03/2000. Bought locally Dec-99 for $18 (which means it should cost $7-$9 anywhere else).
A couple of years ago I have tasted the 1993 rendition of this Valpolicella Classico Superiore and was quite impressed with its mouth-filling and presence. Tonight for a tasty spaghetti dinner at home we decided to try the 1995.
COLOR: Beautiful dark red with hardly any thinning around the rim.
NOSE: Plenty of serious black fruit on the nose. Not the trivial kind one usually finds in cheap wines, but rather deep, pleasant and surrounded by light wood elements that add dimension. Much better than I anticipated.
TASTE: Really fine grip on the palate. Mouth-filling and very tasty. Again, semi-mature fruit surprisingly complex and well balanced by acidity and soft tannins. Quite concentrated with very good winyness and backbone. A really good and enjoyable wine.
LENGTH: OK, enough praise for this one. Not much length and only moderate though pleasant aftertaste.
TEXTURE & BALANCE: Full bodied, even alcoholic, wine. A bit rough but concentrated, tasty, well balanced and relatively complex. What more can one ask from a wine at this level? It was definitely better than the '93.
OVERALL: Very good indeed. How nice (and rare for me) to find a mass-produced cheap wine that has nothing cheap about it except for its price.

MARK: 17-17.5/20.

BUY MORE? Yes.

Reach Me? yak@yakshaya.com

Copyright 1996-2003.
Jacob "Yak" Shaya.