" We don't sell the wine without touching the vine "
Avennia Sestina Cabernet Sauvignon 2020
Our Price: $90.00 $85.00
6 bottles with free shipping for: $510.00
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6 bottles with free shipping for: $510.00
12 bottles with free shipping for: $960.00
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| Country: | United States |
| Regions: | Washington Washington (Walla Walla) |
| Winery: | Avennia |
| Grape Type: | Cabernet Sauvignon |
| Vintage: | 2020 |
| Bottle Size: | 750 ml |
Product Description
Avennia Sestina Red Blend is made from 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc.
The Sestina is a poetic form from Medieval France. Just as a contemporary poet can use an old form like the Sestina to express modern ideas, we use the traditional Bordeaux blend to make modern wines that express Washington fruit. Sestina is our vision for an old vine blend where the focus is on structure, balance, and complexity. This wine is designed for the cellar, but is enjoyable now.
Sestina: This wine is a blockbuster, with black currant, black raspberry, saddle leather, freshly tilled earth, vanilla, and violet on the nose. Exceedingly rich and balanced on the palate, with great poise and structure for long aging. The finish echoes with fresh black fruits, minerally touches, and floral notes.
Review:
Made from 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot and 6% Cabernet Franc, the 2020 Sestina immediately commands attention with its impressive volume and precision as it erupts in a symphony of freshness and focus, offering captivating notes of red and purple flowers, graphite, dark cherry and spiced plum skin. Possessing a full-bodied palate, the wine reveals hidden depths, with dusty blackberry and dusty dark plum dancing alongside flavors of spiced cherry compote. Sestina's balanced structure showcases lifting tannins and succulent acidity, culminating in a fine, long finish. This wine was made using native yeast and was fermented 60% in concrete. Aged for 21 months in 50% new French oak, the wine was bottled unfined and unfiltered, preserving its purity and earning a resounding "Bravo" for its excellence. It is my top pick from the range. Only 4,656 bottles produced.
-Anthony Mueller (Robert Parker) 96 Points
Gorgeous. This Cabernet-based blend from some of Washington's top vineyards, including Dionysus, Red Willow and Bacchus, is revelatory. Aromatics of violets, petrichor and wet concrete lead into notes of crushed stone, bay leaf and early-season blackberry. The palate is lush, with fleshy blue and black fruits. There is savoury thyme, crushed flint, and cocoa nibs. Winemaker Chris Peterson has captured a showy elegance with this iteration of Sestina that will last for easily a decade.
-Decanter World Wine Awards 95 Points
One of the standouts in the lineup is the 2020 Sestina, a blend of 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot, and 6% Cabernet Franc from the Dionysus, Red Willow, and Bacchus vineyards. Its deeper purple hue is followed by a medium to full-bodied, seamless, elegant wine offering plenty of spicy currant fruit, notes of dried herbs, loamy earth, and lead pencil, fine tannins, and a great finish.
-Jeb Dunnuck 94 Points
Toasted cedar, pine cones, walnuts and cocoa with ripe blackcurrants and cherries....
-James Suckling 93 Points
Winery: Avennia
The Avennia Estate
Our goal is to make wines that evoke clarity: clarity of place, clarity of type, clarity of purpose.
We believe this is best expressed by using the classic French varietals and blends, with methods passed down over generations. We work within this context to allow Washington vineyards and terroirs to distinguish themselves. Terroir is only readily appreciable in a well-formed, harmonious wine. Structure is the backbone from which beauty can radiate.
Avennia is inspired by the Roman name for the city of Avignon, and signifies for us the heart of Old World winemaking. Our wines are designed to tease rather than flaunt; pique interest, not beg for attention. They stand for elegance, delicacy, purity. Our wines are made to enhance conversation, not dominate it, and will be a welcome guest at the table
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Planted 1978. Shallow volcanic soils on the gently-sloped, south-facing foothills of Bennett Peak on Bennett Valley’s floor. One of California’s coolest Chardonnay vineyards. In the final year of 3-year draught cycle, Simpatico Ranch saw its earliest ever harvest and smallest crop, exposing a reserve of exoticism and minerality previously untapped. A watershed vintage for both the vineyard, and appellation. Night harvested by hand on 9/16, whole-cluster pressed direct to barrel; no settling to ensure maximum lees contact. Barrel fermented on heavy lees. Malolactic fermentation. 16 months in French oak, 50% new. Finished 2 months in steel tank, low Sulphur during barrel elevage.
