Product Description:

2005 GRIMALDI BAROLO LE COSTE:
"Founded in 1930 by Ferruccio Grimaldi, this family-run estate is now showing some very exciting results. The La Coste Barolo is a tight and focused wine that promises to age beautifully over many more years. The tannins and acidity are perfectly integrated and the nose boasts bright and intense layers of forest fruit, exotic spice, mesquite and black licorice." -95 points Wine Enthusiast

Raspberry, lemon and blackberry aromas lead to a full-bodied palate, with toasty oak, coffee and berry flavors and full, velvety tannins. Best after 2012. 400 cases made. -94 Points Wine Spectator

"The 2005 Barolo Le Coste is rich, round wine loaded with ripe dark fruit, spices and sweet scents of French oak. With time in the glass, the wine's inner perfume emerges, offering layers of violets and black cherries that add further complexity. This fresh, vibrant Barolo needs at least another year or two in bottle for the broad tannins to integrate, but it is another very strong effort from Grimaldi. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2023."

Proprietor Ferruccio Grimaldi continues to show improvement, and these are the finest Barolos I have tasted from him thus far. The wines show more Nebbiolo expressiveness and better use of oak than has been the case in the past. -93 points- Antonio Galloni- Wine Advocate

WINE:
"Grimaldi's Barolo 'Le Coste' was first released with the 1996 vintage, vinified from the smallest cru in the township of Barolo. This vineyard is time honored as one of the greatest crus in Barolo, yet had never been previously bottled (presumably blended by the various vineyard owners who claim miniscule holdings). Grimaldi's own holdings in Le Coste measure a mere 0.76 hectares, with annual production of less than 400 cases total." -Importer

2007 TOR KENWARD CUVEE SUSAN
"Saturated medium ruby. Aromas of black raspberry, minerals, smoked meat, licorice and crushed rock; showing its syrah side. Then silky and sweet in the mouth, with terrific mineral lift to the musky dark berry flavors. Finishes very long, with sweet, layered tannins. Boasts a texture of liquid velvet, but the minerally aftertaste offers excellent grip." -91-93 points- Stephen Tanzer- International Wine Cellar

"A blend of 73% Cabernet Sauvignon from the Cimarossa Vineyard on Howell Mountain, and the rest Syrah from the Hudson Vineyard in southern Napa, the tightly knit 2007 Tor Cuvee Susan possesses a deep, blue/purple color as well as notes of roasted meats, herbs, lavender, pepper, creme de cassis, and blackberries. Rich, full-bodied, structured, and slightly foreboding, it needs another year or two of bottle age, and should evolve for a decade or more." -90+ points Robert Parker

"Cimarossa is 2100 feet high on Howell Mountain overlooking the Napa Valley. Our block #10 is one of the steepest in the vineyard with the distinctive reddish Howell Mountain soil type. Year in year out- there is that unmistakable graphite, pencil led, mineral nose and flavor to the wines from this block that set it apart from our other single vineyard Cabernets."

"Hudson Vineyard is easily one of the great vineyards of Napa Carneros, with a history for world class Chardonnay and Syrah. We love our block which is planted to two clones- Alban and Syrah Noir. Lee Hudson is a great grape farmer and friend for several decades now." -Winery