1994 Trebbiano consumed May 2003:
Filmy bronze-gold color, dull with multiple layers, full to the rim. Dusty nose of cedar and sweet spice, somewhat medicinal, mint accents, dried pear and apple fruit, very expansive, hugs the inside of your nose. Full-bodied, filmy mouth feel that really powders the tongue. Sweeter attack, the pear, peach, apricot fruit spreads out gently but surely. In the center, you get more and more cedar, ginger, dried orange peel, minerals and a hint of grassiness. The acidity still has teeth but does lighten grip on the finish. Very elegant and understated, lasts just as long as it should.
1998 Trebbiano consumed March 2011:
The bright sparkle to the liquid runs counter to the aged yellow gold color, transparent with a gentle diffusion around the rims, strong accumulation of tiny bubbles along the bottom of the glass. Yeast and lees prominent in the nose, cinnamon and baking spices as well as sage, marjoram and bay leaf notes, the orange peels well dried, certain flatness in the apple, pear, apricot fruit scents helped by honey accents, spreads more broadly than deeply. Full-bodied, here there’s a quinine to tonic water edge which breathes life into the attack, teasing out added stone and white mineral notes. Really needs air time and to warm some to strut its stuff, once achieved the peach, apricot, nectarine, apple fruit finds solid footing. Lemon and orange citrus juicy while turning more sour towards the finish. Semi-bitter raw nuts challenge the honey, baking dough components. The same bay leaf, sage, celery seed nuances persist. Retains its heaviness and density completely through the end. An interesting drop, chameleon-like, sometimes for the better, sometimes not.
2000 Cerasuolo consumed July 2004:
Clean, shiny orange color infused with a light ruby hue. Dense nose, grabs you from under the bed, throbs with juicy blackberry, raspberry, red cherry fruit, lemon spritz, orange juice and a good bit of vanilla cream. Big, bruising mouth entry, smiles sardonically as you realize how much tannic punch it has. The red cherry, strawberry, raspberry fruit is fairly massive and hard to break through but has no lack of juiciness. The acidity helps the minerality develop and produces a tacky mouth feel. The orange and lemon citrus not so much punctures, more so pokes small holes. Sweeping finish, keeps pounding away at you.
2000 Cerasuolo consumed November 2010:
Still some remnant of pink to it, right now a whole of orange-brown going on, while transparent has a filminess, there’s an appreciable fade towards the rims, almost looks like a glass of sherry. Poached to fruit paste peach, pear, apricot scents expand in your nostrils, ginger powder, lemon peel to mandarin orange, rosewater, dried grasses and hay, glazed raw pie dough, full while releasing weight as it progresses. Full-bodied, fills your mouth top to bottom, pine and menthol, dried garden herbs, cold basement aged oranges and lemons. Comes across as maderized in part, dough and yeast with dried honey accents. The apricot, nectarine, peach, pineapple fruit has zip, lasts to fashion a broad finish. The ginger, clove spice comes with a terse salty touch. Stays after you like there’s a warrant on your head. Now’s the time to drink up, no further sense in waiting.
1997 Montepulciano consumed October 2004:
Totally opaque black purple core, dusky, quite thin and glowing garnet rims. Big, brawny Mike Tyson of a nose, takes an incredibly long time for the sulfur-like, merde notes to blow off and allow for chocolate, peanut, ultra-dense blackberry, black raspberry fruit, lifts like an elephant waking up. Massively full-bodied, dense and layered to the edge of immobility. The tannins and acidity are there but it’s content to remain happily openly knit and ignore the underlying structure in presenting the raspberry, cranberry, red cherry fruit out, almost bubbly in its fanciful teasing. Quite fresh and floral, provides lemon and orange citrus, stone bits, cedar notes. Barely exercising itself today.
