Cellared. Pop and pour, cork in good shape. Deep, dark, inky maroon red. Initial funk on nose, a few minutes to blow off. After that, dark fruit with a stemmy, vegetal note, concentrated but not cloying. On the palate, dark fruits, with cherries, cigar box and ending with blueberries and tobacco, on a medium short finish. I love how Mencia ages and although this is a little more concentrated and oaky than is typical, was still a decent bottle, with a couple of years left in it.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Robe bourgogne très foncé. Beau nez rond. Sur des arômes de boisé, olive noire et fruits noirs. Beaucoup corps, décanté 2h. Pourrait vieillir encore 2-3 ans. Attention au dépôt. Excellent vin, mais un peu trop boisé à mon goût.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Lovely, enticing nose. In a good place now. Medium-bodied, lively and refreshing, but flavorful, with plenty of ripe red fruit, the perfect accompaniment to puerco asado baked in a Romertopf clay pot.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
This bottle has aged well. Two most recent CT notes hit nail on head. Smooth and well-balanced with rich dark cherry notes. Still many years ahead for this wine.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
More approachable than the last bottle. Medium bodied, with a rich texture. Powerful perfumed nose. Vanilla oak and ripe fruit on the palate with a bright cherry finish. Good balance with vibrant acidity and well integrated tannins. Not a lot of secondary flavors at this point. Should continue to evolve for another 2-4 years.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Carracedo is one of the most reliably excellent Mencias made, and this 2007 is the oldest of 5 different vintages that we own. Opaque in the center of an inch pour with a lighter red outer ring. The nose is invitingly perfumed and fruity. The sip is smoothly textured and buoyed by ample acidity and tannin. The swallow coats the mouth and features a delicious boysenberry and black cherry fruit. Impressively walks a tightrope between being powerful and elegant. A wine that keeps you coming back for more that is so enjoyable both by itself and with most every food.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Quite tannic, even after eight hours. Not sure if it will improve. Pleasant nose, but not the kind of wine you drink by itself - at least not now.
48 hours later this is a completely different wine. Much more accessible. The oak is a bit much, but the cherry kirsch with anise flavor and velvety texture make this wine a pleasure to drink. Will try to wait at least two years before opening any more of these.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Consistently one of the best wines made from the Mencia grape, grown mostly in the northwest part of Spain above Portugal. Tasted for 6 days. Black to the edge with aromas of blueberry, boysenberry, and blackberry. Comes into the mouth with an upfront mix of fruit, drying tannin, and strong acidity. The swallow coats the throat and lasts for minutes. Overall, a powerful, concentrated, and ageworthy wine, that needs additional years of bottle age to round and integrate the acidity and tannin into a more caressing texture and delicious taste.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
I have tried a number of Mencias before, and found them all wanting; they were brutally acidic and/or tannic, as were the previous bottles of this wine that I had opened. However, this one was---surprise!----actually good, albeit more of a California-style-fruit-bomb than I would normally drink. It shows strong flavors of blueberry and blackberry, with a bit of toasty oak. The tannins and acidity are still firm, but nowhere near the biting, clawing grizzly bear that they were just a year ago. I wonder if the other bottles would have been good if I'd let them age this long.
Reminds me of a California Petite Sirah.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
This is a good wine but not my style. There were nice notes of blackberry but I found it had too much oak. The tannis were well balanced but the wine was trying to do too much. There was a fake artificial element to it.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
I last reviewed this wine about 1 1/2 years ago. At the time I stated that the wine would require years of additional aging as it was overwhelmed by tannins. Yesterday we decided to take a risk and try another one. It was quite Bretty upon opening so I poured it into a decanter and let it air out for 5 hours.
