April 3, 2024 - Opened a bottle last night and drank great. Beautiful aged Bordeaux noses with a good amount of fruit. Drank well over two hours and was only improving with time.
February 3, 2024 - Another killer bottle. 12.5 ABV. Gorgeous, complex aromas of mature but still vibrant plum fruit laced with cigar smoke, tobacco leaf, bell pepper and wet cedar. Rich, seamless palate goes on and on. Still in peak drinking window.
April 1, 2023 - Heater week; 3/26/2023-4/3/2023 (Chicago, IL): Absolutely awesome old school Napa cabernet, with very much a ripe-vintage old world sensibility to it. The fruit is more Napa though, with its generosity and breadth. Mostly black fruit and pencil shavings with balanced sweetness on the palate. Leathery tannins, a fair bit of acidity. Very much balanced, with just the right amount of pyrazines. Outstanding drinking now, but good bottles of this (like tonight's) should just be reaching maturity now.
February 18, 2023 - this bottle aged gracefully, soft, smooth, elegant and balanced but still vibrant. Have one more so looking forward to retrying in a couple of years.
August 5, 2022 - decanted off sediment and acid is a bit high. 30 minutes in, it’s beautiful, vibrant California fruit, tertiary just coming in. Perfect acid and tannin, very nice.
March 27, 2022 - Beautifully mature while still rich, fresh and vibrant. Typical Forman tobacco, ashy and tar notes with lots of bell pepper intrigue. Fruit is a nice mix of plush and dried plums. Should hold at this level for 5-10 years, and drink beyond that.
January 20, 2022 - opened without great expectations, but I was pleasantly surprised - dark red with brick rim - aromatic nose of dried red and white flowers and spices - full round mouth of perfectly balanced fruit,acid and tannins - long 30 second finish - a truly elegant wine that has matured beautifully after 35 years - easily can hold its own against many equivalently aged Bordeaux wines
July 3, 2021 - Slight seepage coming through the foil and a soaked cork, which fortunately came out in one piece with some coaxing from an ah-so. Funky nose at first but blowing off to reveal leather, tea bags and some faded red fruit. On the palate this is very similar, very restrained and almost veering towards minerality but unfortunately with a bit of sweaty sock and Sherry flavours mixed in, no doubt from the less than ideal bottle condition. One of the better 1987s I’ve had but YMMV.
March 26, 2021 - Cassis, dark fruit, graphite, tobacco and leather. Palate is round and structured. More Bordeaux than Napa for sure. Drinking beautifully.
June 28, 2020 - In vertical. Black plum, tobacco, green pepper. Rick said it sometimes comes across as volatile, which faintly comes across on the finish. Otherwise good+ balance.