A special bottling of pure old vines Grenache in (four!) new barrels, Bernstein's 2005 Pandora mingles strawberry jam, white pepper, smoked meat, and barrel staves in the nose, and comes to the palate amazingly sweet and high-toned, with strawberry liqueur underlain by persistent meatiness and stony mineral character. Fine tannins suffuse the palate but do not interfere with the enjoyment of so much pure, ripe fruit. Time will tell whether this is one for the cellar and in particular whether the wood will always be so obviously with it.

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