7/99. Acquired from the US, June-94 for $32.
Tonight, for Friday night dinner at home I ventured into one of the very few American wines I have in my collection. Dinner consisted of a chinese pork and asparagus soup, beef fillet stripes in noodles for main course, mango melon and passion fruit for dessert.
COLOR: Very nice violet red with little clearing towards the rim. Heavily sedimented at the bottom.
NOSE: Lush nose of ripe cherries [not fresh but rather the sweet kind you get from conserves] and blackcurrents, with surrounding notes of moderate oak. Forward, deep and enticing, if not particularly complex.
TASTE: Rich sweetish forest fruit with plenty of winyness around it. Smooth, expansive and extremely tasty. Good backbone from start to finish, with soft receding tannins and just the right amount of acidity.
LENGTH: Surprisingly long and flavorful aftertaste.
TEXTURE & BALANCE: Medium bodied. Not a blockbuster oaky fruit-bomb, just ample fruit and winyness. Nicely concentrated but not overly extracted. So well balanced that it is hard to think of a better balanced combination between all the wine's aspects. Very "American" in its bold and uncomplicated message. But that message is very well put forward. At its absolute best now!
OVERALL: Superb-plus! A real pleasure to drink even if somewhat one-dimensional.

MARK: 18.5/20.

BUY MORE? Yes.

Reach Me? yak@yakshaya.com

Copyright 1996-2003.
Jacob "Yak" Shaya.