Took a bottle to my local Italian. Upon opening, the wine was very dissapointing, a strange smell and lots of toasty oak. After about 30 minutes the wine blossoms into a thing of beauty. The oak integrates with the fruit and provides great spice to its flavors. Dark fruit, chocolate, silky tannins, a great wine. 94
Thanks for the note Otto. I have a couple somewhere in the cellar. Let us know when you pop an 07. I bought 2 but have not gotten them yet. If they are up to par, I might grab a few more.
Very lucky for you to be able to get a wine like this at wholesale price.
Wholesale here in Napa-land is more than that.
Really?? That is odd. I was told by someone local that it is wholesaling here for $65, which makes sense since Whole Foods is selling it for $99, like every other retailer I get emails from. But I am guessing that in order to get that wholesale price here, it had to be a large order.
I find your note interesting and appreciate your opinion. I am a SS fan and buy it every year. My impressions of the 06 was that it is a very tannic wine that requires cellaring for at least 5 years. It has the DNA to be a great wine down the road, but today its a young, tannic wine that would require at least a couple of hours of decant time to smooth it out (and it really didn’t).
At the price you paid, stock up 
its a great value and if its like most of the past SS, it has aging power and will be awesome in 10-12 years. I bought some at Coscto awhile back at $89 each. I would buy more at that $75 range if I knew where to buy it ![[welldone.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/f/fc9709a841aa9379fd892a9cf0b535b05f473b86.gif "[welldone.gif]"){kind=small}