2006 Proprietary Red, Paradise Hills Vineyard

(60% cabernet sauvignon and 40% merlot) Dark ruby-red. Vibrant, complex nose combines currant, minerals, tobacco and brown spices. Wonderfully sweet, lush and fine-grained, with its silky texture enlivened by compelling inner-mouth perfume. Intriguing mineral and licorice notes add to the complexity of this very deep, layered wine, which finishes with spreading tannins and outstanding length. Large-scaled and rather powerful but with a lovely light touch. A superb 2006.

(a 60/40 blend of cabernet sauvignon and merlot) Saturated ruby. Wonderfully complex nose melds blackberry, black- and redcurrant, coffee, tobacco, licorice, graphite, game and spices; quite claret-like. Large-scaled, lush and compellingly sweet but with an early harmoniousness of elements that gives it a wonderfully light touch. Combines great breadth with terrific inner-mouth energy and freshness. The substantial but extremely fine-grained tannins hit the palate very late, allowing the wine's highly complex flavors to expand and linger. The plan as of March was to wait until December or January to bottle this wine, which promises to be the best release yet from this estate.

The real star is the nearly 1,000 case-lot of the Paradise Hills Vineyard Proprietary Red. The dense, opaque plum/purple-hued 2006 Paradise Hills Vineyard exhibits a beautiful, sweet bouquet of melted chocolate, burning embers, blackberries, mocha, espresso roast, cassis, and cherries as well as stunning concentration, and formidable, but velvety, beautifully integrated tannins. This wine comes across like a hypothetical blend of California, a great Graves, and something from further north in Bordeaux, such as a Pauillac. Full-bodied and powerful, it requires 2-4 years of cellaring, and should evolve for 20-25+ years. Dec 2009, www.robertparker.com