Even better, the 2017 Avoyelles Oakville Ranch checks in as a mostly co-fermented blend of 49% Cabernet Sauvignon, 46% Cabernet Franc, and 6% Petit Verdot, all fermented and raised in new French oak. Stunning crème de cassis and black raspberry-like fruits give way to more toasted spice, dried flower, and cedar notes with time in the glass. Full-bodied and beautifully textured on the palate, it’s a wonderfully complex, balanced 2017 that does everything right. I’d be thrilled to have bottles in the cellar, and I suspect it will evolve gracefully for 20+ years.

The 2017 Oakville Ranch Avoyelles is blended of 49% Cabernet Sauvignon, 46% Cabernet Franc and 6% Petit Verdot. Medium garnet-purple colored, it comes prancing out of the glass with pretty baked plums, kirsch and blackcurrant cordial scents plus wafts of rose hip tea, forest floor and truffles. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is laden with spicy black fruit preserves, framed by chewy tannins, finishing with an herbal lift.- LPB