A rich powerhouse of a wine that is simultaneously refined. Complex and layered orchard fruit aromas and flavors with spearmint and anise, this starts out lush but easily showing enough structure to kind it standing at attention all the way through to a long finish. Probably a vintage to drink younger (compared to 2014).

Tasty but getting tired. Previous bottles have been brilliant, as recently as last year.

Ripe and powerful orchard fruit from start-to-finish with slightly sweet spice notes. This also walks up to the line of opulence but has the structure to easily remain balanced and classic. Great now.

In vertical. All opened ~45 minutes before serving, then enjoyed over two hours. This in the vintage that kept improving in glass. This started out ripe and slightly brooding, but ending rich, big and powerful with more elegance and finesse coming through, too. Lots of upside.

In vertical. All opened ~45 minutes before serving, then enjoyed over two hours. Even tough slightly reductive to start, this was my favorite of the flight from beginning-to-end. So much here, while not as powerful as 2009 or 2012, this was the most nuanced and complex with so much red fruit, savory spice and dancing textures. Very good now.

In vertical. All opened ~45 minutes before serving, then enjoyed over two hours. So much tasty red cherry and berry, complex and rich for Freddy, maybe even slightly candied fruit hints. Rich and powerful. Another bottles from last year was more savory, and so even more exciting

In vertical. All opened ~45 minutes before serving, then enjoyed over two hours. An odd bottle. Tasty to start but the fruit faded within the first hour. Nobody could easily explain but we wondered if slightly corked.

I thought this was at a great place when tasted a decade ago. Forget that, it is so much better now. Perfect balance with more black vs red cherry aromas and flavors with woodsy spice and lithe, minerally textures. Fantastic concentration. Still slowly evolving, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if even better a decade from now. Only nit is that I wish it had a slightly more extended finish.