Community Tasting Note

WineBurrowingWombat Likes this wine:

Sunday, July 5, 2020 - Nose: [55°] Sweet, ripe red fruits, wet forest floor, fresh undergrowth and damp oak. [58°] Spiced tree bark, the forest floor becomes more vibrant with grass, moss and brush. [64°] Earth becomes deep and dark with just a bit of vanilla notes emerging making the earth seem smooth and creamy.

Palate: [60°] A blend of rich, black earth with red and blue fruits as a backdrop, lots of bitter tannin like spiced oak, branches, heavily steeped tea. A bit of tobacco leaves and a trace of bitter river rocks linger on the finish. There also seems to be a bit of incense (before being burned though).

Attributes: Really dark ruby. Dry with medium-plus amounts of strong, chewy tannin. Medium to medium-plus body with medium-plus acidity. Good finish of at least 20-22 seconds.

Thoughts: The fruit is there but is shy compared to the wall of oak that this is fronting at the moment. The main focus seems to be on the earth and tannin right now. Intense oak and minerals but that seems to be it. If this is going to need time, it's going to need a lot of it. There's nothing really here to indicate what goods it will have, it will have a long life for sure as the structure suggests, but what future it will bring.. I can't really tell. The only thing I do enjoy is the intense attack on the palate with what it does have (most likely due to its youth). It's currently like a wall of oak and I can't see what's behind it. Another 4-5 years of bottle age should help this a lot.

After the 3.5 hour mark, it softens drastically and the oak dam begins to break as the dark fruits begin to escape through the oaky cracks. Soft, dark red and blue fruits. Rich, smooth earthiness with spiced oak. The youthful intensity calms down and dramatically smooths out. Seems to lean more towards the smooth and rich side but specializes on being soft. My apologies if I seemed kinda rough during the first few hours.. but that's because it was being rough with me. 95-96 (being kinda generous I think with the 96 but that might just be preference)

Other notes: Bordeaux glass. Slow-ox'ed in bottle for the duration of consumption over 4 hours. Recommend a healthy decant of at least 3 hours if you enjoy this now. If you don't have time to decant, try enjoying it with protein like a ribeye or a NY strip, that'll help take the bite off of this oak-ish brute.. the protein might help take on the wave of tannin it has hopefully reveal some goods.

Post a Comment / View WineBurrowingWombat's profile
3 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue (3,198 views)