Review:
The 2021 Chardonnay Simpatico Ranch needs a lot of swirling before it shoots from the glass with notes of lemon tart, orange blossoms, candied ginger, and fresh nectarines with hints of crushed rocks, struck flint, and nutmeg. The medium to full-bodied palate delivers amazing tension, with tight-knit citrus and spice layers and a fantastically well woven satiny texture, finishing long and layered. "We only get about 1.5 tons per acre here," said owner/winemaker Justin Harmon. "This comes from old vines on AXR rootstock.
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Each magnum is signed by the winemaker!
Avennia Sestina Cabernet Sauvignon is made from 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc.
The story of this wine - The Sestina is an ancient form of poetry from Medieval France. Just as a modern poet can fill this form with new expressions, Avennia uses the traditional Bordeaux blend to express Washington. Sestina is their vision for an old vine, complex blend where all of the components complement each other. This wine is designed for the cellar, so the emphasis is on structure, balance, and complexity.
Winemaker Tasting Notes - “Good deep ruby/garnet color, with aromas of black cherry, fresh black currant, dark mocha, cigar box, and graphite. The palate is lively and dense with mountain berries, mocha, vanilla honey, damp earth, and wildflowers. The finish shows a distinct chalky minerality and beautiful tension. This is a classically balanced and ageworthy Sestina. Drink 2025-2040.” - Chris Peterson, Winemaker
Review:
The Cabernet Sauvignon-dominated release from Peterson, the 2017 Sestina comes from the Red Willow, Bacchus, and Dionysus vineyards. Rocking levels of crème de cassis, sappy herbs, violets, and cedar pencil all flow to a full-bodied, incredibly pure, polished 2017 that offers flawless balance, ripe tannins, and a great, great finish. It's more approachable than normal yet is still going to evolve for 15 to 20 years. The blend is 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot, and the rest Cabernet Franc, all raised 20 months in 50% new French oak.
-Jeb Dunnuck 95 Points
With a focused and delineated nose, the 2017 Sestina is bold and complex with aromas of blackberry preserves, spiced plums, dark cherry skins and elegant tones of vanilla, baking spices, baked earth, dried herbs and bitter dark chocolate. Full-bodied, the wine is generous and expressive, showing layers that evolve with intensity, expressing flavors of chocolate dark, fruit compote and elegant oak spices before displaying an inky mid-palate. The wine has a long, drawn-out finish that continues to evolve, revealing many of its secrets with vanilla and cinnamon over graphite with juicy plums and blackberry essence. Wow! Give it a few more years in the cellar before opening.
-Anthony Mueller (Robert Parker) 94 Points
Bright, dark red with ruby tones. Musky aromas of redcurrant, spices, olive and flowers, plus a hint of graphite minerality that Chris Peterson says comes from Bacchus Vineyard. Wonderfully silky, thick and round without being heavy, offering complex flavors of redcurrant, minerals, spices, saddle leather and shoe polish lifted by notes of wild herbs and flowers. There's also a peppery nuance here that does not come across as green. Perhaps a bit more open-knit than the 2016 version was a year ago, but this beauty still has more to show. (Incidentally, Chris Peterson told me that he does not plan to release his 2017 Red Willow Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon until the fall of 2020.) (3.82 pH; all from mature vines, the oldest dating back to 1972; 50% new oak)
-Stephen Tanzer (Vinous) 93 Points
Avennia Sestina Red Blend is made from 76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot, 9% Cabernet Franc.
The Sestina is a poetic form from Medieval France. Just as a contemporary poet can use an old form like the Sestina to express modern ideas, we use the traditional Bordeaux blend to make modern wines that express Washington fruit. Sestina is our vision for an old vine blend where the focus is on structure, balance, and complexity. This wine is designed for the cellar, but is enjoyable now.
