Langhe Nebbiolo 2009
G.D. Vajra
Nebbiolo
14.5% alcohol.
Pop and Pour: The color is a dark crimson. See through throughout the wine. Ruby highlights. Clear halo on edges. The nose is very BRIGHT. Showcases dried cherry and cranberry. Some tones of slight cream or vanilla. Some wood coming through, maybe like a stem or a root. Forest. Spiced apple. Seems more sharp than round on the nose. On the palate this wine is VERY smooth and elegant with red fruit for days, cranberry and cherry. Great acid accents. Feels lean on the palate. The last half of the wine picks up a monstrous pace of concentration. This wine is lean and to the point. Focused. Sharp. Transition from front palate to finish (mid palate) seems to struggle a bit. The wine disappears for a second, then reappears on the finish. Great finish. Mild to moderate tannins give a little structure. See how time treats this wine.
Fast Forward: 3 Hours. Heat seems to have spiked. Still wood or forest backed on the nose. Now black licorice has mixed in with the red fruit. On the palate the red fruit is still the star, but now the wine is much more dusty and tannin backed. Much drier. Still elegant, but much heavier in stride. Spice. Fruit is ripe, but now heavily mixed and a bit lost amongst all the static. Earlier the fruit had a much PURER voice, now there are many voices competing to be heard. I liked this wine better earlier. Has changed for sure. May change again. 24 Hours. Fruit is much more tart and thin. Mid palate has tannin, and the tannin seems to have gotten stronger. Finish is still strong. Front suggest a fading of the wine. Spice and heat are also much more pronounced.
Overall: This may be one of those "context" wines. In what context are you consuming this wine? Dinner? Watching a movie? At a party? How long will you have to drink this wine? Pop and Drop? Slow dinner? All of these things could affect how you perceive this wine. Sure all wine may have this aspect to them, but not all wine NEEDS your attention to detail like this wine does. For example, this is a much better food wine than cocktail wine. This wine is also better in its youth than it is with hours of air. I thought from the first taste this wine would need HOURS to unwrap, it needs time but not HOURS. More like HOUR. I did not taste in 1 hour, and should have. I liked this wine quite a bit on the first go around, I actually liked it quite a bit. The revisit did not prove favorable in my eyes, but that does not take away from my enjoyment EARLY. I somewhat struggle with this wine. It has POTENTIAL in the right context to be a REALLY special wine. The strength of the finish alone merits ABOVE AVERAGE. I will say this is an ABOVE AVERAGE wine, but be cognizant of the atmosphere you intend to consume this wine. It is elegant and red fruit focused, but not quite a Pinot Noir. I believe SOME time in the bottle will do this wine some good and be careful about letting this wine out too long with air, it may CRASH on you. So get some good apps, some adventurous friends, and open this bottle up to drink as your main course wine decants. In that context, this wine is ABOVE AVERAGE, barely, BUT ABOVE AVERAGE nonetheless. ABOVE AVERAGE