At that point, the Bretty aromas had largely dissipated, so we drank some. The wine is still massively tannic and oaky, and the tannins and oak flavors overwhelm the black fruits present. Acidity has dropped, and I don't think the wine retains sufficient acidity and fruit to catch up to the tannins and oak at any level of aging. I do not agree with the glowing reviews posted by others here; perhaps there was some variation in bottling lots, but from my experience, the wine is drinkable with a lengthy decant, but only just. It is unbalanced and was clumsily extracted. Not a repurchase, and we'll probably use our remaining bottles for cooking.
Edit: this wine threw a considerable amount of coarse sediment as well.
2nd edit: after 24 hours in the decanter, the tannins have receded considerably. The wine is not now fruiter, but does exhibit a pronounced beef-broth flavor. The oak is still excessive.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
The wine looks purple colored. The legs are slow. There is light sediment in the bottle. It smells like blackberry. It tastes like blackberry, oak and tobacco. The body is medium/full. The wine has coarse texture. The wine finishes long. The wine has low acidity.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Tasting notes are the same as before. I think the tannins are still a touch green although with enough air time (and even the next day), the true character really comes out! Plush and expressive are good words to describe it.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Top notch quality wine! Amazingly powerful creation from a grape I know nothing about.
Tons of dark fruit, flowers and a little tar. Powerful and tannic if not decanted, which is interesting! With 2 hours of decanting, it is pure muscle and a smooth finish.
Will reorder.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
Has a good dose of masculinity, very old world nose. Opened it to enjoy with homemade burgers, but got hungry before dinner and threw together something that quite turned our heads.
St. Angel French cheese, red pepper and fig jelly, and a fresh raspberry on a water cracker. Wow! The cheese carries a bit of gnarliness and this wine perfectly amalgamates it all into a very delectable morsel. Needed some will power to not double up on the hors d'oeuvres, but we've had this wine once before with burgers and it's a perfect match.
We usually decant, but in this case I'm torn. It is a righteous bold blast out of the bottle, and does smooth out with some time in glass, but the opening power is pretty compelling. I'm 65/35 in favor of pop n pour.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Truly a fabulous wine! Mencia is a relatively unknown Spanish grape from a relatively unknown wine region called Bierzo. But with around 500 grapes in Spain, there are certainly quite a few gems beyond the traditional Tempranillo and Grenache. Highly recommend opening for 1-2 hours before consumption since it is fairly young. Upon opening, the wine is austere, closed, and very tannic. But after breathing for a while, it is round, creamy, plump with juice, and expressive.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Deep flavors of dark cherry, smoke, cocoa with hints of anise. Earthy, but with some bright acidic notes to keep it in balance. Very enjoyable wine, particularly with food.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Drank 2 bottles between 3 months time. Consistent note of nice nose of berry/plum, creamy taste and a great QPR at 23 or so a bottle. buy again... My first experience with Mencia.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Holy Cow!! This is a fabulous Spanish red and, as far as I know/can remember, our first experience with a 100% Mencia wine.
The first impression this wine made upon my palate: this wine is very Chateauneuf-du-Pape-like. It shares many characteristics with the world’s greatest red blend (in my humble opinion; I’m sure Bordeaux lovers are rolling their eyes like crazy right now!), including gorgeous black and red fruit, tons of spices, and that lovely earth/terrior from the Southern Rhone.
This wine is fantastically rich and creamy, with mostly black fruit (plum, boysenberry, and blackberry) along with some red fruit (cherry and raspberry). There’s also a truckload of savory spices that compliment the MOUNTAIN of black pepper. The saline earthiness and creamy, sweet tannins from the oakiness contribute to the rich, smooth, elegant, lingering finish. This wine is fantastically well-balanced, deeply-flavored, smooth, rich, and creamy, and at $22.49 a bottle, one of the best reds we’ve drunk all year.
Once again, this wine shares almost EVERY aspect with a quality Chateauneuf-du-Pape. If tasted blind, I imagine that I would have guessed that this wine was indeed a CdP. At $22.49 a bottle, if I knew just how good this wine was going to be, I would have ordered at least a case of this Spanish beauty. Sadly, this bottle is the last one of the original four that I ordered from wtso.com. Looking forward to the 2008 vintage!
