On the nose:
Nice black pepper, very luscious blueberry, vanilla, some oak. The blueberry is more of a blueberry jam, or pie filling. Also present: that unmistakable smell of your mother putting wet clothes out on the clothesline ... turning over a rock in a damp forest and inhaling. Later, some asparagus, deeply hidden but able to jump out once you search for it. Play-doh! Yup, that blue play-doh, it's there too.
On the palate:
VERY NICE. The overall word to describe this effort: BALANCED. Incredible balance. Not the biggest nose, but it too is balanced. This wine doesn't apologize, and doesn't need to as it offers one thing, then with a swirl it offers another, then pour some more and you get something else, and this is what Darcey and I absolutely LOVE about wine. Smooth satiny finish: Darcey and I really know what BALANCED means now! Tannins and acidity are dancing with everybody watching and loving it. This is just about as close to a perfect cab as I personally have ever had, BUT after continued drinking I was let down (Darcey fell asleep before the wine was done ... you snooze you lose!) to experience that everything turned flabby after several hours (greater than 12) of being open ... it simply lost its brilliance and was one of those rare times when you LOVE a wine but the last glass was NOT as good as the first. Hmmm, interesting.
(Click here for an explanation of our ratings ...)
Our Rating: 94
Would we drink it again? 
Yes, absolutely, we would drink this wine again, most certainly. Please bring some over!
Would we buy it again? 
Probably not because there are too many other wines in the $50-range that we would rather try instead of drinking this again, but I would like to see if it again loses its interest after 10 or 12 hours. If a friend brought it over we would not be displeased!
