A friend's daughter, here on a visit, is really getting into wine. Unfortunately, she lives in Hong Kong where she's finding it hard to find that affordable middle ground between the easy stuff that's no longer satisfying and the super-premium wines she can't afford. That she has centered her focus on New Zealand and Southern Rhone wines says she's on a good track. When she told me that her epiphany wine had been a Leonetti Merlot some years ago, I pulled this bottle from the cellar to see if it would create echos.
Did not decant. Musty at first--I was at first afraid I'd kept these too long and it's possible yet that I have, if just slightly so--but the wine did improve nicely in the glass and showed a lot of interesting stuff for those of us who enjoy mature wine. Basically the usual suspects were here: blueberry, mocha and some old book leather, and it was great on the palate with Gary's signature touch of extra acidity and silky tannins. The best sip was the last, so the wine should hold here for a few years though I'm not going to wait it out.