Community Tasting Note

Triforwine Likes this wine:

Saturday, June 20, 2020 - This is one of two bottles in my cellar that came from my father's cellar. The wine has been stored very well. There are several more in his cellar. Opened for Father's day in his honor but in his absence. Bottle in perfect condition with mid-neck fill. Cork removed with Durand and with about 1/3 of it moist but completely intact. Can still read most of the info on the cork. Quite a lot of sediment in this bottle. Decanted with filter into caraffe and a glass poured immediately. First off, color very nice, surprisingly youthful looking ruby/garnet with a dark cherry core color and just a hint of amber/orange at the rim. Medium bodied appearance and flavor. Initial overpowering nose with must, slightly metallic and funk but clearly not flawed. This blew off over about an hour. The wine was drunk from approximately 2-4 hours after decant with some heavy mix of asian food which included some mushrooms and pasta and some heavier fish elements with which it paired very nicely. Once the funk blew off, this was a lovely old wine, likely drinking at peak considering the vintage. I recall drinking this about 3 years ago (with my dad and others all of whom found it excellent then) and this bottle was quite similar. The mouthfeel is medium bodied and the palate is one of mainly secondary and tertiary flavors with still some mild funkiness but the pleasant kind, then definitely smoke, truffle, mushroom dominate. There is just enough fruit in the background to balance things, mostly dried red fruit profile as opposed to the 1986 which we drank about a year or so ago which seemed more blue fruit laden. Clearly not the stellar wine that the 1990 is (I've never tried the famous 1989) but really a great 32 year old wine with perfect provenance in what i believe the experts call a B+ vintage. The finish is lovely with just enough grip though the tannins seem fully resolved the fruit and the earthier flavors lingering for a good 15-20 seconds so I think this wine will be good for another 5-10 years but there seems to be no reason to wait as this seems fully mature, and likely nearing the end of its drinking window given the relatively small amount of residual fruit. I think it's very important to let this one breath for at least an hour unless you just adore that funk, it's much more fun to drink when that blows off. I'm guessing this wine is relatively low in alcohol percentage at this point which is good because you can enjoy more of it before the senses become dulled. You really have to love subtlety to get this wine but I do. 91

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