This wine is so balanced it hits the palate as impeccable and gorgeous. The flavors, of currants, cherries, vanilla and sweet oak, are only part of it. It is so dry, so richly structured in tannins and acids, so pure through the long, spicy finish, that it easily deserves its high score. Will age well for up to a decade.

91+ The 2005 vintage was a cooler year, with September quite unseasonably chilly and the harvest coming in nearly a month late in Napa. Not surprisingly, the longer hang time and more moderate ripeness of the vintage has dovetailed beautifully with the elegant style of Cathy Corison’s wines, producing a very refined, youthful and classic wine in the making. The deep and complex nose shows a “cooler” fruit profile of cassis, dark berry, tobacco leaf, fresh herb tones, a lovely and striking base of soil and a touch of new wood. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and still quite primary, with a lovely core, moderate, well-integrated tannins and excellent length and grip on the black fruity and still youthful finish. Give this very promising wine another five or six years in the cellar to allow the tannins to fall away and the nose and palate to really blossom. It will be a lovely wine.