($129; features an unusually high 94% cabernet sauvignon) Good deep red-ruby. Ripe, rich aromas of black raspberry, coffee, menthol, licorice and smoked meat. Much more velvety and seamless than the Napanook, with more thoroughly integrated acidity and enticing inner-mouth floral lift. Not a particularly opulent style but very suave and complex, finishing with noteworthy rising length and very sweet, fine-grained tannins. This beauty has the balance for a long and graceful life in bottle.

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The 2007 Dominus, the quintessential model of haute couture, is pure elegance exhibiting a seamless integration of wood, tannin, alcohol and acidity as well as a complex bouquet of cedar, new saddle leather, sweet kirsch, black currant and plum fruit and a notion of licorice. Both the 2007 and 2008 Dominus should drink well for 25-30 years. The 2007 Dominus is a 5,400-case blend of 94% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. The remarkable thing about these cuvees is that they smell like a hypothetical blend of a top Napa Cabernet Sauvignon and a serious Bordeaux, possibly a cross blend of a Pomerol and Pauillac. Both wines possess silky sweet tannins, which is the big difference between Dominus post-1990 and the first seven vintages, where the tannin content was relatively high. About 40% new oak is used in their upbringing.

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Loamy earth, dried currant and blackberry fruit is supple and layered, full-bodied and balanced, gaining in complexity and style on the finish. The best of three bottles tasted. Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.

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disappointing. nice nose, but flat on the palate. nice balance but fruit surprisingly sparse.