This wine made me eat yet another humble pie. The days of "I'll never get a cell phone," "corporate jobs are for sell-outs," "only suckers get married" and of course...high alcohol wines can't be balanced, nuanced or versatile w/ food- yikes. Not only did I scarf down that humble pie, but I washed it down w/a 16% alcohol beauty. Probably one of the darkest (irrespective of the lighting) red wines I'd seen since the likes of Mollydooker's line-up. The wine is a complete blackhole, w/ no traces of the feared diesel fuel on the nasal approach. Plenty of baked herbs, pork fat, plum pudding and new leather grew stronger and stronger as the young pup sat in the glass. The body was uncompromisingly plush, effortless doses of strawberry preserve, game, wild berry and touches of black pepper glid through the mid-palate to a beautifully balanced crescendo. No heat, and a surprisingly beautifully focused Grenache that was all class all the way. This wine lived up to the hype, and boy did it mesh w/ the duck appetizer (w/ dried currant) and lavendar crusted lamb chops! Heaven forbid it's culinary versatility at such an astronomical level of booze...granted I was tipsy at the end of the bottle, but those are the enjoyable spoils from wine aren't they?

Deep purple colored wine with a few thick legs showing considerable pigmentation. An enjoyable though slightly reticent nose of raw wood, syrupy plum, heat, milk, and vanilla. Plenty of power in the mouth with slightly alcoholic flavors of maple syrup, slightly bitter dark fruits, mint, and wood. The wine has a moderate level of tannin with sufficient acidity. Good viscosity allows the wine to have good length on the finish.