(87% cabernet sauvignon, 5% each merlot and cabernet franc, and 3% petit verdot): Bright medium ruby. Crushed cassis, blackberry, bitter chocolate and menthol on the nose, along with a pronounced rocky minerality. Densely packed and energetic, with powerful dark berry, crushed stone and saline flavors enlivened by a lavender element. Finishes very long and firm. This uncompromisingly dry wine shut down in the glass and gives every sign of needing a good eight to ten years of cellaring.

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Another perfect wine (identical to the 2007) is the 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon Grand Vin State Lane Vineyard. Composed of 87% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot (430 cases produced), this is an exquisite wine of great precision and profound concentration and complexity. It possesses an inky/purple color in addition to an ethereal nose of cassis, chocolate, burning embers, espresso and forest floor. Sweet tannins, a multidimensional mouthfeel, full-bodied power and good structure as well as freshness make for a prodigious example of wine that will benefit from 4-5 years of cellaring, but will keep for 25-30 years. This is an awesome effort, particularly after what the Kapcsandy family achieved in 2007.

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Complex and well-structured, with sour cherry, wild berry, cedar, lead pencil and tobacco, Bordeaux-like in its structure, balance and mix of flavors, with a nice aftertaste. Needs time.

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Has a lot going for it; a nose with whiffs of lilac, copious and expansive smooth black fruit, brought into focus by some lively red fruits. In the mouth, flowers, red and blue fruits all provide an excellent interplay leading to an inky black fruit core on mid palate. Here though, the wine gets a bit angular and stays that way for a while. I have no doubt that it will work out in the end.

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