With Hart at the Crystal Wine tasting.

What a stunner. Took me by surprise! I didn’t have super high expectations for this, and lowered my expectations after the lackluster 1998. But this was delicious.

In the glass: bright intense ruby.

On the nose: muuuch less development than the 1998, and magnitudes more expressive on the nose. Intense blackcurrant, blueberries, sweet aromatic oak, tobacco.

On the palate: high intensity of fruit on the palate. The 2001 remains a structured wine, but it’s very very fine grained with nearly no harshness. Mid+ acidity. Lonng finish.

The 2001 was stunning and is a wine in its early prime drinking window.