Opened and decanted while roasting a chicken.
This is the first bottle that has been nice to me. Previous experiments have slapped me around like a red headed step-child. Showed very pinote, which I guess isn't a huge surprise. My friend sharing the bottle said he would have thought it to be Burgundy if the bottle wasn't in front of him and that's pretty much how it seemed to me. Loamy fruit with nice spices and a forrest-y quality. Good crunchy structure that was at the proper end of the palate. For at least a couple of hours this was impeccably balanced. After that, the palate closed down a bit, but the nose was still lovely. This bottle showed a lot of promise for the remaining ones in the cellar. I was beginning to get concerned that 2005s might never come around in a way that appealed to me, that they would just be brutal and then lovely old wines without the ribald "20s" that really appeal to me. I would say another year or two may help soften the edges a bit more and that this wine will be one of the highlights of the vintage in the next 5 years or so and surely among the longest lived.
This is the first bottle that has been nice to me. Previous experiments have slapped me around like a red headed step-child. Showed very pinote, which I guess isn't a huge surprise. My friend sharing the bottle said he would have thought it to be Burgundy if the bottle wasn't in front of him and that's pretty much how it seemed to me. Loamy fruit with nice spices and a forrest-y quality. Good crunchy structure that was at the proper end of the palate. For at least a couple of hours this was impeccably balanced. After that, the palate closed down a bit, but the nose was still lovely. This bottle showed a lot of promise for the remaining ones in the cellar. I was beginning to get concerned that 2005s might never come around in a way that appealed to me, that they would just be brutal and then lovely old wines without the ribald "20s" that really appeal to me. I would say another year or two may help soften the edges a bit more and that this wine will be one of the highlights of the vintage in the next 5 years or so and surely among the longest lived.