96 vs. 97 gallo sonoma county

[newsguy]

well, my wife spent the weekend battling allergies, so we didn't have friends over to do a tasting of the '96 vs. the '97. i'll get to that eventually.

however, i threw some marinated t-bones on the grill last night and decided to open an orphan i found a month ago: the 1995 gallo of sonoma cab.

wow! strong nose of brilliant red fruit and sweet oak. tasted of same, with a nice, long finish and perfectly integrated tannins. my only complain would be that the wine appeared a little soft at this point. (and my guess is that comes from how this wine was kept for the past two years in a backroom of this store or at a warehouse).

if anyone happens to have some of the 95s, i would pop those babies NOW! they are definitely peaking.

and i must say, unless that 95 just happens to be head-and-shoulders above the 97 (which i've tasted and liked), i think i've just gotten my first real lesson on how wine improves over time. not surprisingly, i've spent some time today looking into the cost of wine caves or renting storage space locally [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/smile.gif[/img]

keith