Andrew Cullimore

9.2

Medium garnet , medium wide terracotta rim . Quite deep and darker spiced fruits , some floral and mineral iron filling hints . On the palate this shows more structure and deeper darker fruits than the 2007 , spiced cherry , mineral and long on the palate , dark tea and anis tinged . Quite gritty tannin , more robust and serious . Balanced fresh acidity . Still pretty young , more structured . This could do with a little more time , and will continue well a further 10 -12 years or so. — 2 days ago

Andrew Cullimore

9.1

Medium garnet core with garnet terracotta rim . Slightly more dry spice on the nose , porcini , dark tea , and dried rose . This is more tertiary on the palate too with dried mushroom , black tea , sweet dried red cherry and rose . This has quite fresh acidity and medium gritty tannins . Less body and structure than the 2012 but well balanced. This is showing well and will continue well for the next 5-8 years — 14 days ago

Andrew Cullimore

9.2

Medium ruby , terracotta , garnet rim . Quite aromatic , with cedar , tobacco , leafy redcurrant , blackcurrant , wet earth. Slightly rounded and red fruit focused sous bois on the palate , quite high acidity , but refined and red fruit focused. Slightly green tannins , but overall reasonable mineral tinged length . This is at peak , leafy but charming — 4 months ago

Andrew Cullimore

9.2

Garnet core , medium wide terracotta rim. Slightly balsamic sous bois , spiced red cherry , porcini , touch of menthol. On the palate this has good density , red cherry, porcini , good mineral tinged finish. Quite high acidity and slightly gritty tannin . Still showing very well , probably at peak drinking now . Now and over the next 5 years. Surprisingly good . — 9 days ago

Andrew Cullimore

9.0

Quite light garnet , wide terracotta rim . Quite a lot of smoky sous bois, with some light red fruits, sweet dry spices , touch of hickory . On the palate this is pretty evolved and has started to dry out slightly , with some some sweet red currant , dried spices, salty acidity and resolved tannin . Ok , slate tinged finish . Drink now , and probably would have been better a few years ago . — 9 days ago

Andrew Cullimore

9.1

Medium garnet , quite wide garnet terracotta rim . Quite mature and with mint , herbal cassis , touch of brown sugar, coffee , sous bois. On the palate this is medium bodied , sous bois , some red fruits , red plum , cassis . Quite spicy but still good volume and roundness on the palate also. Decent acidity , and some herbal touches on the good length finish . This is drinking well and will probably not improve . Now and over the next 5-10 years . — a month ago

Andrew Cullimore

9.1

Pretty deep ruby garnet with garnet , terracotta . Quite sweet , spiced , dried fruit nose , slightly volatile nose . On the palate this is better , meaty and rich spiced dried dark fruits, plum , fig. Quite grippy tannins and balanced acidity . Good density and rich meaty finish , a little porty, pretty good length . Dense and rich , much more than expected . Still dense and really quite young, held up well in the glass , this would probably continue at this level for a further 5-10 years . — 4 months ago

Andrew Cullimore

9.1

Slightly more browning than the Rocche, more terracotta and garnet rim . Deeper and quite meaty in character , bit more porcini , cured meats , dark fruit , more mineral . More meaty and compact on the palate too , touch of anis and rose , porcini , mineral , dark fruits . Well balanced more gritty tannin and quite fresh acidity . Good iron filling , anis tinged finish . This is more sombre and dark in character less charming and more rustic than the Rocche . Drinking well now , but will continue to give pleasure over the next 8-10 years or so — 2 days ago

Andrew Cullimore

9.1

Tasted blind . Medium garnet , garnet, terracotta rim . Quite spicy, cedar, red cherry. Quite ripe cherry , cedar and cut herbs . Fresh acidity , quite sweet on the palate , ripe tannins . Ok length . Medium bodied , won’t need that much more time . From now and over the next 10 years . — a month ago

Andrew Cullimore

9.0

Flight 2 , wine 1 . Quite deep garnet , less terracotta rim . This had a whiff of oxidation about it at first which seemed to somewhat dissipate with time . Some dark spiced fruits , liquorice and menthol hints , cedar and sous bois . On the palate good ripeness and spiced dark cherry hints . Good acidity and rounded tannin . Nice length also , offering some spiced black fruits and menthol hints . Don’t think this is a pristine bottle but was enjoyable none the less , I was unsure at first if this was Napa , but coming back to it … and reading my notes , it became quite obvious . However I had this down as the Ch Montelena , not the Dominus — 2 months ago