Sant'Elena Tato

I've always enjoyed how the Friuli interpret cabernet sauvignon, and this cabernet-merlot blend is no exception. Deep garnet, ripe fruit still in evidence, tannic rough edges sanded off, lithe and delicate texture. Well worth drinking now if you have it.

Dark red core with very slight bricking at the edge. Licorice on the nose with a touch of tobacco. Palate was dark fruit jammy with a bit of oakiness present. There is structure in this wine and tannin is still present. I would not be worried about this fading quickly nor would I be worried about decanting. There is still enough fruit and structure for several more years of enjoyment. An excellent wine with a bit of age/complexity for $30 …

too much of an anise/licoricse taste

Fig, cherry, earth, savory and sour with maybe some grapefruit. A hard edge lurking in the background. There is enough up front to make this wine enjoyable now but I don't know if this will stand up to much more aging. I would not decant this either. Plenty of acid with moderate tannin.

Not at all like bottle of 12/08 - off aged-metallic notes, thin and reedy. Not enjoyable.

Some nice fruit - cherry and cassis - hint of spice. But a little thin and a bit too much wood for me. It has 10 years of aging on it. Don't think I would hold it longer.

very dark red, but pleasant wine...enjoyable

Not sure I would have picked this as a Bdx blend, but quite tasty and rich, with good acidity that gives it a refreshing quality. Drunk late in the evening after too many other bottles, I will try to linger over the next one.

Not as good as the last one. More one dimensional this time. Still the food friendly balance and good acidity though.

Dark red. A bit of green on the nose with soya, dust and some meat as well. There was some decent fruit as well. I thought the palate was missing something in the middle. Decent.

Bordelaise styled and really impressive. Currant, cherries, and light wood. Great balance and integration. Classic but nice ripe fruit.

A nice wine, with good depth of fruit and pleasing aromatics. Not a lot of complexity. This showed a bit of bret and lots of bell peppers.

Nice nose, light, mostly grape and leafy. Just wholly primary and fruity on the palate. Nice acid, slightly loose structure with good balance. But overwhelmingly elemental and straight. Enjoyable to be sure, but somewhat enigmatic that 8 yrs old would be so.