94
points
Obsidian Ridge 2009 Half Mile Red (Red Hills Lake County)
-
$60
The winery doesn’t reveal on the label what grape varieties are in this blend, but they’re Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot. It’s a fine, delicious wine, with blackberry, dark chocolate and bacon flavors, wrapped into exceedingly fine tannins. It’s well-balanced, too, with moderate alcohol and a nice lick of acids. Impressive and classy from this Lake County winery.
— S.H.
(6/1/2012)
90
points
Obsidian Ridge 2009 Obsidian Ridge Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon (Red Hills Lake County)
-
$28
If you’re used to soft, ripe Napa Valley Cabernet, this one, grown just over the Lake County border, will strike you as dry and unyielding. The tannins are pronounced, giving it a hard bite. But it’s rich and deep in crème de cassis, the sort of wine that seems ageworthy. Take a gamble and put it in your cellar for 6–8 years.
— S.H.
(6/1/2012)
89
points
Obsidian Ridge 2007 Half Mile Red (Red Hills Lake County)
-
$60
Made from unknown varieties, this is a big, sturdy, tannic and dry wine, made from a high mountain vineyard in this Lake County appellation. There’s lots to like in the blackberry, cherry and red currant flavors, with their edge of dark chocolate and bacon. The wine is a bit sharp, but that could be a function of youth. Give it a few years in the cellar. A wine to…
— S.H.
(12/15/2010)
89
points
Obsidian Ridge 2006 Obsidian Ridge Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon (Red Hills Lake County)
-
$28
No question the flavors are right on, erupting in mouthfilling blackberries, cassis, cherries, cola and chocolate, with anise and cinnamon-dusted smoky oak. Yet it feels a little soft and melted, and could use greater structural integrity. Drink now.
— S.H.
(3/1/2009)
86
points
Obsidian Ridge 2006 Half Mile Obsidian Ridge Vineyard Red (Red Hills Lake County)
-
$50
This is a very big wine, strong in fruit, potent in tannins, and well-oaked. It floods the mouth with primary flavors of cherries, blackberries and black currants, as well as interesting overtones of leather, teriaki beef and sandalwood. Quite good, but young and tannic and a little one-dimensional. Hard to predict its future.
— S.H.
(4/1/2010)