2003 Antinori Solaia

Community Tasting Notes (69) Avg Score: 93.4 points

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  4/26/2024 - wmccone54 wrote: 95 Points

  I’ve been sitting on this for fifteen years; concerned that given the less than stellar vintage in 2003, this might be getting “long in the tooth”. PnP, and stood up prior to dinner. Shows a solid ruby core with garnet edges. Most likely in the early stages of maturity; definitely seeing some cooked and stewed red fruits. Highly perfumed, very intoxicating aromatics. Complex: worn leather, cigar tobacco, old wood furniture, savory red fruits, ground baking spices, slightly green underbrush, mixed herbal notes, and dried red earth. Completely integrated and balanced. Finishes strong. Enjoyed with pasta and meat sauce. Drink now or over the next 3+ years.

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  1/21/2024 - Uncle Victor Likes this wine: 94 Points

  Good-bye to my last bottle of '03 Solaia - I will miss you (and so will my wife!). Tasted against other '03s from Dunn Howell Mtn and Calon Segur as per notes from #1 or #2 below. The bouquet on this wine is almost tangible, and the experience is transportive (unfortunately it took #1 or #2 to the wrong place, but that's another story). Succulent stewed berry and plums, dark chocolate and licorice, with funky notes of mushroom, garrigue, and dried herbs. The ripe fruit explodes on the tongue, and the funk gives way to pleasant complementary earthy and herbal tones on the mid-palate. The finish is long and leaves me wanting more. Benefited from 2-3 hour decant, and still strong on day one and two after opening. Another few years left I would think, but why wait? - drink.

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  1/19/2024 - #1 or #2? Likes this wine: 94 Points

  wine night @ uncle victor’s! …in a cab fwd line up blind, alongside the ‘03 calon segur and ‘03 dunn howell mtn, regretfully i didn’t guess this (and in hindsight, a foolish miss). wonderfully funky yet sweet and the most perfumed of the three. aromas of plum, cherry, moss, smoke, leather and mushroom. mature savoury notes up front, black currant jam and blackberry fruit still hanging on. on the back nine but wow, this still alive and well. delicious and showy.

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  12/23/2023 - NCWW Likes this wine: 95 Points

  Has only improved since last bottle. Everything is perfectly in place. Not fragile but I suspect it won't hold many years more, maybe 5-8 years max. It defies the vintage in Tuscany completely. Nothing cooked or jammy here.

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  5/16/2023 - Benoit Hardy Likes this wine: 95 Points

  Nose of tobacco, cedar and undergrowth.
  
  Very dense on the palate, the juice is black as ink, with perfectly integrated notes of mushrooms, smoke and plums that respond to each other. Black fruits and tobacco literally invade the mouth before leather and notes of undergrowth take over. It is complex, intense, but of a beautiful freshness which offers elongation and balance to a concentrated whole. Silky texture and at the same time robust to open on a magnificent finish where the undergrowth dominates with a great length of leather and meat juice.
  
  An excellent Super Tuscan.

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