Birthday bottle. First of 12 — a month ago
1995 vintage. Great fill, foil and label. Perfect cork. From a top-notch cellar. Decanted and tasted over the course of two hours. Volcanic ash-styled sed vs chunky-style. Big funk on the nose that resolved after 7-8 minutes. Wine was showing decently (in the 69-72 degree range) but lacking any tannic structure. Placed the decanter atop an ice bucket bath to drop the temp down to 60 degrees or so. Took about 20 minutes but the tannins kicked in the door to say hello. Fruit components stayed constant. Pauillac tendencies were all there. As is the case often with older BDX, the decaying matter/leaves at the onset transitioned to graphite/lead pencil and espresso flavors. This was a superior bottle in great shape. Top of this wine’s specific bell curve. Comparable bottles would look to be drinking this well for the next 5-7 years without dropoff. Out of larger format…could possibly push this into 9.4 status. 2.5.24. — 2 months ago
1999 Opus- this 25 year old Napa wine was superb. The longer the decanting the more flavorful it became. Spicy at first sip with bursts of flavor from dark berries, leathery tannins, currant, earth and strong blackberry. Gains intensity and shows its depth and concentration on the finish, which is long and detailed. — 4 months ago
Medium lemon yellow , persistent fine perlage . At first quite shy , needs a bit of time to get going . Then buttered pastry , confit lemon and roast nuts , quite bold and rich , just a hint of chalky minerality . On the palate the richer , deeper theme continues , those pastry and buttery notes , confit lemon and a creamy mouthfeel . Long balanced finish , the chalky acidity really helping to cut through richer , mouth filling profile . Coming back to this at the end of the meal , having sat 6 hours in the glass , this still shows remarkable freshness and life. This seems young to me still , certainly has everything for a long life ahead , better in 5 years perhaps and will show well a further 10-15 perhaps . — 5 days ago
1989 vintage. Tasted 5.5.23 (9.5), 4.4.23 (6 different btls-avg 9.4) and 12.9.22 (9.6). Above average fill for the age and impressive cork (about 70% saturated). Decanted and tasted over the course of two hours. Threw a decent amount of powdery sed. Medium nose slightly muted for the first 10 minutes or so but then came roaring to life. Yes, still the hallmark blueberries and cocoa powder along with a dash of raspberry but bigg graphite with this bottle. Drank consistently great for 1.75 hours, then seemed to lose a little steam at the very end. Not improving but still think cellar dwellers need to be popped in the next five years to enjoy the magic before it fades. 3.28.24. — a month ago
Yeah, what can I say. Nice wine for sure, but for some reason when I see the Silver Oak label my expectations rise. Realizing this is the Alexander Valley version. But 2011! Thirteen years old. Still rather single note, strong oak tannins still overshadowed what maybe underneath it. A bit disappointed I am afraid. We pulled it out with my first ever Tomahawk ribeye… so yeah. — 3 months ago
First time tasting the ‘19 vintage, and the Produttori edged out one of my fave under the radar barolistas this early on. Maybe because it released sooner? Both red fruited with sour cherries and elegant tamed tannin/acid, but the Produttori had another gear of sweet incense and hard candy. The vintage does remind me of a more approachable’13 from a tannin perspective. — a month ago
Thijs Hendriks
First edition, blend of 1967-1981, very fresh — 20 days ago