Community Tasting Notes

Community Tasting Notes (67) Avg Score: 90.2 points

• Anonymous wrote: 90 Points

  Wednesday, July 07, 2010 - Good but starting to fade a bit. Drink up.

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• SteveG wrote: 88 Points

  Saturday, April 24, 2010 - Typical and well- balanced, mature Chianti, but a little short all around, I was hoping for deeper flavor after so many years.

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• FredrikL Likes this wine. 92 Points

  Tuesday, April 20, 2010 - Samma fina känsla som föregående. Härliga mognadstoner. Stor fällning. Tobak, mörk kola. Körsbär och en aning salvia. Dog dock efter 2 timmar. Ps. Inte en enda korkdefekt flaska av 5 st.

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• Anonymous wrote: 93 Points

  Monday, March 15, 2010 - Best bottle of this yet; singing

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• wabi47 wrote: 91 Points

  Thursday, March 11, 2010 - very nice mix of sweet mixed berry and clean earth and forest floorn; nice sl tart acidity at the finish; has aged v nicely with still fresh fruit and now some complexity

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• pomelo Likes this wine. 93 Points

  Wednesday, March 10, 2010 - Rubis foncé. Nez de mûres, attaque fruitée. Belle acidité et tannins serré. Équilibre parfait. Encore jeune. Peut vieillir encore un bon 3 ou 4 ans. Un vin superbe. Dégusté à l'aveugle à côté d'un Vigorello 2001... Le Chianti a fait mal paraître un Vigorello pas si mal.

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• EinarD wrote:

  Monday, February 22, 2010 - Henrik og Lene på besøk - drakk til pizza men falt litt gjennom.
  Nydelig og fløyelsmyk når testet uten mat.

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• wineismylife wrote: 90 Points

  Saturday, January 30, 2010 - WIML90
  
  Tasted January 30, 2010. Opened and served immediately. Garnet to dark garnet color in the glass, clear hue throughout. Nose of soap stone, florals and berries. Flavors of berries and cherries. Medium acidity, tannins and body. Drink now.

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• cob wrote: 92 Points

  Thursday, December 31, 2009 - What a fantastic wine. So much going on both on the nose and palate, fruity, floral, some leather and cedar. A little tannin remained on the backend so I wouldn't rush to drink any bottles you may have. Excellent length on the finish, wish I had more.

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• pomelo wrote: 92 Points

  Saturday, December 12, 2009 - Excellent Chianti qui s'ouvre dans une superbe palette d'arôme de fruits, de tabac et de réglisse après environ 90 minutes en carafe. Tannins présents mais bien intégrés. Belle longueur. Rapport qualité prix irréprochable.

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• Anonymous wrote: 92 Points

  Saturday, December 12, 2009 - Great bottle, great value; thankfully much life left

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• Anonymous wrote: 92 Points

  Friday, September 11, 2009 - Keeps getting better and better; sangiovese is bright and lively and finish is longer than any chianti I've had, perhaps ever; decant for 15 minutes; one of the best QPR buys in my collecting career; still years of good drinking, I expect

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• lshantz wrote: 90 Points

  Wednesday, July 29, 2009 - Good wine, much more mature than I would have guessed. Woody structure, lots of fruit.

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• Anonymous wrote:

  Saturday, July 18, 2009 - Very Earthy, Gamey, secondary. Very good but teetering on the edge for me. Still decent structure but suspect going to be over soon. Didn't decant, lasted the evening well. 2/3 but would probably go younger next time. (Would have been a lot better with a steak or some beef. With the Spag Bolig it was too mature, wanted to be younger, fresher).

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• Anonymous wrote: 92 Points

  Sunday, July 05, 2009 - Fortunately, this outstanding wine is showing no signs of aging and its delights will continue for several years. Thank you, Antinori, for a terrific wine value that is delicious and superbly made in all respects.

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• Barbalax wrote: 91 Points

  Monday, June 29, 2009 - A close 92. This wine just continues to improve. Large deposit in the bottle, super smooth, fully developed. Tons of coffee, plums and other dark flavours. A bright acididy makes the wine balanced. Tasted next to Castello di Brolio 2001. which didn't have a chance tonight.

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• Anonymous wrote: 90 Points

  Thursday, May 21, 2009 - Another good bottle. Smooth sailing here.

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• cweiss wrote:

  Wednesday, May 06, 2009 - A dark, dense, deeply fruited wine. Balance is excellent, there's a hint of capsicum. Although all Sangiovese, I would have guessed it to be a good Bordeaux from a good vintage early in it's maturity. That sounds like both praise and critique, but it's quite a good wine though not typical for Chianti. Drinking well now, suspect it will age well too.
  Excellent match with rare lamb chop stuffed with bleu cheese, in red wine reduction.