We paired this wine with a rack of lamb and the wine could NOT have paired better with any other protein! Arthur spices the lamb and sears it in a cast iron pan and then spreads a thin layer of Dijon mustard and panko breadcrumbs on the fatty side and finishes the rack in the oven. This big, bold, gorgeous wine begs to be paired with a big, bold, gorgeous main course. It paired perfectly with Arthur’s rack of lamb and would also pair well with curried lamb shanks, a ribeye smothered in Kosher salt and a ton of freshly-cracked black pepper, along with just about any red meat dish (prime rib, meatloaf, etc.)
3 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
Lots of ripe fruit, tobacco, and cassis. Tannins are quite firm. Decanted but next time I will decant for a minimum of 1-2 hours. Great complex wine. My first exposure to the Mencia grape. Similar to a cab franc to me.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Tasted after a double decant and pouring through an aerator.
Nose: very nice, floral, perfumy, oaky, slightly reductive.
Palate: Massive tannins and acidity. There is a good bit of dark fruit and some peony blossom in there, too, but it's all overwhelmed by the tannins and acidity.
Finish: moderately long, tannic.
I am surprised at some of the enthusiastic ratings for this wine. It will be good in its time, but it is YEARS away from its prime. Our remaining bottles will be squirreled away in the bottom of a closet somewhere, not to be touched for at least 3 years.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
deep maroon in color. brett, wet earth, dark fruit, oak on the nose. oak, wet earth, vanilla, plum, pepper on the palate. big acid and touches of brett on the finish.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
12/22/2023 - Wamrod wrote: 89 Points
Cellared. Pop and pour, cork in good shape. Deep, dark, inky maroon red. Initial funk on nose, a few minutes to blow off. After that, dark fruit with a stemmy, vegetal note, concentrated but not cloying. On the palate, dark fruits, with cherries, cigar box and ending with blueberries and tobacco, on a medium short finish. I love how Mencia ages and although this is a little more concentrated and oaky than is typical, was still a decent bottle, with a couple of years left in it.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
5/3/2021 - flussier Likes this wine: 91 Points
Robe bourgogne très foncé. Beau nez rond. Sur des arômes de boisé, olive noire et fruits noirs. Beaucoup corps, décanté 2h. Pourrait vieillir encore 2-3 ans. Attention au dépôt. Excellent vin, mais un peu trop boisé à mon goût.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
12/13/2020 - jayw Likes this wine:
Lovely, enticing nose. In a good place now. Medium-bodied, lively and refreshing, but flavorful, with plenty of ripe red fruit, the perfect accompaniment to puerco asado baked in a Romertopf clay pot.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
4/29/2020 - elevwine Likes this wine: 92 Points
This bottle has aged well. Two most recent CT notes hit nail on head. Smooth and well-balanced with rich dark cherry notes. Still many years ahead for this wine.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
4/11/2020 - 1961Vintage Likes this wine: 92 Points
Very drinkable with a nice richness and maturity. At least a few more good years ahead.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
11/22/2019 - jayw Likes this wine:
More approachable than the last bottle. Medium bodied, with a rich texture. Powerful perfumed nose. Vanilla oak and ripe fruit on the palate with a bright cherry finish. Good balance with vibrant acidity and well integrated tannins. Not a lot of secondary flavors at this point. Should continue to evolve for another 2-4 years.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
9/8/2019 - maxima wrote: 89 Points
Puissant et riche mais bien fait.
Mures et épices avec des tanins charnus
et une belle acidité. Long et capiteux.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
8/17/2019 - K&J Likes this wine: 93 Points
Still truly a fabulous wine! Mencia can be hard to do right but this one is certainly done right!
