Opened an hour before and decanted. Nose muted but no TCA evident and I am TCA sensitive. Cork in good shape. Wine was just blah, some fruit but not much a little dark fruit short finish. Wood prominent. This bottle had been stored at 56º in my friend’s cellar since purchase in 2006. We were stumped. Does this IGT normally have such a short shelf life? Hardly justifies the $100 they are getting for it.
Has all the hallmarks of TCA, IMO. Even though you are sensitive to TCA (I am as well) you have to remember that there can be bottles that are below your perception that are still impacted. Muted and short are your first clues in that case.
Most Cellar Tracker notes are pretty positive, so it must have been an “off” bottle for some reason. It’s possible that it was just slightly corked–not enough TCA to smell or taste, but enough to dampen the fruit.
Bruce
Agreed. The 04 is not at peak yet. Its got a ton going on.
i had this not to long ago and it was singing.
Sounds like below perceptible level of TCA.
I agree with the other this is low-level TCA — I rarely actually smell TCA (although perhaps I am not sensitive). Instead, it usually manifests as muted flavors on both the nose and (even more so) the palate. You can usually tell the difference between TCA and just a subtle or poor wine with the finish: TCA will kill any length whatsoever.
I’ve had a couple of these from different sources. One was corked and the other smelled great but didn’t seem like a long term ager to me.
2004 Antinori Tignanello Toscana IGT - Italy, Tuscany, Toscana IGT (7/6/2013)
Playing spades with Ken and Kelly VII (Our house, Kennett square, PA): Ripe dark fruits, a little tobacco, some spice, slight mint, very soft and silky. No tannins left but still some good fruit and acidity. Smells great. Based on this bottle I would drink 'em if you’ve got 'em.
2004 Antinori Tignanello Toscana IGT - Italy, Tuscany, Toscana IGT (6/28/2010)
Mildly corked, unfortunately. This was still drinkable but everything was muted. I was really looking foward to this one too. NR (flawed)
I guess I could buy the corked part but usually I get the wet cardboard and it wasn’t there.
I had a bottle last year and it really needed another 3-5 years for my tastes…maybe longer. I’d definitely assume that it’s low level TCA that couldn’t be detected.
Another vote for TCA. I haven’t had the '04 myself, but have heard from reliable sources it is excellent. I’ve had lots from the 90s that were fully alive. Never great, but showing something.
I’m in Italy, don’t make me say something about it…
It can happen that there’s TCA below your recognition threshold (so you won’t notice it at all) that still ruins the wine by hollowing it out and muting the fruit. Almost certainly, this bottle either had that or some sort of cork failure, and it sounds much more like low level TCA.