Deeply and intensely colored, this is a massive wine with a complex, sophisticated nose, offering black currant, cassis, sweet cherry and blackberry, with underlying layers of graphite, tobacco leaf, leather and wet gravel. Soft notes of menthol and desert sage weave together and integrate the aromas of fruit and earth. Breathtakingly bright fruit immediately greets the palate, juicy boysenberry, crushed cherries and fresh blueberries, with cranberry and raspberry accented by cedar, black plum and dried herbs.
Powerful and rich, polished in style and structure, the opulent fruit core transitions seamlessly and exquisitely to a robust mid-palate showing black olive, licorice and eastern spices, finishing long and elegantly with black cherry, cocoa and plum. An outstanding vintage.