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• schwartzman wrote: 92 Points

  Sunday, May 03, 2009 - wow this is as good as it gets for a $25 bottle. Deep flavors, smooth, awesome chianti classico.

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• Philippe Michel wrote: 89 Points

  Tuesday, March 24, 2009 - Excellent wine but maybe still a bit young. The colour is really dark with some red reflections. Nose and mouth have cherry, oak, coffee, chocolate and a real Tuscany feeling. Tannins quite soft already but maybe not yet releasing all the aromas. Quite complex wine with subtle aromas and nice acidity but somehow I feel this wine has potentially more to offer. Maybe decanting a few hours or even during the night will help (I will check this tomorrow...). At this stage my feeling is that this wine probably needs 1 or 2 more years in the cellar. It is very obvious that it can age and develop. Excellent wine in fact! I can feel this now. I am just wondering how much better it can be! Anyway, if you want to drink this now, then do it with a rich dish of meat with sauce and mushroom and pepper. You certainly won't be disappointed!

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• Anonymous wrote: 92 Points

  Wednesday, February 18, 2009 - Another fantastic bottle of this QPR star. At peak. Pop and pour but major stuffing says it should hold for a few years. Glad I have more.

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• Anonymous wrote: 91 Points

  Sunday, February 01, 2009 - Reliable, delicious, smoke-tinged berries with fully integrated wood. Sangiovese superbo. Based on performance of the 1997, I'm hoping and expecting this has a few good years left, but doubt it will improve much.

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• cweiss wrote:

  Sunday, January 11, 2009 - Richly fruited with good acidity. Continuies to drink well, and suspect it would development well over more time, but likely won't find out.

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• Barbalax wrote: 91 Points

  Sunday, January 04, 2009 - This wine has evolved a lot in one year. The side of the bottle is covered in sediment, and the wine needs careful decanting. The color of the wine is still dark as night with a mahogny rim. The nose is all about coffee, dark chocolate and toast. The taste is wonderfully mature but still with enough acidity to make it fresh. This wine is for drinking now or soon - since I believe this is the peak. Excellent wine for the price and I am glad I saved some!

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• Coupe 60 wrote: 90 Points

  Thursday, December 25, 2008 - Popped and decanted for 30 minutes and drank at Christmas Eve dinner. Classic Sango profile with a tilt toward modernism...Nice Sour cherry, some leather and a hint of tobacco. Medium bodied, Nice mouthfeel. Drinking well now. Very nice bottle...

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• ikkaariainen wrote: 90 Points

  Monday, December 22, 2008 - Very good chianti classico riserva enjoyed last night with Kim and good friends Tony and Karen Rose for dinner. Dark purple, soft and well balanced tannins, great mouth feel - this wine is drinking prime right now. Soft fruity nose with some oak and allspice. Flavors primarily of well balanced oak with blackberry, smoke, some rosemary and dark cherry with some leather and perhaps tar developing on long aftertaste. Highly recommend this, at this price point a decent QPR if it can be found and would also recommend starting drinking holdings.

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• herberto wrote: 92 Points

  Wednesday, December 17, 2008 - Delicious. Smoke, black cherries, kirsch. Great mouth feel. I'm not a Chianti fan in general, but this was very good.

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• noseb4palate wrote: 90 Points

  Saturday, December 13, 2008 - This is a very nice Chianti with well balanced fruit and soft tannins. New oak, old leather and spice on the nose. Red fruit especially cherries together with a hint of currants and earth. What dominates though, is the sheer elegance. Beautifully Medium bodied, with velvety tannins and refreshing acidity. Really nice balance with a long lingering finish more satisfying than most chiantis. This reminded me of a 2001 Badia a Passignano that we had in Tucson last year. I agree with the other notes - this wine deserves some air to develop.

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• Druidh wrote: 88 Points

  Thursday, May 15, 2008 - Bright, tart cherries and a little earth on the nose. Dark color. Medium weight wine. The cherries came through on the taste, with some underlying currants. Great acidity and just the right amount of tannin to refresh. Darker than I expected and the underlying currants make me believe the wine has some cabernet in the blend.
  
  Served with pork medallions in a stock, tomato and balsamic vinegar sauce. Good pairing.

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• AzorianMatador wrote: 90 Points

  Tuesday, April 08, 2008 - Depth greatly improved on day two; this will age well for at least 5 years.

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• french16 wrote: 88 Points

  Tuesday, April 08, 2008 - Dark ruby core. On the modern side. Started with a lot of new oak on the nose with dark cherry. Ripe fruit. Definitely much better after 4 days as oak became somewhat integrated and wine was much more balanced. Leather, spice and cherry on the nose. Velvety, med tannin and acidity, cherry, dark fruits, hint of mushrooms, lingering finish.

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• sonakul_t wrote: 90 Points

  Sunday, February 10, 2008 - The first hour or so was very dense & tannic. After about 3 hours became more floral, great fruits and layers of coffee coming through and the tannins and density got much better & smoother. Overall a very nice wine given the time it needs to open up.

