(October 26, 2014) … This wine decided to play possum. In true let-your-wine-aerate fashion this Aresti 2004 Winemaker’s Assemblage started out slowly, almost shyly, with aromas of smoke, licorice, cinnamon, tree sap and oak … it was the tree sap that seemed curiously out of place. Palate lacked fruit, be it dry or sweet, but seemed loaded with pipe tobacco, smoke, and bittersweet cocoa, think of a well made hot chocolate. Within an hour there was a smoothness that emerged across the mid-palate with hints of cassis and smoked blackberry on a finish that showed a touch of gritty tannin.
