Had This with Dinner at Equinox, a restaurant in DC near the Haye-Adams Hotel (and the White House) on Christmas Eve (Mrs. TJ and I have a tradition of eating out and dressing up for a nice meal on Christmas Eve (well, if you call three years a tradition)...

This wine had thin, weak, spindly legs -- they almost ooze rather than run. The color was really almost exactly what I would call medium. It had a nose of sour cherries that quickly blew off to dark(er) cherries and cassis.

Initially, this tasted almost like it smelled -- like sour cherries and dark cherries, too. If you mixed in a little gravel, that is a pretty good picture of how this wine tasted in the first 10 minutes of being opened in the glass (we did not have it decanted)

After about 45 minutes, it gave off a brief wiff and hint of roasted meats. ZIt paired best with the course I was having at the moment -- open ravioli of sweetbreads and woodland mushrooms (which was delicious!). After the course was done, but before the next course, vanilla notes began to appear as well.

After about 65 minutes open, there were hints of sage on the nose.

Finally, after about an hour and 45 minutes open, some peppery notes appearing as well as some brambliness.

I'd have to say that this wine was pretty good, but it was only starting to show it's inner beauty as we were finishing the bottle. As usual, decanting would have helped, as would have waiting an hour or two before starting to taste it.

I would give it a TJ rating of 88 right now. With certainly some upside to it as it develops (or for those patient enough to decant and wait).