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The 2009 Napa Valley Cabernets at Age 10 (Jul 2019)

Bright, dark red with ruby highlights. Very dark aromas of black cherry, cassis, blueberry and licorice. Then rather plush, sweet and full for Opus One, conveying a chocolatey ripeness to its dark berry flavors. Finishes with smooth tannins that build without going dry. This wine was broad and smooth from the outset. Today it’s a…

Daniel Thomases on Tuscany (Jul 2000)

Fresh, moderately deep ruby-red. Spicy, lively aromas of cinnamon and vanilla. Round in flavor and rather elegantly styled, but doesn’t offer the weight or impact of a major wine.

Central Tuscany 2003 and 2004: A Tale of Two Vintages
 (June 2007)

The 2004 Sassicaia is a lovely, understated effort. Medium in body, it presents nuanced layers of sweet dark fruit, licorice, menthol and toasted oak that gradually open onto a finely-knit frame of notable length. Today it appears to be quite reticent and still holding back much of its potential. Both bottles I sampled showed less…

Central Tuscany – Maremma, Montepulciano, Carmignano and Beyond (Nov 2016)

The 2013 Sassicaia is a wine of grace and understatement. Silky, perfumed and medium in body, the 2013 is one of the most delicate young Sassicaias I can remember tasting. At times, the 2013 does not taste much like a wine from Bolgheri at all. That is not positive nor negative, but simply an observation….

Mission Complete: La Mission Haut-Brion 1928–2011 (Sep 2021)

Apart from a couple of impressive bottles at the turn of the millennium, the 1986 La Mission Haut-Brion has always left me wanting more. Deep in color, it has a static, black-olive-tinged nose that requires more delineation and lacks a bit of charm – as does the palate, which is sinewy and dense, yet missing…

Valpolicella & Soave: The Times, They Are A Changin’ (Feb 2021)

The 2015 La Poja, a varietal Corvina Veronese, blossoms in the glass with notes of smoked meats and crushed stone opening further to floral-tinged black cherries and balsamic spice. It’s velvety and deeply textural, offering ripe dark fruits complicated by salty minerals and hints of bitter herbs. Fine tannins slowly mount, making themselves known throughout…