For me, this is what wine is all about. Buying several bootles of a wine and following over time. I posted a note on this wine about 4 years ago here, and thought it would be fund to compare my notes from then and now. Not only does wine develope over time, så does palates. That said, I do find much consistecy between the notes.

Tasting note on the 2007 Burlotto Barolo Movigliero
The palate has good complexity with underlying sweet strawberries, licquorice, dirt and rose pedals. I love the balance and contrast between the sweet fruit and florality and the more masculine dirty and darker elements. On the finnish sour cherries appears and provides the acidity and balance, but the finnish is dominated by an almost over the top perfumed florality. The finnish is long. This wine is drinking very well right now. There is fruit, acidity and tannins to last longer. Not sure it will improve, but it has some development left. 93



From memory I do believe that there was more secondary flavours and more complexity to this wine now than 4 years ago. I think this is drinking terrific at this stage, but could see some further positive development in the next 5 years. I do not think this wine is a wine that will develop positively for 30-40 years and that matches what is the common perception of the 2007 vintage.

Marchesi di Barolo has a long and rich history, including being the first estate in Italy to produce a red wine in a dry style. They are located in the small town named Barolo in the Piedmont region.

They are a large producer producing both Nebbiolo based Barolo and Barbaresco wines, together with some Barbera, Dolcetto, Roero, Arneis, Moscato etc. based wines (all typical grapes in Piedmont). The grapes are gathered from their more than 100 hectares of vineyards.

Personally I don't rank Marckesi di Barolo as one of the top producers in Piedmont, but they do make stellar wines.

Tasting note on the 2007 Marchesi di Barolo Barolo

The wine has a meaty nose with some underlying tar. Meaty body, with red fruit, floral notes and some underlying tar. The finnish lets loose some great sour cherries, acidity and the tar gets more concentrated. You get some 2007 ripe fruit, which is typical for the vintage, but it's balanced. 89 points

This is not a Barolo you need to cellar for decades. It showed well right out of the bottle and has soft tannins. It has the characteristics that i look for in a Barolo, but just in a basic way. To me, this is a good standard Barolo. Not mind blowing, but very enjoyable.

Saint Joseph is a wine appellation within the Northern Rhone region of France. In terms of area covered by vines, the Saint Joseph appellation is the second largest appellation in Northern Rhone, Crozes-Hermitage being the largest. Saint Joseph primarily produce red wine based on the syrah grape, but according to the AOC laws there can be up to 10% white wine grapes in the blend (Roussanne and Marsanne).

Tasting note on the 2009 Gonon Saint Joseph

The colour is dark red, almost blue/purple  on the edges. The nose is a bit aromatically challenged.

The fruit is lean. The wine has a very nice acidity. Blueberries, black currants and sour cherries. There is also some of the typical Syrah pepper notes. Jammy fruit, but the fruit is still lean and fresh, thus keeping a nice balance.

Sour cherries on the finnish with a decent amount of tannins that are firm, but approachable. Some dirt and herbs there as well. Good length. 91 points

This is very good Syrah juice. It's primary, but it's deliciuos.

Lopez de Heredia is one of the legendary producers from Rioja in Spain. They are known for their traditional Rioja wine making style. The winery has a total of 170 hectares of vineyards in Rioja, divided into 4 different vineyars; Tondonia, Cubillo, Bosconia and Gravonia. The largest and also the most famous is the Tondonia vineyard, The vineyard is 70 hectares.

The 2001 Vina Tondonia is from a legendary vintage in Rioja. After 2000, this is by far the best vintage. In my opinion the next best is the 2004. The 2001 wine consists of a blend of 75% Tempranillo, 15% Garnacho, 10% Graciano and Mazuelo.The alcohol level on this wine is 13%.

