Aged to perfection, this Alion was a tremendous bottle of wine. Aromas of hay, leather, tobacco, cassis, dark cherries, violets and cedar all mixed together in layers upon layers of flavour. Excellent length that allowed for this wine to develop in the mouth, with a silky, buttery element provided by the oak. A bottle of wine you talk about for days afterwards. Don't leave it open for too long - when consumed in January 2017 this wine started losing power after an hour open. Must decant due to sediment in the bottle.

Second tasting Mar 2019: A completely different experience. Pitch perfect fruit, with excellent floral and mineral complexity. On the oak-y side, but to be expected. Long and satisfying finish. Suspect that they first bottle might have had cork taint, or really just was in a dumb period.
This was a disappointment. Maybe I approached it too early. Maybe it's in a "dumb" period. Perhaps this was a bottle with mild taint. But whatever the reason, it simply didn't provide much of anything. Dull fruit, dull mouth feel, unexceptional finish.