Hello; I answer up to the implied challenge of Mark´s recent (and, as usual, very good-natured) comment: in the absence of Dale and Bill it is up to us lesser spirits to produce taste notes to a needy world ... Where did we find this wine, really? Well, somewhere behind a paper box under a bench in the cellar is the most up to date answer, but, before that - wher did we buy it? Apaprently we paid 110.00 of the currency of seller´s choice - possibly it was in the tax-free on the humble airport of Sturup, meaning, it happened several years back (possibly c 2000). Anyway. [c] limpid, but with a decidedly brown edge on it. [n] a whiff of very dark fruits, prunes ... what have you ... turns into chocolate, and coffee, and stable, and more coffe ... and this particular smell of pre-xerox stencil apparatus (the kind that gives you blue text) ... [p] hits, but gently, with a very well mannered acidity that goes all the way to the base of your tongue, but is balanced by a sweetness that is all ripeness and none of young fruit. tannines are present, and fine-limbed but intense. This is all about maturity and style. If it were a poem, it would be a haiku describing the splendour of the autumn leaves in the Emperor´s garden, while mentioning the inevitability of winter in the last line. Slightly like a Ribera del Duero (Hacienda Monasterio 1993) we tasted with friends a couple of weeks ago. According to google a very old chateau in côtes de castillon, east of St Emilion. Can´t wait till we find the next bottle, somewhere behind a paper box under a bench in the cellar.
Cheers
Nils Gustaf