Dinner hosted by the Kums, with advisors and investors, at Jade Palace.

My, what a delicious wine.

In the glass: deep dark ruby, with a purple tinge. Full bodied.

On the nose: ALL montroses need a shit ton of air. Don’t let anyone ever tell you otherwise. Fresh off the bottle, this was a very linear blackberries and blueberries. It was DISTINCT, but extremely primary and shy / tight. Some slight cedar. Smelled nothing like the Montrose I know. But oh my, as it breathed…. The fruits intensified, and got increasingly richer, darker and broodier. Spicy cedar forms at the mid ground – a solid but fine balanced oak. Leather, and a ton of graphite. An earthiness. Intense, perfumey, supremely balanced.

On the palate: a surprisingly lively and bright acidity. Loooong finish. Lean. Bone dry. This wine still had plenty of distinct tannins, although sufficiently resolved to be very pleasurable.

This wine has soooo much life in it, and has all the essential elements to go the distance. It doesn’t have that insane explosive nose of the 2003 vintage though.

I’ve had insanely good luck with the 2008 vintage in general. Like the 2014, the 2008 was a very above average vintage but got completely shadowed by the ungodly 2009 and 2010 that came right after. But I’ve had some phenomenal wines from the vintage, and they are almost always at a discount.