With Hart, Brandon, QH, Jeff, Charmaine, Maisy and BSG. wine was courtesy of BSG.

I often state that I dislike most cali cab blends. I find them often to be overly ripened, fruit overload, over-oaked to the tits, and just clumsy and flabby. BUT. Top tier Cali cabs like the Opus are a very different story, but I obviously can’t afford them.

BSG is a Cali enthusiast, and he often brings along some remarkable ones to dinners. Quite candidly, he is perhaps the only reason why I even have a sense of what world class Cali cabs can be. His 2001 and 2003 Dunn Howell Mountains were some of the best Cali cabs I’ve ever had (more on that another time).

The bottle was left uncorked for maybe an hour? BSG was sure that it was matured enough to not require decanting.

This was a super concentrated, and extremely complex wine.

In the glass: deep dark ruby, with an opaque core. High extraction, with staining from the legs.

On the nose: it was an explosion of aroma. Huge uplift of menthol and eucalyptus, black currant, chocolate, anise, and a distinct herbal notes. It was quite incredible.

On the palate: mid acidity, prominently high alcohol that was shockingly well integrated (even at a whopping 15.2%). I guess that’s the beauty of aged wines. Grippy but smooth tannins, with long- finish. On the exhale: pure cedar, oak, leather. Intensely aromatic, lingering in the nasal passages for a long time.

This was super distinctly Cali cab with the fruit intensity and concentration, and of course that insane oak. But the way the alcohol has integrated, coupled with the balance of mint notes for freshness + that focused palate that didn’t even come close to being flabby. This is probably what reviewers would call a hedonistic wine.