Tenuta dell’Ornellaia Vino da Tavola Ornellaia 2004
Thanks to Oliver. A blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot. Deep purple, medium red-pink rim. Coconut oak, plum, high quality but prominent oak spice, cinnamon. A well-balanced if very modern wine, potentially harmonious, possibly mild. Fruity and more finesseful on the finish. Closed down with airing, typical young wine behaviour. Not entirely sure which I prefer, this or the 2001, the two are really more similar than dissimilar in quality, and the vintage characteristics seem more equalized than ever, although paradoxically less glossed over than in the wines of the late nineties. Certainly less dense and thick than the 1999, and less complete than the 1997, if potentially a similarly elegant effort. Rating: 91+/92(+?)
Castello di Ama Merlot L’Apparita 1993
Deep ruby-black, watery ruby at the rim, looks youthful. Complex and subtle, especially compared to recent vintages. More high-acid, natural-tasting, firm, faintly cheesy-curranty cherry. Noble tobacco and a minor caper note. Nice, flavourful, faintly dry tannin. Long, mouth-cleansing. Great with food. Less dry than when I last had this a year earlier. In contrast to the 2004 Ornellaia, this early era (roughly up to the mid-nineties, perhaps up to and including the 1995 or 1996, as with Ornellaia’s Masseto), the 1993, ironically, comes across as barely oaked at all. That did not keep Patrick from preferring the more modern-styled, more “fruit bomb” like (not entirely true) Ornellaia. Rating: 93-?
Château Conseillante Pomerol 1995
My second contribution that day. Garnet-ruby-black, tiny orange rim. Mild round truffley red fruit, black cherry, forest floor, tobacco ash (including the Conseillante-typical cold ashtray top note). Soft tannin. Medium body and length. Some dried porcini on the finish. Nice little sweetness, roundness and soft roastedness. A typically elegant, perfumey, red-fruity, relatively finesseful, if forward and slightly light Pomerol. Rating: 89-
Château L’Evangile Pomerol 1995
Usually a pretty if relatively harmless vintage of Evangile, this was a disappointing bottle that Oliver and I thought bretty rather than cork-tainted. Garnet-ruby-black. Slight fecal touch/brettanomyces sewage to charcoal oak and softly raisiny red berry fruit. Dried black fungus, cigar tobacco ash. This should really have been better than the Conseillante. Rating: 87-/86? (or: N/R)
Greetings from Switzerland, David.
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„J'ai gâché vingt ans de mes plus belles années au billard. Si c'était à refaire, je recommencerais.“ – Roger Conti