A bit smudged tonight by the oxidative sherry/almond notes. Nose was pretty oxidative, but the palate was quite nice. Plum, dried cherry, and fig with cocoa and cedar notes. Still well structured, seamless palate feel and apparent depth. This bottle just featured more of the oxidative notes, and lacked the terroir of the last bottle.
When wines get to this age you are just happy to get an intact example. This was far from a poor showing, but the bottle in March was better
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A really nice bright red fruited wine with spice, cigar tobacco, mint and some almond notes. Started with a bit of the BV "sherry" note, typical of these older bottles, but really cleaned up and came together into an elegant mature wine. Palate offering plum skin, cherry, mint and clove as this came together in glass.
Lighter bodied, high acidity, and slightly fragile fruit at this point. However it provides a nice historic reference point for the wines made by Andre in the early days of Napa's renaissance.
Cork came apart, but we were fortunate and were able to extract it. Ruby color with clearness on the edge. Very fine sediment in the last couple ounces, stood it upright a week in advance. Once open, I decanted and proceeded immediately to the first glass. Acidity and structure holding up very well. I was not expecting it to be so vibrant. Redwood, mint, thyme were initially most prominent with red fruits in the deep in the background. The fruit was more prominent in the second glass presenting red plum, pomegranate and a bit of cherry with the thyme and redwood in balance with the fruit. The fruit very bright front and center on the last glass. It still has years of life ahead of it, but this is my last bottle. Really remarkable.
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This was at Bern’s and this bottle was obviously perfectly stored over the last 50 years. The cork was in great condition and the color was dark and youthful ruby. Still plenty of fruit left and also some wonderful tertiary flavors that I can’t describe. We were disappointed that this was the last bottle.
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5/12/2024 - RockinCabs wrote: 88 Points
A bit smudged tonight by the oxidative sherry/almond notes. Nose was pretty oxidative, but the palate was quite nice. Plum, dried cherry, and fig with cocoa and cedar notes. Still well structured, seamless palate feel and apparent depth. This bottle just featured more of the oxidative notes, and lacked the terroir of the last bottle.
When wines get to this age you are just happy to get an intact example. This was far from a poor showing, but the bottle in March was better
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3/4/2024 - RockinCabs wrote: 91 Points
A really nice bright red fruited wine with spice, cigar tobacco, mint and some almond notes. Started with a bit of the BV "sherry" note, typical of these older bottles, but really cleaned up and came together into an elegant mature wine. Palate offering plum skin, cherry, mint and clove as this came together in glass.
Lighter bodied, high acidity, and slightly fragile fruit at this point. However it provides a nice historic reference point for the wines made by Andre in the early days of Napa's renaissance.
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3/6/2021 - derrington Likes this wine: 94 Points
Cork came apart, but we were fortunate and were able to extract it. Ruby color with clearness on the edge. Very fine sediment in the last couple ounces, stood it upright a week in advance. Once open, I decanted and proceeded immediately to the first glass. Acidity and structure holding up very well. I was not expecting it to be so vibrant. Redwood, mint, thyme were initially most prominent with red fruits in the deep in the background. The fruit was more prominent in the second glass presenting red plum, pomegranate and a bit of cherry with the thyme and redwood in balance with the fruit. The fruit very bright front and center on the last glass. It still has years of life ahead of it, but this is my last bottle. Really remarkable.
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10/30/2019 - salcorn wrote: 92 Points
Still decent fruit, redwood, forest floor. Holding up fairly well.
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2/19/2019 - Decanting Queen Likes this wine: 92 Points
This was at Bern’s and this bottle was obviously perfectly stored over the last 50 years. The cork was in great condition and the color was dark and youthful ruby. Still plenty of fruit left and also some wonderful tertiary flavors that I can’t describe. We were disappointed that this was the last bottle.
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