15% Merlot; 10%Cabernet Franc. This highly ripened, close-to-overdone offering is very much cut from the same fairly opulent cloth as its mate above, but it follows the same model in finding loads of black-cherry fruit to balance its ripeness and its lavishly laid-on oak. It is just a touch heavy when compared to its mate, and its winds up a little bit too dry at the finish. If perhaps not showing the vitality required for lengthy cellaring, it promises to benefit from a few years' rest.

Rating for United States-California: 91 (slightly better than average year)<br/><br/>Drinkability: drink now<br/>