it was a few years past its prime but still very good. 90-91.