Sestina: This wine is a blockbuster, with black currant, black raspberry, saddle leather, freshly tilled earth, vanilla, and violet on the nose. Exceedingly rich and balanced on the palate, with great poise and structure for long aging. The finish echoes with fresh black fruits, minerally touches, and floral notes.
Review:
The 2021 ‘Sestina’ is a gorgeous blend of 76% Cabernet Sauvignon with smaller parts Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Needing about 30 minutes in the decanter to fully unwind, this yields beautiful black florals that mingle well with wet stone, Black Forest Cake and suggestions of huckleberry with garrigue notes. The palate is soft and refined with a silky texture and beautiful sense of elegance and weight. This is seamless throughout the drinking experience, loaded with black fruit flavors with dark chocolate shavings and suggestions of underbrush. Refined tannins frame this stunning heavyhitter of a Cabernet that is already drinking beautifully now at the three year mark. Savor this beauty now and over the next fifteen to twenty years.
-Owen Bargreen 96 Points
The book end to the Right Bank-inspired Valery, this is the Left Bank-inspired wine which blends 76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot and 9% Cabernet Franc. Sourced from old vine Bacchus, Dionysus, Red Willow and DuBrul grapes, it’s given the rock star treatment with 21 months in 50% new French oak. I love the flavors of the well-chosen barrels, which match those spicy/toasty notes to fruit with both power and palate presence. Beautifully structured, powerful yet restrained, with ripe black fruits that trail into powdery tannins, this is a special wine with a long life ahead.
-Paul Gregutt 97 Points
Avennia Sestina Red Blend is made from 76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot, 9% Cabernet Franc.
The Sestina is a poetic form from Medieval France. Just as a contemporary poet can use an old form like the Sestina to express modern ideas, we use the traditional Bordeaux blend to make modern wines that express Washington fruit. Sestina is our vision for an old vine blend where the focus is on structure, balance, and complexity. This wine is designed for the cellar, but is enjoyable now.
Sestina: This wine is a blockbuster, with black currant, black raspberry, saddle leather, freshly tilled earth, vanilla, and violet on the nose. Exceedingly rich and balanced on the palate, with great poise and structure for long aging. The finish echoes with fresh black fruits, minerally touches, and floral notes.
Review:
The Bordeaux blend is where winemaker Chris Peterson shows his skillset, and this 2022 version of Sestina, a Left Bank homage, is no different. The Sestina showcases Washington's top sites, including Red Willow, Bacchus, DuBrul and Dionysus. There is a splendid sophistication in the aromatics, with singed violets, chipped flint, dusty berries and dried mint leaves. The palate, still wound tight, luxuriates in red fruits, with strawberries and cherries lifted by piquant blood orange notes. There's a sophisticated dark element of graphite minerals and smoky salinity. Fine tannin, superb structure and a mocha-tinged finish that is kissed with a green peppercorn. This wine shows a brilliant acidity to balance its depth. Classic and concise, exceptional.
-Decanter World Wine Awards 97 Points
The winery’s flagship Bordeaux blend, the 2022 Sestina is a grand vin made from older vines, mostly from grapevines put in the ground in the 1970s and 1980s. It combines 78% Cabernet Sauvignon with 14% Merlot and 8% Cabernet Franc, sourcing from the likes of Red Willow, Dionysus, DuBrul, and Bacchus. Elegantly full-bodied and concentrated in cassis, dried herb, and oak spice, it shows structure and refined tannins for aging another 15-20 years.
-Jeb Dunnuck 95 Points
The 2022 Sestina entices with a spicy blend of cedar shavings, dried rosemary and crushed black cherries. It displays silken textures and admirable weight offset by tart wild berry fruits and mineral tones. A wave of lavender pastille adds a welcoming confectionery tinge. A coating of fine tannins flexes upon the palate as this tapers off dramatically long with staining of liquid florals and hints of spice. Fantastic.
-Eric Guido (Vinous) 94 Points
Avennia Red Willow Cabernet Sauvignon is made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon.
