Rock's profile

2006 Monte Antico - Toscano Rosso
Give this baby about an hour and it is better then you'll expect. It's got easy to decipher Italian terroir and a mouth coating blackberry flavor with just enough tannin and a bit of acid to be a food worthy wine. This isn't light at all, it's got beef to it, and imparts an earthy, almost minty characteristic on the mid-palate and the oak is detectable on the back palate. Obvious Sangiovese characteristics with the Bordeaux grapes to give a little bit of structure. This is as good as advertised. It's not utterly amazing but it truly has some complexity and staying power. This could go even a lil while more. Buy some more of this while it's cheap and available!

2000 Maso Bergamini - Moscato Rosa
Like raspberry syrup, delicious, thick and penetrating. As a dessert wine, held up great for nearly 10 years and still has penetrat. Almost liqueur like - pretty.

2003 Magnien, Frederic - Morey St-Denis Les Herbuottes
I think this was really going to evolve into something nice but it probably didn't get to sit open for awhile and could have benefited from decanting. True old-world Burgundy style showing lots of acid on the tongue right away but you could tell this had structure and there was fruit behind it. Eventually strawberry showed up but there was lots and lots of earth. Definitely a bit richer and darker than most Pinot Noir wines. If I had it to do over I would have decanted. There was probably enough here to compliment food for sure.

2004 Pibarnon - Les Restanques de Pibarnon
This wine was all kinds of gorgeous. 70% Mourvedre and 30% Grenache, it showed true Southern Rhone power and what the Bandol is capable of. Decanted for 30+ mins, There was all kinda of vibrant black fruit with a silky smooth...eventually all kinds of focus and penetration on the back palate showing off plum and black cherry. Coated the mouth with flavor. Easy to drink and delicious. Didn't fade at all. I wish I had another bottle. Drinking beautifully now, powerful enough for steak, medium on the tannins so there's even more life left.

2006 Adelsheim - Pinot Noir Willamette Valley
I always think "blueberry" when I think Oregon Pinot - this was definitely more sour cherry with some minerality hiding behind it on the nose, but very much a classic Oregon Pinot nose. As with most wines it got better after being open about 30-45mins and really showed off it's smooth, crisp finish with good acid doing well with my cheese pizza. Legs are slow. Not a tremendously complex wine but it's definitely solid with good fruit components and easy to drink. Ready to drink now.