TN- 1999 Barnett Cab Spring Mountain District

no decanting...

lovely plum coloring, nose of warm blueberry muffin, new oak & lurking cedar... smooth & fruity initially, with black & bing cherry coming on the front, followed by slight, slight mocha, some tobacco, ripe currant & ending with some lingering vanilla... still a lil, i mean a lil, tannic with some heat on the finish, though definitely not disjointed or overbearing... enjoyable now but will be better in a year... mmm 90-91 ish

CS,

2005 sounds about right for this wine. I had the 1995 last year (8 years after the vintage) and it was drinking very well. Here is my tasting note.

VM

i had this with a simple dinner of BBQ'd NY steak & Ventura lobster tails, sauteed mushrooms, zucchini & squash...

decanted 1 hour

definitely more approachable then last time... inky black coloring, some sediment showing on the bottle... at first vibrant nose of dark fruits, revealing some cedar now & a little melted chocolate (1 1/2 hours later)... thick, full, milky dark fruits on the palate, with full bitter-sweet chocolate brownie influence, ripe black currants & tobacco through to the finish... glad to say the new oak has completely subsided, and the finish, while still a lil' tannic, is long & lingering with chocolate notes... solid 92

still think this will be better 6 mo.'s from now, but with a little time, this is quite enjoyable now

Excellent! Dark chocolate? I'm a little suprised, but pleasantly so, that this one is heading that way. I expected more of a spice box evolution. Bottle #2 will be opened this Winter. Thanks for sharing your notes, I'll be sure to return the favor!

comet

yeap, i got chocolate... i stopped short of calling it mocha because it wasn't sweet. i tried to get that across, it was like a bitter-sweet dark chocolate... very nice medium to full bodied wine.