This wine is still young and precocious, but don’t judge it too quickly. Let it air in your glass, and watch how it changes. One minute it’s all cherries and smoke; the next it heaves up a great draught of currants, cocoa and cedar. It’s a big wine but deceptive; the tannins are airy and lilting, there’s charm and underneath, enormous complexity. It’s best left alone for a few more years, but it’s really very lovely now.

Complex aromas of dried currant, anise, herb and tar are rich and elegant on the palate, with the tannins softening. Has excellent structure. The best of two bottles.--1996 California Cabernet retrospective. Drink now through 2009. – JL