Dark red color with a copper tinge. Aromas of dark red fruit. Medium body. Entry has a hint of sweetness. Dry with dark cherry, tobacco, little coffee notes. Very bright acidity for such an old wine brings it to a perfect balance. Tannins are there, but well balanced. Excellent wine.
$25 — 2 months ago
A lovely complement to spaghetti and meatballs with Fra Diavolo sauce. Soft mouth feel and dark ruby color. After decanting and breathing for an hour the dark cherry and chocolate really pop. — 3 months ago
Lovely. Soft and drinkable. Almost finished the bottle in one sitting. — 4 months ago
Think it’s a little young?? Idk, very good. Think it could enrich in time. Coal, oak, smoky, but a little too red fruity on after taste. However after a glass that acidity is very nice. Maybe it just needed to open up. — 6 months ago
The winemakers are very dedicated and doing some interesting wines. The property is beautiful. One of our favorites from the area. — a month ago
Magnum, vertical tasting. Deep red fruits, vanilla, leather and delicious — 2 months ago
So tasty!!!! Boldly aromatic with lots of fruit like cherry, plum, loads or chocolate and tobacco. Full bodied with strong tannins balanced by a cleansing fruity acidity. Love this wine but getting to taste an older vintage is special. — 4 months ago
Blew me away, perfectly balanced with notes of dark fruit, underlying tones of some floral notes.  — 7 months ago
Saw this wine At Ricardo’s — 4 months ago
Another big boi from this producer. Obviously uses at least a significant proportion of partially dried grapes. Fairly saturated color. Nose is rather subdued, reluctantly giving up scents of leather, underbrush, crushed rock, and dark cherry underneath all of that non-fruit stuff. In the mouth, it’s big, with initial slightly bitter, extracted notes. Tannic. Dissimilar from straight Valpos in its size and austerity. Dissimilar from Ripasso-style Valpos in that the fruit is not especially ripe or sweetish. It will go well with our stuffed shells in red sauce, but is a little challenging on its own. It occurs to me that this might fit in well in a tasting of 2017s from the left bank in Bordeaux. In other words, very atypical for a Valpo. Still, it’s pretty good, as long as you don’t harbor any expectations of typicity.
UPDATE: two nights later (using a vacuum closure), this has actually improved. Kind of amazing for a Valpo of this age. The fruit has moved closer to front-and-center, and it seem a bit more Calpo-like, though it’s still pretty large-framed. Upping score from 8.8 to 9.0. — 4 months ago
Benjamin Hickey
Dry but lots of fruit. 1988 — 22 days ago