Opened an hour before serving. Slightly dried cherry fruit with notes of fruitcake, leather, smoke and incense. The ripasso nature is very clear but the wine isn’t heavy or overly rich. There are faint VA overtones but in the background such that they add slightly to complexity. In the later stages of peak maturity. ****++
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This magnum was drank with friends at a major wine tasting in Maryland. It was the last bottle of the night poured after 16 other Magnum bottles so my notes are quite brief. After decanting this for 2 hours, this clear and mid purple wine had a nose of ripe grapes and some prunes. Still quite youthful flavours of dark berries and ripe cherries. The tannins and acidity were still quite strong for a 23 year old wine.
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Wow, this was good. Opens to fuzzy black/brown fruit, a worn texture, a touch sweet, showing complexities of fruitcake, dried cherries, sweet tobacco, chocolate and even notes of iodine and peat. Smooths out considerably with an hour or so of air, less fuzzy in texture, now smoother, the cherries acquiring a mentholated edge, still plenty of sweet dried fruits. Just lovely and oh so pleasurable. Amali with Greg and Bob.
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It took about an hour and 1/2 before the heat and acid blew off this wine and started to soften up and show its profile. This is like drinking chocolate covered strawberries and blueberry pie with vanilla ice cream. Well intergraded tannins softly coat my cheeks. My teeth are glazed with flavor. Drank alongside lamb chops and a gem salad with Balsamic Modena dressing. What a night.
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- Garnet color - For an 18 year old wine this was great. Last bottle was even better. Needed about 45 min-1 hour to decant to coax the true flavor If you have this don't wait too much longer
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What a wine. This is drinking excellent right now. The tannins have settled and secondary aromas and flavors have started to set in. Few Valpolicella could take this type of age, but this one has held up admirably. I'll be saving my last bottle for a very special night!
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Roy and The NYC Gang do Italy (La Grolla): Chewy fruit. light body. this is ready to drink. i was expecting a sweeter nose - but no - this is more dry and toward red berries rather than sour cherry. delicious... and perfect food wine.
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Other peppers on the nose with a light delicacy to it – pimento? PIMENTO. That is the word. Silkiest tannins on the planet are well integrated. Smoke, cedar, herbs and spice round it all out with a nice long & fruity finish.
TJ Rating = 91
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9/11/2020 - MAOC wrote:
Opened an hour before serving. Slightly dried cherry fruit with notes of fruitcake, leather, smoke and incense. The ripasso nature is very clear but the wine isn’t heavy or overly rich. There are faint VA overtones but in the background such that they add slightly to complexity. In the later stages of peak maturity. ****++
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5/30/2018 - Rosengoo wrote: 91 Points
This magnum was drank with friends at a major wine tasting in Maryland. It was the last bottle of the night poured after 16 other Magnum bottles so my notes are quite brief. After decanting this for 2 hours, this clear and mid purple wine had a nose of ripe grapes and some prunes. Still quite youthful flavours of dark berries and ripe cherries. The tannins and acidity were still quite strong for a 23 year old wine.
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12/16/2016 - Lype Likes this wine: 91 Points
Attractive package of dark berries, chocolate, raisiny sweetness. Might be a good idea to drink in the next few years.
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12/14/2014 - Pknut wrote:
Wow, this was good. Opens to fuzzy black/brown fruit, a worn texture, a touch sweet, showing complexities of fruitcake, dried cherries, sweet tobacco, chocolate and even notes of iodine and peat. Smooths out considerably with an hour or so of air, less fuzzy in texture, now smoother, the cherries acquiring a mentholated edge, still plenty of sweet dried fruits. Just lovely and oh so pleasurable. Amali with Greg and Bob.
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8/1/2013 - Wine Trader Likes this wine: 92 Points
It took about an hour and 1/2 before the heat and acid blew off this wine and started to soften up and show its profile. This is like drinking chocolate covered strawberries and blueberry pie with vanilla ice cream. Well intergraded tannins softly coat my cheeks. My teeth are glazed with flavor. Drank alongside lamb chops and a gem salad with Balsamic Modena dressing. What a night.
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3/7/2013 - apm1023 wrote: 92 Points
- Garnet color - For an 18 year old wine this was great. Last bottle was even better. Needed about 45 min-1 hour to decant to coax the true flavor
If you have this don't wait too much longer
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12/26/2010 - Dickdoc49 wrote: 88 Points
amazing that valpolicella can last this long, great nose, tannins persist, fruit is fading. Drink up
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10/17/2007 - Ryan D wrote:
What a wine. This is drinking excellent right now. The tannins have settled and secondary aromas and flavors have started to set in. Few Valpolicella could take this type of age, but this one has held up admirably. I'll be saving my last bottle for a very special night!
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7/16/2005 - Mlermontov wrote: 92 Points
Roy and The NYC Gang do Italy (La Grolla): Chewy fruit. light body. this is ready to drink. i was expecting a sweeter nose - but no - this is more dry and toward red berries rather than sour cherry. delicious... and perfect food wine.
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4/18/2004 - Eric wrote: 93 Points
Seattle Tasting Group does Italians and six decades of Porto hosted by Roy Hersh (Bellevue, WA, USA): Well this was a pretty darned cool wine with a high pitched nose of violet. The palate makes you say WOW with remarkable structure and caramel. Holy crap, this is tasty!
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11/16/2002 - Pool Boy wrote: 91 Points
Other peppers on the nose with a light delicacy to it – pimento? PIMENTO. That is the word. Silkiest tannins on the planet are well integrated. Smoke, cedar, herbs and spice round it all out with a nice long & fruity finish.
TJ Rating = 91
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