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
6/21/2019 - 1961Vintage Likes this wine: 92 Points
Drinking very well right now. Great time to crack one open. Has improved with bottle age.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
3/10/2019 - margolism Likes this wine: 90 Points
Enjoyed with a burger
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
4/20/2018 - Mossrose wrote: 93 Points
Carracedo is one of the most reliably excellent Mencias made, and this 2007 is the oldest of 5 different vintages that we own. Opaque in the center of an inch pour with a lighter red outer ring. The nose is invitingly perfumed and fruity. The sip is smoothly textured and buoyed by ample acidity and tannin. The swallow coats the mouth and features a delicious boysenberry and black cherry fruit. Impressively walks a tightrope between being powerful and elegant. A wine that keeps you coming back for more that is so enjoyable both by itself and with most every food.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
3/23/2018 - jayw Likes this wine:
Quite tannic, even after eight hours. Not sure if it will improve. Pleasant nose, but not the kind of wine you drink by itself - at least not now.
48 hours later this is a completely different wine. Much more accessible. The oak is a bit much, but the cherry kirsch with anise flavor and velvety texture make this wine a pleasure to drink. Will try to wait at least two years before opening any more of these.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
4/11/2017 - Mossrose wrote: 93 Points
Consistently one of the best wines made from the Mencia grape, grown mostly in the northwest part of Spain above Portugal. Tasted for 6 days. Black to the edge with aromas of blueberry, boysenberry, and blackberry. Comes into the mouth with an upfront mix of fruit, drying tannin, and strong acidity. The swallow coats the throat and lasts for minutes. Overall, a powerful, concentrated, and ageworthy wine, that needs additional years of bottle age to round and integrate the acidity and tannin into a more caressing texture and delicious taste.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
8/15/2016 - Tenrats wrote: 89 Points
Didn't like the first few sips. Or aerate it first. Let it open up. Nice nose, nice balance. A bit of funk at the end before it sat for a while.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
8/15/2016 - 1961Vintage Likes this wine: 90 Points
Still seems like more integration should help. Will let you know in a year.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
4/28/2016 - Dar3 Likes this wine: 90 Points
Very typically Spanish
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
1/17/2016 - ekdguitar Likes this wine: 89 Points
Not bad
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
7/26/2015 - Swaggering Beaunie Likes this wine: 87 Points
I have tried a number of Mencias before, and found them all wanting; they were brutally acidic and/or tannic, as were the previous bottles of this wine that I had opened. However, this one was---surprise!----actually good, albeit more of a California-style-fruit-bomb than I would normally drink. It shows strong flavors of blueberry and blackberry, with a bit of toasty oak. The tannins and acidity are still firm, but nowhere near the biting, clawing grizzly bear that they were just a year ago. I wonder if the other bottles would have been good if I'd let them age this long.
Reminds me of a California Petite Sirah.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
5/29/2015 - THF49 Likes this wine: 92 Points
A pleasant surprise! This 2007 Mencia is full bodied but not overpowering and has a long smooth finish.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
2/8/2015 - manny651 wrote: 88 Points
good dry red, nothing outstanding
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
1/28/2015 - Alcide23 Does not like this wine: 85 Points
This is a good wine but not my style. There were nice notes of blackberry but I found it had too much oak. The tannis were well balanced but the wine was trying to do too much. There was a fake artificial element to it.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
12/22/2014 - K&J Likes this wine: 93 Points
Wine is in the zone! Tannins are no longer green. Fabulous wine.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
12/17/2014 - THF49 Likes this wine: 91 Points
unusual dry but flavorful wine; long pleasant finish
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
11/7/2014 - Swaggering Beaunie wrote: 83 Points
I last reviewed this wine about 1 1/2 years ago. At the time I stated that the wine would require years of additional aging as it was overwhelmed by tannins. Yesterday we decided to take a risk and try another one. It was quite Bretty upon opening so I poured it into a decanter and let it air out for 5 hours.
