Archives: Product Reviews

The 2020 Tignanello is so primary, so intensely fruit-driven, that it almost tastes like a barrel sample. A burst of red Sangiovese fruit opens first, followed by hints of blood orange, cinnamon, spice, dried flowers and mocha develop later. Time in the glass brings out striking dimensions. In 2020, Tignanello is wonderfully sleek and racy,…

Light gold color. Textbook Bollinger aromas of toast, lees and buttered toast, along with suggestions of fresh mushroom and white truffle. This is really about earthy tones, not fruit. Thick and fat to the point of being oily in texture, with deeply pitched sweet cream and butter tones and a slow-to-unfold singed pineapple flavor. For…

(L28630): Vivid gold. Peach, orange zest and gingerbread on the pungent, smoky nose and in the mouth. Lush and expansive, offering very good depth and power and picking up exotic toffeed apple and marzipan nuances with aeration. Closes sappy and long, with resonating spice and orange notes and a touch of candied fig.

In 2001 Tignanello captures a super-concentrated and dense expression of fruit that has been achieved with some loss of aromatic complexity and overall finesse. This is a super-ripe style with tons of dark fruit, smoke and toasted oak in a heavily extracted style that veers on excess. There is remarkable power here, but not the…

Red-ruby. Rather evolved, chocolatey nose shows hints of oxidation. Too old in the mouth and starting to lose its fruit. This can’t be right. But I’ve found considerable variation with this wine, with some bottles showing classic Palmer aromas and flavors of dark berries and violet while others have been distinctly leathery and meaty, with…

When the 1983 Palmer flies high, it touches the stars. This is another bottle proving that at 40 years old it is better now than ever before. It is completely resplendent on the nose that blossoms in the glass with that heady concoction of red and black fruit, freshly-rolled tobacco, violet petals and an underlying…