The Sunny One

When it comes to Super Tuscan wine, there are not many comparable wines to Solaia. 

Born on the Santa Cristina estate in the Chianti Classico zone, Solaia comes from a single vineyard of the same name in the center of the estate.  With excellent terroir and exposure, Solaia is aptly named "The Sunny One". 

The 1995 Antinori Solaia has class and breeding.  I decanted off a monstrous sediment about 60 minutes before dinner.  The 1995 Solaia is 80% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Sangiovese and although I normally find the Sangiovese character to be prevalent in the wines, this was not the case with this showing. 

In the decanter the wine is a youthful dark purple.  The aromas in the glass are typical of a fine second growth Bordeaux.  There's graphite, mineral, cedar, and slight dark plum.  It's a very tertiary aromatic profile and perhaps a little less virale than I would have expected. 

On the palate, the wine is austere and Franco-centric.  There are green herb flavors accented by minerals, cedar, and slight oak notes.  Lean dark fruit flavors are secondary.  The wine is medium bodied and the tannins are resolved.  I don't sense any character from the Sangiovese in this wine.  Provenance was not an issue with this bottle so to my palate, this seems like it's over the hill.  Given the vineyards pedigree and the vintage, I wouldn't really expect that, but this wine - for what it costs - was sorely lacking.  

C'est la vie....Frenchy.   90 points, about $75 upon release.

I thought the angle of this looked cool.