I lugged this wine back from Los Angeles having read about it in the Wine Spectator. It made the WS's top 100 of the year making the number 56 of the top 100 with a 91 pt. rating.
It has a black cherry hue to the rim with tight aromas with a bunch of steely notes. There is a light chocolate rear trying to break out but it is tight with tart sour cherry flavors.
After an hour or so of decanting this wine is surprisingly unremarkable. It is a solid and decent wine but a top 100 ranking? It may very well be that it needs to be breathed even more. I have run into this with quality Chianti's sometimes requiring 12 hours to really break out.
The wine was a reasonable $17 but still leaves me a bit baffled. I will retaste it tomorrow to see if it changes. Stay tuned!
Wow, that looks good. Thank you for sharing with me.
ReplyDeleteHow did it come off the next day?
ReplyDeleteI've found a couple wines where the night I open them, I'm unimpressed and expecting much more punch for the price, but the next day open into beautiful, if delicate, wines. One that comes to mind immediately is the Wallace Brook Pinot Noir 2006 - It was almost completely dumb on both nose and palate, with a bit of finish that lasted only a few seconds, if that. However, the next day, the tobacco and plum popped out of the glass and I was very pleased I hadn't dumped the remainder of the bottle.
Kathleen, your point about giving a wine time to open is a point well taken and a point that the vast majority of neo-oenophytes need to read again. I happen to be a bit fanatical about breathing my wines. This one was not a case of inadequate breathing but perhaps of preference.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, it is certainly possible that this was one of those wines that would have improved overnight. However, with tons of experience (about 30 years worth of tasting and studying) you can pretty well tell when a wine needs more time. However I have been fooled a couple times! That's wine; that's adventure! Thanks for stopping by.