($150; 15% alcohol) Good saturated ruby. Blackberry, violet and sexy oak spices on the nose. Wonderfully sweet, silky, lush and concentrated, with lovely violet lift to the seamless black fruit flavors. Offers outstanding palate coverage and finishes with superb thrust and persistence. Very sophisticated wine, with a firm tannic spine hidden by sweet fruit. Today this is much fresher than the 2004 version.

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At the top of the hierarchy are the Cobos wines. The 2005 Cobos Malbec "Marchiori Vineyard" is about as good as Malbec gets. The vines in the Marchiori Vineyard are 50+ years old and yields were a tiny 1.7 tons per acre. It was aged for 20 months in 100% new Taransaud oak¸ received wild yeast fermentation, and was bottled unfined and unfiltered. Inky, blue/black in color, it offers up aromas of pain grille, violets, truffle, black cherry, blueberry, and licorice. Round, layered, and full-bodied, the wine is surprisingly elegant and light on its feet for such a concentrated wine. The long, fruit-filled finish lasts for over one minute.

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Very lush and showy, with exotic fig, currant paste and boysenberry reduction notes layered over a creamy palate that lets mocha, incense, espresso and Christmas pudding flavors sail through the finish. Almost seems top-heavy, but its deftly balanced with fine-grained tannins that are very well-embedded on the finish.

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