The Red Willow Cabernet is a true blockbuster.
Coming from one specific block of 30 year old vines at this iconic vineyard, then strictly barrel selected, this is the essence of powerful, old vine Washington Cabernet. After all of our efforts promoting the idea of the Bordeaux blend, it would take a pretty compelling argument to suspend that idea and make a 100% varietal Cabernet. In 2016 Red Willow provided us with just that. Each time we tasted it in the barrel, the belief grew that this was something special. Something we can't make every year. In the end we were won over, and decided to make a limited amount of this wine. But don't be fooled, as this too is a blend and a selection. Each year as we are tasting the grapes as harvest approaches, we notice that the vines near the bottom of this long, steep west-facing slope, are a little different. The vines at the bottom are in a little richer soil, and get a little more water, so we pick them separately, sometimes even a week or ten days apart, and keep them separate in barrel.
This wine is all from the top of the vineyard, with its lower yield and poorer soils giving more concentration and interest. Then further, nearly every combination of new and used French oak barrels were trialed to find the best blend. It's not enough just to use the four best barrels, but to trial each combination to see how they complement each other. For a wine with this much mass, 100% new French oak was used for the first time at Avennia. It is a wine that needs a little cellaring to start, but should last a very long time.
Review:
The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Red Willow Vineyard is 100% Red Willow Cabernet Sauvignon that will spend roughly 20 months in close to 100% new French oak. Blackcurrants, smoked herbs, chocolate, and graphite notes all give way to a full-bodied, plump, rich, concentrated effort that's going to be better with short-term cellaring and keep for two decades. I continue to consider Chris Peterson’s Avennia estate to be one of the best in Washington State and he’s been making world-class wines for a number of years now. He releases two white wines: A Sauvignon Blanc called Oliane and a Rhone blend of Roussanne and Marsanne called La Perle. The reds are broken up into a Rhône/Bordeaux groups, with the Rhônes including a Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre blend called Justine, and two single-vineyard Syrahs, the Le Corbeau from Mays’ Discovery Vineyard in Horse Heaven Hills and the Arnaut from Dick Boushey’s Boushey Vineyard on the western side of the Yakima Valley. The Bordeaux releases are built around the appellation blends and include the entry-level Gravura, Valery (Merlot dominated), and Sestina (Cabernet Sauvignon dominated). In addition, Peterson also makes a pure Cabernet Franc from Champoux Vineyard in the Horse Heaven Hills and a pure Cabernet Sauvignon from very old vines in the Red Willow Vineyard. As I hope these reviews show, these are brilliant wines readers need to seek out.
-Jeb Dunnuck 96 Points
Bursting from the glass with impeccable precision, the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Red Willow Vineyard is the real McCoy, boasting a focused frame of fruit on the nose that shows depth and breadth in layers of aromas—blackberry, dark cherry, licorice and clove-laced spices flutter over a bed of roses. I can't stop smelling this wine! Full-bodied, the wine unfolds and expands across the palate with complexity, tight structure and beautifully managed tannins, ending with a thought-provoking and long-lingering finish. The wine has a still-tight expression that will age beautifully for years to come. It will serve you well to seek out a bottle of this world-class wine. Only 140 cases were made.
-Anthony Mueller (Robert Parker) 95 Points
Silver Oak Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is made from 95.2% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2.5% Cabernet Franc, 1.9% Merlot, 0.4% Petit Verdot
The Silver Oak Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2019 has notes of red cherry, raspberry, blackberry, iris, vanilla and clove. Ruby in color, this elegant wine has great acidity and lift on the mid-palate. Black currant and warm baking spices linger with a deep and fruity finish. It will provide drinking pleasure through 2047 given proper cellaring.
Review:
Silver Oak's 2020 releases of Napa and Alexander Valley Cabernets are downright impressive. Tasted four years after the fires, in September of 2024 at the Alexander Valley winery, neither wine showed any sign of the hardened tannic structure or overwrought fruit often associated with the vintage. Instead, these wines remain true to Silver Oak’s signature style, with blackcurrant, fig, and plum fruits layered with white pepper, sweet cedar, and coriander spice. Medium-bodied, with sculpted tannins that persist through the lengthy finish, the Alexander Valley Cabernet in particular retains all the hallmarks of a balanced, inviting, and vibrant Silver Oak red.
