At 10 Am i decanted the bottle. Nice red colour upon pouring. Very little sediment again in the bottle. Maybe its too young ?
The smell is heavy with lots of fruit,.mostly black fruit like blue-berries, grapes and plums. I also smell something spicey, maybe its the alcohol at this point. Its not disturbing at all because the fruit is overwhelming. Cant wait to try the first sip.
Yesterday i bought a nice blue-veined Stilton cheese for this occasion and i am very curious how the cheese will match with the wine.
3 hours after decanting, first glass:
The colour is very dark as you can see with some red showing on the side of the glass.
The tearing is excellent when i swirl the glass. The smell is a little less dense but i still smell lots of fruit. Again i smell something spicey, but i cant determine what it is. Maybe when i taste it it will reveal itself.
The taste is a bit dry, lots of tannins, lots of alcohol and a little acid. The aftertaste is long and spicey but also sweet. I taste lots of red and black fruit. The funny thing is, i started to taste the fruit after i had some of the Stilton. Before that it was not spectacular. Maybe its way too young at this point or maybe its closing again ? Or maybe, and i hope for that, it hasnt decanted enough. Will try again in 3 hours or so.
6 hours after decanting, second glass:
Smell is still excellent, at this point i smell fruit, flowers, raisins and some faint leather. But the main smell is freshly squeezed grape-juice.
The taste has improved, maybe its the temperature, this morning the bottle came out of my storage room under the stairs. The temperature there is about 5 degrees lower then my room temperature.
It still is very complex, sweet but also lots of tannins and a little acid. I detect some old wood and cigars.
The aftertaste goes on forever, after 2 minutes i still taste sweetness. It also burns a little in the back of my throat.
All with all i liked it, but im not too enthousiastic at this stage. Maybe it was a off-bottle, maybe the wine is still way too young or is closing again but at this point i rate it 91-92
With 9 bottles left in my cabinet i try this wine again in 5 years but it could easily be stored for another 15-25 years.