Tasting note on the 2001 Lopez de Heredia Rioja Vina Tondonia Reserva

The nose offers strawberries, vanilla and spices. The palate follows up the nose. Strawberries, vanilla, spices. The finnish offers some additional sour cherries. The palate is meaty and juicy. 89 points

This is a good wine, but I was underwhelmed. It disappointed me a bit. It was very pleasent, but bored me a bit, thus the short tasting note. It's hard to explain, but the best way is probably that there wasn't any wow factor there.

Joh. Jos. Prüm is one of the stars of the Mosel region in Germany. The estate was split up in 1920 when the S.A. Prüm winery was established. Today the winery holds 14 acres of vineyards in Mosel. The vineyards in their portfoloi are; Wehlener Sonnenuhr, Graacher Himmelreich, Bernkasteler Lay, Bernkasteler Badstube and Zeltinger Sonnenuhr. Depending on the vintage, the winery produces between 10,000 and 13,000 cases of wine each year. All wines are 100% Riesling based.

I find German Rieslings facinating. The kabinett wines from J.J. Prüm are ment to be on the lower end of the quality range, but this is a wine from probably the best vineyard in all of Mosel. It is also a wine from one of the best producers in Mosel. You can get all this, from a good vintage, for only $25. I find it amazing.

Tasting note on the 2009 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett

A very fruity palate on this wine. Their is just peaches for days on the palate, mixed in with some white flowers. (I do not know that well what white flowers taste like but it has a floral taste and it feels more white than red, if that makes any sense) There is also some petrol notes on the palate, but not over the top. The wine is very  focused and has good transitions all the way through.

It does not have the 2010 type of acidity, but that is fine. It has acidity enough to balance things out and it is nicely integrated. I should also comment that the wine is a bit spritzy, and that works quite well for this wine. 91 points

This is a perfect "summer on the porch" kind of wine. If you, as me, prefer the petrol notes to be subtle I would recommend drinking it within the first 2-3 hours after opening the bottle. After that the petrol notes took over too much for my palate.

It's not long ago i posten a tasting note on the 2007 Produttori del Barebaresco Mucagota Riserva. That was one of the single vineyard riservas from the coop. This time i decided to taste the standard Barbaresco from 2008, which I have read good thins about. PdB did also produce Riserva's in 2008, but the standard Barbaresco usually offers some good value even in these vintages.

Tasting note on the 2008 Produttori del Barebaresco Barbaresco

I'll divide this tasting note into 3 stages:
1. After 2 hours of decanting
2. After 4 hours of decanting
3. Half of the bottle left in the fridge over night with the cork

Stage 1:
Floral, plum, dried fruit. The fruit and florality is a bit massive. The notes continue on to the finnish, but now with an underlying tar component that I only get on the finnish. Dry, pretty big tannins. The wine is approachable, but should benefit from more air.

Stage 2:
Initial attack of red fruit, then overtaken by florality before a nice potion of sour cherries. The fruit is a bit more balanced and leaner than in stage 1. Again the finnish is floral with the underlying tar component.

Stage 3:
Even more leaner fruit and more sour cherries. It's facinating to see how the sour cherry notes need air to show. Still dry tannins, but rounder than on the first day. There is also a nutty component on the finnish now. 90 points

I've posted a TN on a Musar earlier, but then it was the 2004 Chateau Musar Hochar Père et Fils. Now it was time to try the big brother, the Chateau Musar.

Tasting note on the 2005 Chateau Musar

Straight out of the bottle the nose shows strawberry, cigar and plum on the nose. The palate is dominated by cigar and leather, with some undelying flavours of fruit.

After 2 hours of decanting this wine starts to really show. The palate has changes from being dominated by the cigar and leather to being dominated by fruit and floral notes. The cigar, leather and earth is now the underlying notes, which is the way i prefer it. To me, this comes cross as a Nebbiolo at times. Dried fruit, rose pedals, cigar and leather. 91 points

This is a wine with good complexity. It needs some time in a decanter to really shine, but given that, it is approachable now. Given the price point that this wine can be found at, I would say it's a really good QPR.