At that point, the Bretty aromas had largely dissipated, so we drank some. The wine is still massively tannic and oaky, and the tannins and oak flavors overwhelm the black fruits present. Acidity has dropped, and I don't think the wine retains sufficient acidity and fruit to catch up to the tannins and oak at any level of aging. I do not agree with the glowing reviews posted by others here; perhaps there was some variation in bottling lots, but from my experience, the wine is drinkable with a lengthy decant, but only just. It is unbalanced and was clumsily extracted. Not a repurchase, and we'll probably use our remaining bottles for cooking.
Edit: this wine threw a considerable amount of coarse sediment as well.
2nd edit: after 24 hours in the decanter, the tannins have receded considerably. The wine is not now fruiter, but does exhibit a pronounced beef-broth flavor. The oak is still excessive.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
10/1/2014 - texag96 Likes this wine: 92 Points
Marked improvement over previous tasting
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
9/13/2014 - BklynNeophyte wrote: 81 Points
Meh
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
8/12/2014 - Didman wrote: 90 Points
Dark and moderately intense, with nice flavors.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
6/24/2014 - Androurse wrote: 90 Points
The wine looks purple colored. The legs are slow. There is light sediment in the bottle. It smells like blackberry. It tastes like blackberry, oak and tobacco. The body is medium/full. The wine has coarse texture. The wine finishes long. The wine has low acidity.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
5/12/2014 - K&J Likes this wine: 93 Points
Tasting notes are the same as before. I think the tannins are still a touch green although with enough air time (and even the next day), the true character really comes out! Plush and expressive are good words to describe it.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
5/1/2014 - aodonnell wrote: 93 Points
Absolutely excellent. Some of the best value I've found recently.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
3/9/2014 - Cofrosd wrote: 92 Points
Decant it for a couple of hours.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
1/1/2014 - Cgallivan Likes this wine: 93 Points
Top notch quality wine! Amazingly powerful creation from a grape I know nothing about.
Tons of dark fruit, flowers and a little tar. Powerful and tannic if not decanted, which is interesting! With 2 hours of decanting, it is pure muscle and a smooth finish.
Will reorder.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
12/28/2013 - Tim and Bonnie wrote: 90 Points
Has a good dose of masculinity, very old world nose. Opened it to enjoy with homemade burgers, but got hungry before dinner and threw together something that quite turned our heads.
St. Angel French cheese, red pepper and fig jelly, and a fresh raspberry on a water cracker. Wow! The cheese carries a bit of gnarliness and this wine perfectly amalgamates it all into a very delectable morsel. Needed some will power to not double up on the hors d'oeuvres, but we've had this wine once before with burgers and it's a perfect match.
We usually decant, but in this case I'm torn. It is a righteous bold blast out of the bottle, and does smooth out with some time in glass, but the opening power is pretty compelling. I'm 65/35 in favor of pop n pour.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
11/23/2013 - uncle al Likes this wine: 89 Points
A very nice wine from Bierzo. Some fruit and very smooth drinking
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
11/10/2013 - K&J Likes this wine: 93 Points
Truly a fabulous wine! Mencia is a relatively unknown Spanish grape from a relatively unknown wine region called Bierzo. But with around 500 grapes in Spain, there are certainly quite a few gems beyond the traditional Tempranillo and Grenache. Highly recommend opening for 1-2 hours before consumption since it is fairly young. Upon opening, the wine is austere, closed, and very tannic. But after breathing for a while, it is round, creamy, plump with juice, and expressive.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
11/4/2013 - davidrh1 wrote: 93 Points
Deep flavors of dark cherry, smoke, cocoa with hints of anise. Earthy, but with some bright acidic notes to keep it in balance. Very enjoyable wine, particularly with food.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
11/3/2013 - uncle al Likes this wine: 90 Points
Very smooth and well balance. Great wine at under $23. Some fruit and medium bodied.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
10/28/2013 - brooklynJ&O wrote: 91 Points
really tasty. kind of a cross between new and old world. fruity, but not too fruity.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
10/22/2013 - vineaux Likes this wine: 91 Points
Drank 2 bottles between 3 months time. Consistent note of nice nose of berry/plum, creamy taste and a great QPR at 23 or so a bottle. buy again... My first experience with Mencia.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
7/30/2013 - cmaldoon wrote: 89 Points
Pop and pour + 1 hour
A fairly straight forward wine with blackberries, graphite, a bit of vanilla and sage. Solid but not heavy. Grows on me as it opens.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
6/23/2013 - DaveZack Likes this wine: 93 Points
Holy Cow!! This is a fabulous Spanish red and, as far as I know/can remember, our first experience with a 100% Mencia wine.
