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International Wine Cellar
Author: Stephen Tanzer
Issue: Issue 96
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Medium bright ruby. Slightly sauvage aromas of cassis, dark chocolate, meat, leather and black pepper. Stylish and sweet, with moderately dense, creamy flavors of raspberry, roast meat and tobacco. Rather sophisticated texture for California wine. I would have scored this wine higher were it not for its slightly drying tannins, which did not soften even as the middle palate grew increasingly silky with extended aeration.
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Jancis Robinson
Author: Jancis Robinson
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Very vigorous crimson. Looks exceptionally healthy. Still quite a 'buried’ bouquet. Big and bold and sweet on the palate delivering lots of pleasure. Quite powerful but at least there is fruit on the front palate to compensate for lots of very fine tannins at the end.
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Wine Advocate
Author: Robert Parker
Issue: 132
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Now don't get me wrong, 88 points signifies a very good to excellent wine. But in the context of the vintage, not to mention what this wine should be, this is a disappointment. The 1997 tastes as if it were made from yields that were too high. They may tell you it is elegant and complex, but, truthfully, there is not much depth, and the wine will have a relatively short lifeline of 10-12 years. A dark ruby color is accompanied by a complex nose of plums, black cherries, currants, smoke, and leather. The wine reveals more new oak than normal for Opus, as well as medium body, good depth, dry, hard tannins in the finish, and little weight or length. Drink this over the next 8-10 years. P.S. By the way, the price went up $20 and the quality has gone down.
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Wine Spectator
Author: James Laube
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A rich, decidedly earthy style of Opus, showing currant, anise, black cherry, mineral, leather and sage flavors that are focused and complex. 26,000 cases made.
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