The very ripe cab franc from Stagecoach vineyard seems to drive the wine - as complete and balanced as cab franc gets – with violets and other florals plus lots of very fine tannins starting at mid palate and continuing through the long finish. The Beckstoffer Vineyard X cabernet really fleshed out middle richness and added the classic "sense-of-soil" Rutherford Dust. Most surprising in nose and taste is the coco powder and mole sauce spice from the Ink Grade mountain cab and verve, focus, and cassis fruit from the Palladian Estate Vineyard.Quite ripe, at 15.3% alcohol, the wine effortlessly carries it with completeness and complexity. The different vineyard lots were aged twenty-three months in 100% new French oak barrels of the highest quality, like Quintessence and Demptos, before I assembled the best barrels for the final blend. Bottled in 2009, the wine has had more than eighteen months of bottle development before being released – truly a great wine from a great vintage!
