1. Guido Porro Barolo 2003; score=1What a disappointment. It is difficult to imagine that Antonio Galloni of WA gave 91! This is the wine only Uncle-E can appreciated but he was not here. Winepath is the only one who thought this is rather elegant. The color is very light and you can see through. Piroca wanted to shake it so that the pigment sank in the bottom may get mixed to make it darker. Nose has some floral note but has sort of chemical or tar-like smell (?characteristic for Borolo). Taste; what can we say. Some tannin and acidity; the rest you have to use your imagination but I (uncle-N) can not taste anything else. Wheres is the fruits??? Piroca gave -1 (minus one).
2. Castano Hecula Monastrell 2004, score=2+This is a very decent everyday wine (at $10) and is a good value. Nose is nice with some fruits and slight funk. Taste does not blow you away but nice combination of tannin and acid with some black fruits and coffee in the finish. Piroca will not like me saying this but this is a good food wine.
3. Robert Foley Claret 2003, score=4+Hands down this is the winner. What a wine! Remind us of Mollydooker but has more stronger tannin and "candied" fruits aspect is less pronounced. Nose is very nice with lots of black fruits, cherry and licorice, vanilla and caramel. Mouth feel is velvety smooth and silky. Fruits bomb but not over-the-top. Long finish with caramel and chocolate.
Only complaints we have about this wine is a terrible label and high price!
4. Ben Marco Expresivo 2003, Score=3Malbec, Cab, Shiraz blends. We all liked this as the second best. Good nose with black fruits and slight smoked meat notes. Good mouth feel with black fruits and relatively soft but nice tannin.
5. Excelsior Cab Sauv 2005, score=2+This cab from South Africa has been one of the favorite everyday wine of Winepath. This year it honors a "screw" top. Again, this is a solid wine although not anything extraordinary. Excellent value and good everyday wine.
5 comments:
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Castano Hecula Monastrell 2004 decanting brought out the fruit and complexity. There is less of a funk though this is probably due to a milder aroma. The remaining aroma is sweet raspberry. I would elevate the 24hr rating to a 3.
I agree with Jimmy. We had a similar experience in that we tasted this wine (80% left in the bottle) and then we finished the bottle next day. The quality of the wine was much better as Jimmy described.
Uncle N:
Do we have a new memeber, called Prico?
He did not like the Barolo, either...
Ooops. Corrected.
I tasted the 2003 Guido Porro this evening and thought it was wonderful. Based on your comments the type of wines you enjoy are more "modern" in style, very fruit driven with chocolate, caramel and candied notes. You will NEVER find any such flavours in a traditional wine such as Porro's. His wines are unfiltered and remain faithful to tradition. His are serious wines meant for the cellar. Patience rewards with the Barbaresco and Barolo traditionalists. Salud!
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