-Decanter 94 Points
Truly gorgeous, fruity, velvety and enjoyable for a full-bodied cabernet. It is rich in blueberries, cherry cream, black cherries and raspberries on the palate, with very smooth, layered tannins and a soothing mouthfeel. So easy to drink now, but it will age well, too.
-James Suckling 94 Points
Avennia Red Willow Cabernet Sauvignon is made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon.
The Red Willow Cabernet is a true blockbuster.
Coming from one specific block of 30 year old vines at this iconic vineyard, then strictly barrel selected, this is the essence of powerful, old vine Washington Cabernet. After all of our efforts promoting the idea of the Bordeaux blend, it would take a pretty compelling argument to suspend that idea and make a 100% varietal Cabernet. In 2016 Red Willow provided us with just that. Each time we tasted it in the barrel, the belief grew that this was something special. Something we can't make every year. In the end we were won over, and decided to make a limited amount of this wine. But don't be fooled, as this too is a blend and a selection. Each year as we are tasting the grapes as harvest approaches, we notice that the vines near the bottom of this long, steep west-facing slope, are a little different. The vines at the bottom are in a little richer soil, and get a little more water, so we pick them separately, sometimes even a week or ten days apart, and keep them separate in barrel.
This wine is all from the top of the vineyard, with its lower yield and poorer soils giving more concentration and interest. Then further, nearly every combination of new and used French oak barrels were trialed to find the best blend. It's not enough just to use the four best barrels, but to trial each combination to see how they complement each other. For a wine with this much mass, 100% new French oak was used for the first time at Avennia. It is a wine that needs a little cellaring to start, but should last a very long time.
Review:
The flagship Cabernet, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Red Willow Vineyard is all varietal, from old vines in a great vineyard in Yakima Valley, that spent 20 months in 80% new French oak. It reveals a deep purple hue as well as a backward, brooding nose of smoked blackcurrants, tobacco, scorched earth, and violets. It has beautiful richness yet takes plenty of coaxing to open up. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied and has a nicely textured, balanced mouthfeel, plenty of tannins, and outstanding length. It's mostly potential at this point and is going to benefit from at least 4-5 years of bottle age, but my money is on it having 20+ years of prime drinking.
-Jeb Dunnuck 96 Points
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Morlet Family Vineyards Mon Chevalier Cabernet Sauvignon is made from 94% Cabernet Sauvignon 6% Cabernet Franc .
Located on the hillsides of Knights Valley, near Calistoga, this vineyard benefits from its proximity to Mount St. Helena, whose warm and windy climate is ideal for the long ripening of the Bordeaux red varietals. Handcrafted by using classical winemaking techniques, this special wine is dedicated to our son, Paul Morlet.
Dark red with a hue of purple. Intense and complex bouquet of red, black and blue berries intermixed with notes of blueberries, minerals (graphite, wet river rocks) licorice, fresh blond tobacco and a hint of lavender. Full bodied, the palate is reminiscent of the nose, with a richly tannic yet round frame and a great intensity. The hillside tannins and the classical aromatic complexity create a harmonious ensemble, leading to a very long and elegant finish. Built to age for decades, this collectible wine opens up after a few years of cellaring and is particularly representative of this special vineyard from the hillside of Knights Valley. Mon Chevalier features the interaction of the loamy, well drained and rocky volcanic soil, the typical sunny mountain climate and the low-interventionistic Morlet winemaking approach.
Propietary Name Mon Chevalier
Name Meaning My Knight Named after our son, Paul Morlet
Type of wine Vineyard designated
Appellation Knights Valley
Vineyard singularity Morlet Family Estate Hillside 1100-1200 feet elevation Rhyolitic, loam & volcanic ash
Typical harvest date End of October
Picking Manual, small lugs, refer truck
Sorting Cluster by cluster, berry per berry
Fermentation Through native yeast Tank and Puncheons
Upbringing 16 months French oak from artisan coopers
Bottling Unfiltered
Cellaring time Decades
Serving Room temperature
Decanting recommended
Review:
The 2017 'Mon Chevalier' is rich, deep and unctuous, with all the character that makes wines from this site so exciting. Graphite, inky blue/purplish fruit, spice and lavender infuse the 2017 with tremendous complexity. In the glass, the 2017 is savory, rich and expansive, not to mention hugely appealing.
