Had this wine with Revlis on Sat. Thank you to cave girl for donating this to the 6/15 dinner. Wine was tasted in Riedel Vinum Bordeaux stems. Wine was decanted for 1.5 hours prior to tasting.

Wine is a dark reddish-purple in the glass. No signs of browning. Aromatics were fantastic. Loads of dark cherry, blackberry, and earth. Unfortunately, the taste didn't quite live up to the nose. There was copious amounts of fruit, black cherry and currant, chocolate and quite a bit of oak. Finish was of moderate length. Tannins are very mellow right now. All told an excellent effort with an unforgetable nose. jb Rating 92 pts.

If you have this wine, I would drink it now. The tannins are really tamed and it is drinking well.

jb

I have never been that impressed with this wine - 88 points or so. Perhaps I am biased against it because a group of us once ordered it off a wine list rather than buying the 94 Screaming Eagle they had. The Screaming Eagle was only $350. We really blew it when we didn't buy that wine that day.

jb, I remember this wine.... the nose was tremendous!!!! But as you said, it didn't really follow through on the palate.... the extraction was no where to be found in comparison. I don't remember exactly, but I think I rated it a little below you.

Jones, that is a hard story to read. Screaming Eagle only $350 at a restaurant? *Droool*

It was at Brix in Napa. We had just gotten out of the California Cabernet Society tasting so we were all a little Caberneted out. Had the Del Dotto as compromise to a couple of people (including me) who were pushing for the Screaming Eagle. Actually, the best wine at dinner that evening was a Dehlinger Pinot Reserve 94. Like I said we were all a little tired of Cab at that point in the day.

That's verry interesting:

I was @ Brix a few times over the years, & found their Wine prices very HIGH.

NOTE to Jones: Remember, we talked about Sauv. Blancs before. In particular, Araujo vs Spottswoode. At that point, I never tried the Araujo. You & GMTinJapan like Araujo more.

Well, I did try it @ Brix (this conversation reminded me), & I like Spottswoode a little more.

And, most of the time, I do agree with the 2 of you. Well, everybody has their taste, I guess.

That surprises me since I believe Araujo SB is hands down the best produced in the Valley. The 2001 is drinking great by the way. Had two bottles with friends at Bouchon in the Valley two weekends ago. Perfect oyster wine. $51 each off the list.

The Screaming Eagle at Brix was when the 94s had just been released so it must have been four or five years ago.

At the June 15th, I won the same bottle and Arleen won the Cadence. I put both into our group tasting of merlots. When I posted on the the WS Forum that it finished 7th out of 9 wines, I think it upset a few forumites. The Cadence finished 2nd. The sad thing is that I won the Darioush shiraz and the Clos Mimi earlier. I turned both down since I had arranged for those donations and didn't think it was fair. Both would have been far superior wines to the Del Dotto.

I remember you telling me that...

...have alot of the 94 Del Dotto but the 96 is my favorite at the moment.

anyone have any idea where the '95 del dotto stands right now. i've got '95-'99 and was looking to open one soon for a meat based dinner.

Hi Frankie...had the 95 the other night. It is a little on the sweet side with plum, black cherries and a jammy quality. I loved it but thats my palate.

CaveGirl: Is it good to go now. Or, wait?

...great now but decant for about an hour.

thanks cave girl and hi to you too! thanks for the fall mailer, looks like you've been busy. can hardly wait for the 01 Cab Francs

Sounds good on the 95, hopefully we'll be cooking this weekend and we can crack it out. unfortunately our favourite wine drinking couple will be unavailable to imbibe this weekend, they'll be bummed i drank it without them.

GATC - I remember your notes on that Merlot tasting and while I'm delighted that Ben Smith's Cadence came in #2, did you really consider it a Merlot? I'm pretty sure I brought the Tapteil (Maybe Ciel de Cheval?) 6/15 and they are both big Bordeaux-style blends, predominantly CS. Just checking as some outstanding WA blends have been mistakenly labeled Merlot-based......Uriah case in point...

Hi Cave Girl!!!! Thanks for your delivery help, came through fine...

Queen - It was thrown in as a ringer.