2/12/2014; Gerardi's Little Store, Dayton, OH; $33.33/750 ml; bottled 2011. Kobrand/Heidelberg. 20.5 pabv. CA 0079, LT09B; 0 84692 000630. Opened about 48 hours in advance for the Cobb Christmas Crash. Tipp Ciity. OH.
Removed from the storage unit and cork cleanly pulled with the Durand; no purple on the sides. Decanted 10 am into a glass pitcher. At 700 ml poured there are some tiny crusts,
and gently transferred into a decanter with stopper.
Optical: Purple with a lightening cherry edge [about 1 mm]; darker color not quite as dense in the Pitiless (Impitoyable). Thick sheeting suggests high extract.
Violets tailing into cherry, second sniff: add cardamom and thyme (cassis). Blackcurrant, five spices, moving into both herbs and dark fruits/berries of headscratching complexity and scintillancy. Again scents of century-old baked brick minerality, as sometimes is encountered in recently torn-down fireplaces. At 2 hours, the nose has moved into pan-roasted China tea over the violet and green lime peel scents.
At first great heat, which experience tells will mellow in a day or two. Fruits are almost impossible to dissect at this stage, but on the finish there's a hint of sappy apple juice with a hint of sweetness. The typical balance of a Taylor vintage port, moving from dryness to some sweetness now. The anthocyanins and tannins are almost completely fruit-coated now; will need time to relax a bit. The heat is down a bit at 2 hours and after a bit of swirling disappears. Ripe tannis are starting to show.
At 48 hours, just before leaving for Cobb's: Lots of integration of above, with great harmony. Cherry-mint and verbena, with medium tannins starting to integrate; at this point a bit sweeter than the average young Taylor VP. but with its typical draw-you-in finish. Will be served with Stilton and Santa fruit stickers.
Probably just too much at this stage for the uneducated palate (refers to most of the guests who sampled); however, after 6 days in refrigerator beginning a lovely process of integration--usual cherry, violets, and fennel; anise, sweet-rising sap, and fine-grained intaglio-like tannins, and fine dry finish. Leave it alone from now until 2024. Then until who knows when? I'll not outive these bottles. (97 pts.)
