Met friends for dinner and in keeping with my inventory reduction I brought two wines from my orphan bin.
1996 Opus One-I was never a fan of the over priced wine but I did buy it fo r a few years more out of curiosity. The wine was in perfect shape. Dark purple no signs of bricking or aging. Nose shows a bit of maturity with a firm cedar note over cassis and blackberry and a whiff of barnyard. A bit Bordeaux-like on the palate with a fair amount of woody cedary flavors. Pl enty of black fruits and a slight mineral note on the finish. Fairly resol ved tannins with a bit of dryness at the end. Not as bad as i thought. B+2003 Gaja Sori San Lorenzo-Very dark reddish purple in the glass. I always find San Lorenzo to be the darkest and most fruit forward of Gaja's wines. Effusive nose of smoke and tar with black fruits and black coffee. Smoot h on the palate, plummy and ripe (2003 was a fairly ripe vintage) Black che rry, cassis, coffee, anise in a fairly powerful package. I was with some I talian winemakers from Alto Adige and they swooned over the Gaja.