($90; includes about 15% merlot and bits of cabernet franc and petit verdot) Full medium ruby. Black raspberry, chocolate, minerals, tobacco, earth and a gamey nuance on the rather musky nose. Sweeter, broader and finer-grained than the 2005, in a distinctly easygoing, pliant style for this mountain cabernet. Highly nuanced flavors of plum syrup, violet, smoke and minerals. Though plenty tannic, here the tannins are not dry. Incidentally, Togni told me that the crop level at his estate is "the major variable affecting wine quality," but I prefer the balance and sweetness of this wine to the 2005, a year that featured a smaller crop.

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Readers looking for more ripeness, opulence, and an extroverted character should check out the 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate, which is actually a larger crop than 2005. This sensational dense purple-colored effort boasts delicious blueberry, black raspberry, cassis, licorice, and olive-like notes. In the mouth, there is more creme de cassis as well as background toasty oak, structure, and tannin. I don't think there has ever been a vintage where Philip Togni has cheated anybody on flavor intensity or tannic structure as his wines always last, even in lighter vintages, for twenty or more years. The 2004 will benefit from 4-5 years of bottle age, and should last for 25-30 years. It is, atypically for the vintage, front-end loaded.

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"Readers looking for more ripeness, opulence, and an extroverted character should check out the 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate, which is actually a larger crop than 2005. This sensational dense purple-colored effort boasts delicious blueberry, black raspberry, cassis, licorice, and olive-like notes. In the mouth, there is more creme de cassis as well as background toasty oak, structure, and tannin. I don't think there has ever been a vintage where Philip Togni has cheated anybody on flavor intensity or tannic structure as his wines always last, even in lighter vintages, for twenty or more years. The 2004 will benefit from 4-5 years of bottle age, and should last for 25-30 years. It is, atypically for the vintage, front-end loaded. " (Robert Parker, The Wine Advocate Issue 168, December 2006)

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