Friends invited us over for a steak dinner last night, so with South Africa on the brain I chose a 2001 Thelema Cab Sauv to take along. We decanted it about 30 minutes before dinner.
I don't know if that wasn't quite enough time or if the wine is simply a bit past it's best day, and drinking it through dinner didn't provide illumination. It was good, but it never seemed to entirely open up to what I believed it's potential to be a few years ago. That is, the fruit lagged behind the tannins throughout the meal, and though there's some obvious secondary development in the way of leather and all, there wasn't a lot of complexity beyond blackberry fruit and green bell pepper.
If I had to take bets...I dunno. I have two more bottles--would be inclined to leave them rather than drink them, and hope for a better day down the road.
