($125) Deep ruby. Reticent but highly nuanced nose hints at black raspberry, cassis, smoke, espresso and minerals. Very complex, rich and sharply focused, with captivating flavors of cassis, bitter chocolate, menthol, tobacco and earth. Rather backward wine, yet suave and seamless; this is balanced from the start but has the structure to develop in bottle for 15 to 20 years. Juicy finish features big, broad tannins and a sweet suggestion of chocolate. Wears its 14.6% alcohol gracefully.

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A brilliant effort from Mondavi, the 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve (a blend of 88% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc and the rest Malbec and Petit Verdot) exhibits complex aromatics of forest floor, sweet black cherry and black currant fruit, vanillin and lead pencil shavings. Dense and powerful as well as elegant and concentrated, the finish reveals moderate tannins, and the wine needs another 4-5 years of cellaring, but it has at least 25 years of upside left.

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Smooth and sophisticated, with complex, graceful mocha, espresso bean, dried berry, currant, black cherry and plum woven together in an open knit style that's deceptively deep and penetrating. At a perfect drinking intersection, where the fruit is at times youthful yet maturing. 2001 California Cabernet blind retrospective (June 2011).

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