2006 Branaire Ducru
This wine surprised the crap out of me. The wine had been opened all day by my host and was showing a lovely nose of dark raspberry with a little wet earth. The palate was much fuller than I was expecting. Lots of dark red fruits and plenty more tannic presance than I was expecting. This is quite a good wine.
2008 Ati Rangi Pinot Noir
Another good wine. This was pop and pour. The nose was not forthcoming at all but, the wine was quite correct on the palate. There is a good concentration of red fruits with nothing confectionary to be found. A little spice added interest as did a hint of orange peel maybe. The acidity was evident but, not unbalanced. I think this wine will be even better in 2-4 years.
1997 Antinori CC Riserva
This is why you age wines. I remember tasting a bottle of this when it first appeared on shelves here and thinking it was quite monolithic and that I would pass on it. Of course, we saved some for re-evaluation the next day and the wine had come together so nicely that I bought a few. Well this is the first one since then (yeah, my cellar has some dark corners too). As I brought is up, I thought, well we will be drinking some more of this immediately. If this bottle is and example, there will be no hurry. The bouquet filled the room and stayed for the hour and a half I was there. Lots of dark, brambly cherry on the palate. The tannins are present but, quite fine. Not a hard edge to be found. I very much liked this wine.
1997 Cepparello Isole Olena
Drank with the Antinori, this wine produced a more muted nose. On the palate the wine was one dimensional relative to the Antinori and much sweeter. There was ample red cherry but, not much else. The finish here was a wee bit short as well. Didn’t trip my trigger.