Decant Stop Tasting Wine Blog

We got lucky with this one.  I’m not sure how K&L got it, but I think I got the only bottle.. which was at one time owned by a private party.  There was even a message written on the bottle with a grease pen, which said "Enjoy this puppy in 10 years, [guy's name], and the date, which was in ‘95.  So, I think it was a gift back then.  Not sure why it wasn’t enjoyed in 2005, but we enjoyed it at 16 years old, in 2008.  It isn’t every day we get to drink 16 year old wine, so I jumped at the chance, since it was only $15 (the wine originally sold for $20).

It is a lightly filtered wine with some sentiment in the bottle.  It was pretty dark – like a dark plum (on the outside).  Aromatically it was pretty earthy and smoky with a little floral action mixed in… and you could smell the fruit, which was a mix of red and dark.  The flavor was a good portion of the barrel, which I would guess was mostly used toasted french oak, along with a healthy dose of mostly black and some red fruit.  It had near perfect acidity for most "regular" meals and not much tannins.  The finish was about average, with mostly the fruit lingering behind. 

Not that you’ll be able to find this wine anywhere at this point (or us), but if you do, and can get it for $20 or less, I say go for it.  With this much age you never know what happened to the bottle, but its probably worth the risk.  We enjoyed it.

Rating: 90

Price:  $15 (K&L Wines) $20 new

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I read that this wine was a good example of the classic taste of Pinot Noir, and for only $11.  How could I pass that up?  Turns out, the reviews are right, it is a [pretty much] text book example of the Pinot Noir Variety.  It isn’t special, but it is good, with nothing to complain about, and nothing to shout about.  It is enjoyable by itself, or with not too strong flavored food… basically anything but BBQ.  It has enough acidity to cut through some fat, and enough complex structure to compliment most meals.  It has one component that I love in any wine and have been missing lately… black pepper.  The wine has a light to medium body and flavors consist of mostly red fruit and fine tannins, and of course, black pepper.  Strangely, right after opening the bottle we smelled a good dose of oak, which scared me, but it didn’t follow through to the palate fortunately.  I did like the nose… mostly red fruit with a dose of floral aromas.  It is a very balanced wine with a pretty long finish, considering it isn’t a very dense wine.  All in all I’d recommend this wine to anyone who isn’t looking for a “stout” kind of wine, and isn’t looking to pair it with BBQ.

Rating 89

Price $11 (K&L Wines)

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