-Vinous 96 Points
Chappellet Pritchard Hill Estate Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon is made from Cabernet Sauvignon.
Chappellet's Pritchard Hill Cabernet Sauvignon has been, since the beginning of their winemaking career, the most sought after wine of their portfolio. The wine is truly a love letter to the winegrowing potential of Pritchard Hill. The wine was inspired by Bordeaux, and like most left bank Bordeaux, the wine is a blend of predominately Cabernet Sauvignon with remaining amounts other classic Bordeaux blend varieties. The vines grow upon rocky, mountainside vineyards. After harvest and fermentation, the wine was aged for 22 months in 100% new French oak barrels.
Chappellet planted on Pritchard Hill in 1967, among the first to prove this rugged, high-elevation bench on Napa Valley's eastern ridge could grow world-class Cabernet. The volcanic, iron-rich soils sit above the fog line, where poor ground and long, even ripening yield naturally concentrated fruit and the wine's celebrated capacity to age.
Review:
The flagship release here, the 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon Pritchard Hill sports a saturated purple hue and absolutely heavenly aromatics of crème de cassis, liquid violets, graphite, crushed stone, and a Pauillac-like character that builds with time in the glass. Based on 95% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Petit Verdot, it's full-bodied, has a deep, concentrated mouthfeel, ultra-fine tannins, and a great, great finish. This is magical stuff that offers pleasure even today given its purity, balance, and finesse, but I'd be shocked if it didn't keep for 50 years or more. Drink 2025-2075.
Jeb Dunnuck, 100 points
Review:
The flagship release here, the 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon Pritchard Hill sports a saturated purple hue and absolutely heavenly aromatics of crème de cassis, liquid violets, graphite, crushed stone, and a Pauillac-like character that builds with time in the glass. Based on 95% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Petit Verdot, it's full-bodied, has a deep, concentrated mouthfeel, ultra-fine tannins, and a great, great finish. This is magical stuff that offers pleasure even today given its purity, balance, and finesse, but I'd be shocked if it didn't keep for 50 years or more. Drink 2025-2075.
-Jeb Dunnuck 100 Points
The flagship wine of Chappellet, this is sleek, deep, powerful, extremely pure and vivid Cabernet hidden power, and again this cut tannic frame that shelters the fruit, a beautiful wine that has this enveloping violet fragrance, and showcases the brilliance of the 2023 vintage. 41ha, Philipe Titus winemaker, David Frankie director.
-Jane Anson (Jane Anson - Inside Bordeaux) 100 Points
Chappellet's 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon Pritchard Hill ended up being bottled as a 5,000-case blend of 95% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Petit Verdot. This stunning wine offers up a seamless amalgam of cherries, blueberries and cassis, joined by hints of cedar and vanilla and subtle nuances of dried herbs. Medium- to full-bodied, it's concentrated and rich, with ripe tannins lingering on the long, dusty finish. In 20 years, will this rating seem conservative?
-Joe Czerwinski (Robert Parker) 100 Points
Now this is one beautiful, full-bodied, full-framed Napa Cabernet from an iconic producer. The wine opens with blue fruit and beautifully fine, expressive French oak notes – perfectly toasted and exuding espresso, dark chocolate, and molasses – before blackberry fruit builds with intensity and segues seamlessly into a ripe, pure-fruited palate. This powerful wine overflows with ripe fruit and lavish Indian and Asian spices, and candied violets, while powerful tannin is perfectly integrated – forming a seamless tapestry of dark berry fruit-and-brown-spice through the finish. Tasted over three days, it just gets better and better. One note of warning: The bottle itself is a little heavy, so instead of recycling it, consider adding it to your free weight collection.
-Decanter 99 Points
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