Nearly 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, this firm young wine showcases Napa Cab at its best. It’s powerful in cassis and mocha flavors, with complex spice notes. The considerable new oak fits in fine given the wine’s size. Extraordinarily smooth and lush, it’s beautiful now, but has the structure to age for a decade. What a beauty.
— S.H.
(9/1/2006)
Shows true Pet character in the black color, huge tannins, softness, extremely ripe fruit, and obvious ageability. Everything is superrefined, working at its top level. Blackberries, black cherries, blueberries, creme de cassis, coffee, sweet leather and oak flavors all mingle in a complex wine that loves beef. Drink now through 2020.
— S.H.
(11/1/2006)
A dark, big, tannic young wine, with blackberry, cassis and grilled meat flavors, and a dry, impressively long finish. Could be confused with Cabernet Sauvignon in a blind tasting, and it’s an interesting alternative to Cab. But the acidity is high, which makes the wine potentially long-lived.
— S.H.
(7/1/2011)
Bob Foley has championed this heirloom variety, which so many others long ago abandoned. The wine shows an old-fashioned ruggedness and the kind of in-your-face tannins and grapeskin astringency you don’t see much anymore. Yet it’s massively fruity and will age well. Six to 10 years should soften and sweeten it, and it will hold for another decade beyond.
— S.H.
(12/1/2006)
Ripe enough in blackberries, currants and mocha, with an earthy, tobacco herbaceousness. The tannins are potent, making the wine hard. Drink now, after a good decanting.
— S.H.
(7/1/2011)
Dry, tannic and soft, this Merlot shows ripe blackberry, cherry and mocha flavors. It’s a little rustic in texture, and seems at its best now.
— S.H.
(7/1/2011)