With Hart and the wine hoes at mine.

I was very excited. James brought the 2016 a while back, and that was a remarkably good wine. It has this most remarkable tannin structure: just fiiiiine powdery tannins. Super dense. I’ve been wondering if that was a fluke or if this was truly a damn good label. (Hint: it is)
This was left to breathe in the bottle for about 1.5 hours.

Very crumbly and dry cork.

In the glass: deep dark garnet with opaque core (super concentrated) and tinge of purple hue.

On the nose: fresh off the bottle, hugggge waft of reductive flintiness. Big immensely concentrated nose of blueberries, but really mostly dominated by red fruits like red currant. HIGH alcohol. A lot of oak and its associated spices: cloves, licorice. There’s this SUPER pretty minty lift at the top note, almost like eucalyptus but not really. Idk I couldn’t place it. But this was critical – this fresh mintiness added a balance that prevented this from being cloying.

On the palate: high fruit intensity. High alcohol that’s very noticeable but thankfully well integrated enough that it wasn’t offensive. Very full bodied. Long finish. Bright mint at tip of tongue. Leather and earthiness in exhale.

This is a DAAAAMN high quality and well made wine. The fruits are super intense and concentrated. It has a lot of oak, but was still in balance. It has such complexity. It’s actually shocking how youthful this is for a 20yo wine – I don’t see why this couldn’t last another 10-15 easily.

But I gotta be honest: wines like this are just. Too fucking powerful and intense for me. Maybe this would be more easily palatable for me if it was served a little colder, and with a meal!