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• Barbalax wrote: 90 Points

  Sunday, February 03, 2008 - Had to open the wine directly from the cellar, too cold and no air (due to a bad Leoville Las Cases), The wine was still impressive from the start - beautifully integrated tannins - lots of cherry fruit - twist of perfect oak in the end. Outpowered the 5 times more expensive Las Cases. The wine got better and better over the following hour. Very good price/performance! Will open well ahead next time.

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• kingofwine wrote: 91 Points

  Tuesday, January 29, 2008 - 2001 was a great vintage for this region and this wine exhibits all the great qualities you'd expect from a premium chianti classico. Great purity of fruit and depth of colour. Full bodied with excellent integration between oak and fruit. Exceptional finesse and balance for a wine of this price point.

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• Gfritzh wrote: 90 Points

  Monday, January 21, 2008 - A well balanced Cianti drinking very well now. Bottle was opened before drinking for about one hour but not decanted.

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• baja wrote: 92 Points

  Sunday, January 13, 2008 - Sangiovese at its best. Give this a few hours decanting and it will reward you well. The previous bottle was definitely off.

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• wineaux2 wrote: 88 Points

  Sunday, December 09, 2007 - Dark red color; notes of cherries, dried flowers, leather. Went very well with food. The smell of the cork initially overpowered the wine's aroma and taste. May have been somewhat flawed as it did not seem as complex and concentrated as others have noted.

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• mmurry wrote: 90 Points

  Sunday, November 25, 2007 - I decanted this wine about 4 1/2 hours. This wine had a wonderful nose of black raspberry and dark plum covered by nice aromas of old leather. This trailed off to perfume-laced floral notes. The palate was very smooth, with flavors of soil covered tree bark mixed with delicious dark fruit. The finish had a lingering taste of soap granules.

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• losvinhos wrote: 91 Points

  Monday, November 19, 2007 - Rubi escuro. Aromas de frutas secas, alcaçuz, cassis, cedro e com o tempo floral e sandalo. Na boca boa acidez, taninos numerosos e finos, boa fruta e equilibrio. Comparando com o Badia a Passignano me pareceu mais tradicional. Perfeito com comida, grande Chianti. No dia seguinte ainda excelente, com toques animais. Final com boa persistência. Excelente/Excepcional.

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• baja wrote: flawed

  Sunday, November 11, 2007 - Popped, decanted and poured from cellar. This bottle was not showing well....had a woody/barrel taste to it...possibly flawed bottle as this always has shown wonderful. Not going to score this one.

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• Gfritzh wrote: 92 Points

  Friday, November 09, 2007 - A bit acidic when first opened. The acidity resolved after about 15 minutes in the glass. This is a very nice Chianti with well balanced fruit and soft tannins at a reasonable price.

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• cweiss wrote:

  Friday, September 28, 2007 - This bottle less plush, more tannin, even seems to have a hint of bret.

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• cweiss wrote:

  Monday, September 24, 2007 - Quite dark in color, mouth feel is warm and rich, but soft tannins, that actually build over time. Plenty of acid. A nice, plush well-balanced wine that is actually about Chianti, though certainly lusher than most.

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• wineismylife wrote: 90 Points

  Sunday, September 16, 2007 - WIML90. Continues to be a great little wine for the money. Recommended, especially at our local COSTCO price of $22.00 a bottle.

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• Arch57 wrote: 92 Points

  Saturday, September 15, 2007 - One of the best Chianti's we have tasted. This one had a concentration of fruit that rivaled many $70 Brunellos at a fraction of the cost. The nose was very expressive with dark fruit and violets. A long satisfying finish that paired well with our steak pizziola. I will seek out more.

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• JoshA wrote: 90 Points

  Saturday, August 18, 2007 - Recommended by waiter and was the best part of dinner. Lots of dark purple color on cork. Dark berry fruit on the nose. Refined and muted fruit on palate well-balanced with a bit of acid, spice and smooth tannins. Lovely mouthfeel and long, satisfying finish.

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• bprosenberg wrote: 91 Points

  Monday, August 06, 2007 - Rich,dense, and leathery. Some dark fruit.

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• wineismylife wrote: 90 Points

  Saturday, July 21, 2007 - WIML90,NOWA,WS91
  
  Tasted July 21, 2007. Opened and served immediately in a Spiegelau Authentis Magnum glass. Purple color in the glass, clear hue throughout. Nose of saddle soap, black berries and a touch of currants. Flavors of plums, cherries, berries and currants. Medium acidity, tannins and body. Solid little Chianti and recommended at the $26.00 price I paid locally at retail. Drink over the short to medium term. I’ll likely buy more.