The first impression this wine made upon my palate: this wine is very Chateauneuf-du-Pape-like. It shares many characteristics with the world’s greatest red blend (in my humble opinion; I’m sure Bordeaux lovers are rolling their eyes like crazy right now!), including gorgeous black and red fruit, tons of spices, and that lovely earth/terrior from the Southern Rhone.
This wine is fantastically rich and creamy, with mostly black fruit (plum, boysenberry, and blackberry) along with some red fruit (cherry and raspberry). There’s also a truckload of savory spices that compliment the MOUNTAIN of black pepper. The saline earthiness and creamy, sweet tannins from the oakiness contribute to the rich, smooth, elegant, lingering finish. This wine is fantastically well-balanced, deeply-flavored, smooth, rich, and creamy, and at $22.49 a bottle, one of the best reds we’ve drunk all year.
Once again, this wine shares almost EVERY aspect with a quality Chateauneuf-du-Pape. If tasted blind, I imagine that I would have guessed that this wine was indeed a CdP. At $22.49 a bottle, if I knew just how good this wine was going to be, I would have ordered at least a case of this Spanish beauty. Sadly, this bottle is the last one of the original four that I ordered from wtso.com. Looking forward to the 2008 vintage!
We paired this wine with a rack of lamb and the wine could NOT have paired better with any other protein! Arthur spices the lamb and sears it in a cast iron pan and then spreads a thin layer of Dijon mustard and panko breadcrumbs on the fatty side and finishes the rack in the oven. This big, bold, gorgeous wine begs to be paired with a big, bold, gorgeous main course. It paired perfectly with Arthur’s rack of lamb and would also pair well with curried lamb shanks, a ribeye smothered in Kosher salt and a ton of freshly-cracked black pepper, along with just about any red meat dish (prime rib, meatloaf, etc.)
3 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
6/18/2013 - brooklynJ&O wrote: 91 Points
give this an hour of air and it is fantastic. silky smooth.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
4/7/2013 - 2009emerson Likes this wine: 93 Points
Lots of ripe fruit, tobacco, and cassis. Tannins are quite firm. Decanted but next time I will decant for a minimum of 1-2 hours. Great complex wine. My first exposure to the Mencia grape. Similar to a cab franc to me.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
4/4/2013 - Swaggering Beaunie wrote: 83 Points
Tasted after a double decant and pouring through an aerator.
Nose: very nice, floral, perfumy, oaky, slightly reductive.
Palate: Massive tannins and acidity. There is a good bit of dark fruit and some peony blossom in there, too, but it's all overwhelmed by the tannins and acidity.
Finish: moderately long, tannic.
I am surprised at some of the enthusiastic ratings for this wine. It will be good in its time, but it is YEARS away from its prime. Our remaining bottles will be squirreled away in the bottom of a closet somewhere, not to be touched for at least 3 years.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
2/5/2013 - affordableCollector wrote: 85 Points
deep maroon in color. brett, wet earth, dark fruit, oak on the nose. oak, wet earth, vanilla, plum, pepper on the palate. big acid and touches of brett on the finish.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
1/21/2013 - Leeras wrote: 93 Points
Very nice. Decanted for 2+ hours. Really complex yet smooth on the finish.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment