Had a dinner guest last night who brought a 1.5L of this he bought from auction several years back and had been saving for a special occassion. Decanted for about 1 hr. prior to tasting.

The cork had a good bit of crusty mold at the top and was saturated about 1/2 up from the bottom. No apparent mustiness in the aromas, so I decanted 1/2 the bottle.

Color was deep violet to even-deeper garnet, with a smidge of bricking. Long, thin & clear legs. A noseful of warm red fruit, spice, cedar, toast (graham crackers?), and mint - huge nose to say the least. Plush dark cherry and plum flavors, mint, anise, and that wonderful Rutherford dust; a fair amount of soft, round tannin still present and a long, spicy red fruit and cedar finish.

Just a tad shy in the fruit department, but the wine has aged very gracefully IMHO. At peak, holding perhaps another year or two before the fruit begins to fade more noticeably. 91 pts.

Had this wine w/2" thick grilled pork chops w/shiitake & portabello mushroom sauce, mashed sweet potatoes, and a 'salad' of sauteed bacon, onion, sugar snap peas, sun-dried tomato, a dash of balsamic vinegar and blue-cheese crumbles.

What happend to the half that you didnt decant?

It was decanted after we finish the 1st decanter-full - trust me it didn't go to waste (well, maybe to mine !).