CALIFORNIA | $45
A massive, but not fruit-forward, wine with concentrated ripe blackberry, black cherry and purple plum balanced with dark natural cocoa, smoke, sarsaparilla, nutmeg and chalk. Complex with a smooth texture, pleasant chew and long finish. Compacted, intense, opaque with an explosion of flavor. Its 16.1% alcohol cannot go without mention, but the wine stands up to it, and it does so very well, revealing a balance, well-integrated drink that’s impossible to put down. He’s a brute in appearance only. An excellent wine. (Reviewed 8/31/13)
