Just after opening:

Ruby Red Color
Muted nose of earth, chocolate and dark fruit... little bit sweet.
Palate is fairly shutdown as well... seems a little bit acidic, oaky, and tannic. I'm hoping this will open up and show more fruit to balance it all out.


After a much needed hour:

The nose is really starting to come around. Just walking back in the room I pick it up now.
The palate has completely smoothed out as well. Black and blue fruits now integrate together the rest of this wine in a very gorgeous way. At 13% alcohol, the balance between fruit and terrior is fantastic. Still plenty of tannin, but they are round and delicious. This wine will certainly improve a bit more in bottle though it's drinking very well now... So far the more time it has to decant, the better it gets.
Blueberry, chocolate, tar, blackberry, cherry, plum, tobacco... it's all in here. Really loving this.

Sorry for the disjointed TN, but at least the wine is not.

Rev rates it: 93... but given a little more air tonight, I may edit this score up a point.

Drink now with 2 hrs decanting to hit its prime, but will improve in cellar. I have five more.. hopefully I can keep my hands off for 2 years before trying another.

rev,

how does this compare to the 01? i have some on the way.

The '01 was lacking just a slight bit in acidity, but that doesn't keep it from scoring big.

The more air this gets, the more fruit that comes out of it. They are both tremendous wines, both have the same underlying terrior notes.

I first said that the '01 was drink now, and it is to a point, but now I think it'll really also improve in complexity if given enough time.

These wines are expensive, but completely worth it in my opinion. I really love this style... big fruit, low alcohol, great terrior..... these will be huge winners in a few years.

Damn.. I gotta up my score i think.

I cellared a ton of this wine after I found it in London for dirt cheap (about $25 a bottle IIRC from Harrod's and Fortnum and Mason) in December 2001. On tasting the wine then, i thought it needed significant time in the cellar. Given your current impressions Revlis I may need to open one up now.

thanks rev. now i can't wait for the fedex guy to come

i have a 98 that has been calling me lately, and while i think the 98 and 99 tuscan vintage are somewhat similar, my preferences lie slightly with 99. i'll have to try this, making sure to give it ample opportunity to open up. thanks rev, i'll start with two hours, then assess from there.

Recently I tried the first of six bottles and had a completely different experience with the 99' Solengi. Having heard how backward this wine was I decanted for over 12 hours . Brando and Emotram both had the same reaction that it was still a wall of tannin in need of some serious cellar time.

Ojeffso gave me a taste of this tonight at his house while I was rummaging throught the "jb wing" of his wine cellar searching for some suitable wines to entertaing my boss with this Sun. I thought this wine was still a baby, but you can see the potential. Much different from the '01. A touch lighter and more nuanced. Hands off for 3 years, imo.

jb

I agree... this still needs time... guessing how much is a problem for me..... but yes indeed, tannins those are. If you have a lot though, it's still very much drinkable IMO with proper decanting.

Welcome aboard, Rigga.

It's about $@&% time ... it's only been 13 months since we first discussed this!

i drank this over two nights. i saved just a taste for the second night.

the first night this was a bruiser, but not quite as tannic as the recently tasted 2001. although the wine is supposedly 25% each of cabernet sauvignon, merliot, syrah and sangiovese, i found the sangiovese dominated on the nose and the finish. not the acidity of a typical sangiovese wine and much more structure. on the second night the wine had smoothed out. a beautiful wine that i will revisit in about two years. me93

Sounds fairly identical to what I was thinking about this wine. The 2001 has even less acidity.

Welcome aboard Gerry

This wine has considerable potential (but I still believe Parker and the WS overrated it) imo but needs a lot more time. Mature by 2010.

I waited all this time for THAT??!!! hehehehe. J/k JWN1
Glad you liked it.... I can't wait to see what this does with some more time... same for the 2000 and 2001.

Hope you don't feel you wasted it because of me. ;-)

Not at all. I'm glad you reminded me that I had a lot of it cellared. A full note will be in the next Oeno-File.