2001 J. Rochioli, West Block (G's Tasting Series)

BamBam, Happy Wednesday ya'll!  Enjoy.  

Another heavy hitter from J. Rochioli, this West Block selection is probably their more known wine in the international community.  Once again, one of the best wines I have had.  My personal favorite is the East Block.

2001 J. Rochioli, West Block, Russian River Valley
consumed Friday, Nov. 26, 2010, with friends, Retail $120

Well first of all, I about had heart attack after cutting the foil off of the bottle.  I could see where a little wine had reached the top of the cork usually a sign the wine is corked.  Meaning oxygen has gotten into the wine prematurely and basically spoiled it.  As I dug into the cork with the wine opener, more problems arose, since the wine had made its way all the way to the top the cork and the fact that it was 9 years old, the cork screw was just shredding the cork, luckily we got enough of it in to where we could wiggle it out of the bottle.  The true test came with a little sniff of the wine....... my heart pounding....... expecting it to smell like wet socks (smell typical of a corked wine)....... I was delighted to smell a tight wine ready to open!!  Phewwwww!  Not only was it the wine that I was worried about but all during Thanksgiving I had been talking up this wine to my girlfriends family and was excited for them to try it so luckily it was good!

With older wines (and even high quality younger wines) you should really let the wine sit for at least an hour before enjoying.  Since I am impatient and trying to educate myself I jumped right in!  The aroma upon opening was subtle, and what to me felt like a Christmas present waiting to be opened.  Everything great about the wine was there, however, it was closed off waiting for something to kick in the door.

Meet oxygen, after about 30 minutes the wine really hit it's stride, I mean really.  It's interesting to taste the wine as it goes through this process.  The wine opened up with big bright red fruit, (Russian River Valley at it's finest) bing cherry, raspberry, a little licorice, the wine was pleasantly balanced, and the finish lingered forever.  This is why I have fallen in love with wine!
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