My last of the appellation wines from 2004, and with the exception of the 2003 vintage I have preferred the SC to the RRV…a good way to celebrate our re-fi last night.
Subdued at first, this really opened up after about 30 minutes of air. Kept diligently chilled at cellar temperature. Sappy red raspberry fruit is trying to hang on, but is being pushed to the background by a persistent “clean mushroom” aroma (IE, not earthy). It’s interesting. The body is full and thick in a Syrah kind of way, and the wine shows little acidity. Oak is nicely integrated on the finish, but there is little tannic structure remaining and the once barely-contained alcohol is now becoming more obvious (14.7% ABV for those keeping score). My enjoyment of this vacillated depending on where I happened to catch it during the drinking session…it’s still a tasty drink, but the minuses are starting to outweigh the pluses. Hold at your own peril: fading. 87(-) points.
Yes, hot. It didn’t start out that way, but as it sat open for 90 minutes or so it definitely went downhill for me. It was at its best about 45 minutes after opening.
I dunno, the only KB wine that really “Fell Apart” for me was the 03 Koplen. About 1 year after bottling that wine became grape flavored vodka…and I am talking about 6 bottles. I think that was a combination of very young fruit, IIRC, that was the second or third crop from that vineyard and the pH was a little on the high side.
Otherwise, I had an 03 4-Barrel last November or so and it was drinking very well.
Fair enough Tony but the style doesn’t really lend itself to aging that I can see. When I have drank these I don’t see what one could hope to gain by laying them down. I think they pretty much give what they got right out of the gate.
Thanks for the note. Still have a few of these that I am waiting for the appropriate night … and company … to open.
I go with the drink young and enjoy crowd. I know another wine that turned into vodka was the 04 Cohn (maybe it was the 03 … looking through my notes).
The '03s I have opened over the past year have been a complete mess with the 4-Barrel being worst of all…a disjointed vodka shot. The '04 RRV is also not aging well and I am not holding out much hope for the SV '04s. At this point I would love to flip them but that opportunity died about 6 months ago. Live and learn.
Jason; I usually like to age pinot noirs…domestic as well as French. However, I also buy, drink and enjoy certain styles which need to be drunk earlier. Naturally, “earlier” is a relative term. I am finding the KB SVDs to be best around 4+ years from vintage. I have opened and enjoyed both the 2004 Cohn and Koplen within the past week. Both were drinking extremely well, were not breaking down, and had integrated well enough to be rather food friendly. Possibly you had the 2003…I don’t feel they were quite as balanced as the '04s.
![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
![[dance2.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/a/a6ccdc94a15acd80c66296c39ad7b68296214956.gif "dance2"){kind=small}