1996 Peter Michael Les Pavots

The powerhouse, opaque purple/blue-colored 1996 Les Pavots is a blend of 74% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, and 6% Cabernet Franc. The nose offers up blackberry, licorice, cassis, and pain grille aromas. The superb extract, well-defined personality, and smoky, licorice, Asian spice, and blackberry flavors provide a thrilling tasting experience. It was bottled with neither fining nor filtration. There are approximately 2,800 cases of this fabulous effort. Anticipated maturity: now-2025. Tel. (707) 942-4459; Fax (707) 942-0209

Saturated ruby-red. Juicy aromas of cassis, boysenberry, blueberry and graphite, plus hints of medicinal black cherry, stones and tobacco. Dense, sweet and primary in the mouth, with an impressively creamy texture and notes of cassis and blueberry. Showing far more personality today than the much less evolved '97. Finishes with huge, mouthcoating tannins, and very persistent, sweet, balancing fruit. Here a perfect example of a '96 cabernet that benefitted from the heat of the year: during the first hot spell in early September, says Aubert, the potential alcohol in these grapes was just 10%.