This wine has really started to come together since the last one I consumed a few years ago. It now shows a more pronounced nose of dark fruit, licorice, garrigue, and minerals leading to a full-bodied dark-fruited palate with an intense balsamic note through the mid-palate and a long finish. Still some tannins on the back-end but the fruit is there to outlast them. This should score better in a few years when all the pieces fully come together. Next bottle in 2 years. Great wine and even better with food.
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Deep brick color verging on amber at the rim. Still, a fine black cherry core. The nose reveals a clearly aged wine where notes of prunes, raisins and tobacco are the main ingredients. A slightly alcoholic tone shines thorugh as well. Not much primary fruit left on the nose, athough one could- if forced to - to say something like black cherry and blackberries. Full bodied, rounded attack on the palate, fine acidity up front before a tobacco and prune-dominated mid-palate takes over. The mouthfeel is silky, with very fine tannins while upholding good grip, and a fine acidity to balance the rather heavy tobacco and dried fruit sweetness. The aftertaste continues in the same way as the mid-palate, but the acidity provides fine freshness that defies the quite evolved age. Some alcohol shines through on the finish, but not overtly so. A very fine, although not very elegant, wine that has aged surprisingly well. Drink now, or wait some more years if you want even less fruit and more tertiary tones.
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Double decanted around 3pm for service around 630pm, at which point it was drunk over the course of 2-3 hours.
This bottle was significantly better than my last bottle. On open tannins and acid were evident as with the last bottle, but there remained ample dark fruit and earthy tones to balance the structure of the wine (this was not the case last time, and as a result the wine came off as being much more "dried out"). The overall result was a wine that presented itself as less austere than I'd expected.
Over the course of the evening the wine continued to improve, the fruit flavours became more lush, and the earthy tones came forward to round out what I felt was a very classically tasting Brunello. We drank this next to an '01 Percarlo which provided really nice contrast -- this had a noticeably darker fruit profile and showed more earth both on the palate and nose as opposed to the brighter red fruited profile of the percarlo that seemed to be accented with secondary aromas from the oak treatment more than soil tones.
Regardless, both bottles were excellent and paired very well with various cuts of steak, potato dauphinoise, and roast vegatables.
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This wine is evolving nicely since my last tasting in 2018. Notes of dark fruit - cassis, cherry, black raspberry with notes of cedar with hints of spice. Tannins have softened and are well integrated. Long finish.
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Christmas 2023; 12/24/2023-12/26/2023 (Home): First, I must note that this bottle had the worst cork I've encountered - the combination of being incredibly dry and crumbly yet also glued to the inside of the bottle (I had to chisel parts of it off with a knife) defeated even the Durand, and despite employing a coffee filter I couldn't get rid of all the cork dust. That may have prejudiced me against the wine itself, which provided pleasant drinking full of leathery cherry flavour, but was ultimately much more pruney and foursquare than I'd hoped. Hmm.
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4/7/2024 - hkbob Likes this wine: 94 Points
This wine has really started to come together since the last one I consumed a few years ago. It now shows a more pronounced nose of dark fruit, licorice, garrigue, and minerals leading to a full-bodied dark-fruited palate with an intense balsamic note through the mid-palate and a long finish. Still some tannins on the back-end but the fruit is there to outlast them. This should score better in a few years when all the pieces fully come together. Next bottle in 2 years. Great wine and even better with food.
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4/7/2024 - dagij Likes this wine: 90 Points
Deep brick color verging on amber at the rim. Still, a fine black cherry core. The nose reveals a clearly aged wine where notes of prunes, raisins and tobacco are the main ingredients. A slightly alcoholic tone shines thorugh as well. Not much primary fruit left on the nose, athough one could- if forced to - to say something like black cherry and blackberries. Full bodied, rounded attack on the palate, fine acidity up front before a tobacco and prune-dominated mid-palate takes over. The mouthfeel is silky, with very fine tannins while upholding good grip, and a fine acidity to balance the rather heavy tobacco and dried fruit sweetness. The aftertaste continues in the same way as the mid-palate, but the acidity provides fine freshness that defies the quite evolved age. Some alcohol shines through on the finish, but not overtly so. A very fine, although not very elegant, wine that has aged surprisingly well. Drink now, or wait some more years if you want even less fruit and more tertiary tones.
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3/2/2024 - smveluv Likes this wine: 94 Points
Double decanted around 3pm for service around 630pm, at which point it was drunk over the course of 2-3 hours.
This bottle was significantly better than my last bottle. On open tannins and acid were evident as with the last bottle, but there remained ample dark fruit and earthy tones to balance the structure of the wine (this was not the case last time, and as a result the wine came off as being much more "dried out"). The overall result was a wine that presented itself as less austere than I'd expected.
Over the course of the evening the wine continued to improve, the fruit flavours became more lush, and the earthy tones came forward to round out what I felt was a very classically tasting Brunello. We drank this next to an '01 Percarlo which provided really nice contrast -- this had a noticeably darker fruit profile and showed more earth both on the palate and nose as opposed to the brighter red fruited profile of the percarlo that seemed to be accented with secondary aromas from the oak treatment more than soil tones.
Regardless, both bottles were excellent and paired very well with various cuts of steak, potato dauphinoise, and roast vegatables.
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2/22/2024 - spendergast Likes this wine: 96 Points
This wine is evolving nicely since my last tasting in 2018. Notes of dark fruit - cassis, cherry, black raspberry with notes of cedar with hints of spice. Tannins have softened and are well integrated. Long finish.
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12/25/2023 - NickA Likes this wine: 90 Points
Christmas 2023; 12/24/2023-12/26/2023 (Home): First, I must note that this bottle had the worst cork I've encountered - the combination of being incredibly dry and crumbly yet also glued to the inside of the bottle (I had to chisel parts of it off with a knife) defeated even the Durand, and despite employing a coffee filter I couldn't get rid of all the cork dust. That may have prejudiced me against the wine itself, which provided pleasant drinking full of leathery cherry flavour, but was ultimately much more pruney and foursquare than I'd hoped. Hmm.
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