2016 Passing Time Red Wine

There’s a wealth of ripe dark berries, berry pastry and spicy oak on the nose here with an attractive, fragrant layer that makes for a fresh impression. The palate has a very silky, plush and even-paced feel, as well as a sturdy core of nicely weighted tannins that will give this life in the cellar. Nice freshness and balance. Drink over the next decade.

What could be thought up as the second wine of the estate, the 2016 Columbia Valley Red Wine checks in as a blend of 63% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Merlot, 16% Petit Verdot, and the rest Cabernet Franc. This deep purple-colored effort is a brilliant wine in its own right and has a rock star bouquet of blackcurrants, tobacco leaf, underbrush, and chocolate. It's deep, full-bodied, has a plush, sexy texture, no hard edges, and a great finish. It's a no brainer to drink any time over the coming 15 years or more. 315 cases.

(60% new oak; includes a good percentage of declassified fruit from the winery's top Cabernet bottlings): Bright medium ruby. Aromas of cassis and licorice are complemented by sexy oak tones and lifted by a violet nuance. Juicy, concentrated and quite primary, with its dark berry flavors complicated by chocolate and a strong licorice note from the Petit Verdot. Finishes with strong, dusty tannins and excellent length, showing less of the drying influence of oak that I found in a bottle I tasted a few months earlier.