Opened up one bottle of each vintage last night at dinner (just hamburgers and homemade fries). Neither was decanted.
I've had both wines previously, and had found the '97 to be excellent. When I had first tried the '98 back in 2001, I couldn't finish my glass. Almost undrinkable. THe only reason I loaded up on this wine was that it was made by Heidi Barrett. However, the few additional years of cellaring really did both wines a world of good. Here are my notes:
'97 Sanigiovese:98 Sangiovese. Excellent juice. Beautiful ruby red color. Nose of bing cherries and raspberries. It was thick, with the wine coating the glass with a gorgeous bright red tint. Tasted cherries, raspberries, black pepper and a large amount of oak. Finish was long - 15-20 seconds. The tannins had softened considerably by now, and the sweetness of the grapes were balanced well with light acidity. Overall, this is a smooth, easy drinking wine that doesn't require a whole lot of thinking. What you see is what you get - a simple, straightforward, fruity wine with excellent texture and length. This may sound weird, but this wine went perfectly with fries and ketchup! 91 points
98 Sangiovese. My original memories of this wine were that it was too hot and had a repugnant vegetal odor. Not so this time! I found it to have mellowed considerably over the past two years. Much 'thinner' than the 97. Color was not as bright as the 97, as it was tinged with a brownish hue. I caught a lot of cherries and raspberries in the nose, but also a fair amount of wet grass (typical for this year?). The hotness has subsided considerably, and that's what changed my opinion about this wine. Replacing the heat was light tannin, which I found a really the 98 to be a little on the 'watery' side. 86 points.
It was really interesting being able to try two vintages of the same wine side by side, and compare them to my memories of the same wines from a few years ago.
Original Post