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• lovelandre wrote: 92 Points

  Saturday, July 21, 2007 - This is my second bottle this month and I must say i really appreciate the finesse and length of this wine. Needs decanting for a few hours, but will reward with gorgeous floral, leather and dark berry notes, good mouthfeel, a very satisfying souldful and subtle wine.

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• cck wrote: flawed

  Monday, June 18, 2007 - Most obvious corked/spoiled wine I've seen in a long time.

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• Nico P. wrote: 88 Points

  Sunday, June 10, 2007 - Dark red, no bricking. Initially closed up - recommend vigourous swirling/aeration or decanting; then dark cherry, earth, tobacco. No sweetness here (my kind of wine), medium bodied. Dry and tannic finish - needs protein to mute the chunky tannins. Good with food, shows promise. Give this another 3-5 years to come together - might be 90+ then, or a 79.

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• wabi47 wrote: 90 Points

  Tuesday, June 05, 2007 - full modern style with plenty of dark frut; pushing it but not flabby; can hold thiis for a while....great with pasta/ricotta/pancetta and a veal with mushroooms

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• 100pp wrote:

  Thursday, May 31, 2007 - Black fruit, Spicy. Again drying at the end. Medium bodied.

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• futronic wrote: 91 Points

  Friday, May 11, 2007 - Dark ruby/black colour; opaque. Big, brooding nose, backward, with black licorice, vanilla, black plums, earth, black cherry, and minerals. Medium-full bodied, a little closed, with mineral, dark fruit, and chocolate notes. Moderate finish, ~30s, with dark fruit. Good stuff, and will improve.

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• MLD11 wrote: 90 Points

  Tuesday, April 17, 2007 - Great aroma, very modern style. First glass great but then faded. Lots of sediment.

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• 100pp wrote: 89 Points

  Monday, April 09, 2007 - Color: Dark.
  Nose: Spicey. Fruit.
  Taste: Spicey. Fruit. Long finish but drying...

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• french16 wrote: 89 Points

  Sunday, April 08, 2007 - Nice dark color.
  Plenty of blackberry and spice.
  Needs some time to open up.
  Can last very easily a few nore years.

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• baja wrote: 92 Points

  Sunday, April 01, 2007 - Decanted for 4+ hrs. Gorgeous aromas of currant, chocolate, raspberries and leather . Medium-full bodied with a very nice palate of currant and spice,beautifully balanced with slightly firming tannins coming in play toward the end leading to a long fruity finish...very, very well made. There is plenty of life in this to cellar for a while but this is showing so nicely now it's hard not to drink....delicious! this is an easy 92pt wine.

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• cck wrote: 90 Points

  Tuesday, March 06, 2007 - Quite refreshing. Meant for the near term -- next couple of years. Nice value for high quality Chianti Classico Riserva.

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• BailliSacks wrote: 89 Points

  Tuesday, March 06, 2007 - Concentrated, exciting. Opened well over about 2 hrs. Funny craggy experience in the mouth where the taste build in jerky inclines. Pretty neat. Good value.

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• HKTraveler wrote:

  Saturday, March 03, 2007 - Dark attractive color. Taste of blackcurrant but a bit more tannic and acid in the end than preferred. Maybe wait a bit more? Not sure if sufficient fruit to outlast the tannin though.

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• Anonymous wrote: 90 Points

  Friday, March 02, 2007 - Firnagott. Leður, kirsuber, vottur af fjóshaug. Vottur af tannin í lokin. Gæti þurft að umhella. Gæti batnað á næstu 2-3 árum. Mjög góð kaup.

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• baja wrote: 91 Points

  Saturday, February 17, 2007 - Took this to a tasting of 03 Chianti Classico Riservas at Dan's. Best showing of the evening....easily.Same tasting notes as the prior bottle. This is just delicious.

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• baja wrote: 91 Points

  Sunday, December 24, 2006 - Decanted for 1.5 hrs. Took to Christmas Eve dinner at Vallaggio's and had with Osso Bucco. Dark inky color leads to aromas of Blackberry, raspberry a little leather and plenty of chocolate, medium body with plenty of nice bright fruit and fine tannins,well balanced with a med-long finish, very very nice, WS hits this one perfect. 91

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• HKTraveler wrote: 90 Points

  Sunday, December 24, 2006 - Tasting at home to try new decanter. Smell of black currant with distinctive note of sangiovese. Medium to full body. Spicy with black currant and hints of leather. Strong taste of tannin towards the end. Probably can wait a couple more years?

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• Anonymous wrote: 89 Points

  Sunday, October 29, 2006 - Dense and spicy, went well with braised beef short ribs.

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• trankin wrote: 93 Points

  Wednesday, June 21, 2006 - Trip to Italy 2006 (part 4); 6/19/2006-6/22/2006: Excellent chianti classico. Oaky, with dark fruits and big tannins. This could use a few years, but it is drinking well now.

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