With Hart, James, Zi, DAT and Wern. Bottle from me

Years ago, Brandon ordered the 1997 Granato at Blue Hill, and it was glorious. I don’t rmb the details but it was just silky, rich. I’ve been waiting for an occasion to try this, although this is apparently still very very young.

In the glass: a deep rich ruby with deep core, but wide bright garnet rim.

On the nose: fresh off the bottle, this smelled horrid. This intense raisin / reductive smell. Just bad. Hated it. Decided to drop this into a decanter. Thankfully, this wasn’t heat damaged (as I was initially worried about). With time (2ish hours in the decanter), the weird smells blew off. Red plums dominant and cherry. Leather. I’m not usually a fan of wines that are red plums dominant but this was nice. I assume no oak?

On the palate: a surprising dollop of acidity. Mouth watering. Mid+ intensity on palate. Mid bodied. Softish tannins although still with good structure.