92 points Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar: "Medium ruby. Sexy, expressive aromas of dark berries, licorice, sassafras and smoky minerals. Juicy and tightly wound, even youthfully tangy, with a pliant structure and a restrained sweetness to the flavors of black raspberry, cherry preserves, minerals, rose and licorice pastille. Becomes spicier toward the back, finishing with silky tannins and impressive purity. This wine's lively fruit makes it enjoyable now."

Abstract came out of Dave Phinney's love of Grenache and a desire to make a blend using that varietal as the focal point. The wine has an inky concentration rounded out with Petite Sirah and Syrah.

Abstract is a blend of Napa, Sonoma, and Mendocino Grenache, Petite Sirah, and Syrah primarily from hillside vineyards. The aromas are laced with crushed black fruits and bing cherry. A mouth coating entry leads nicely into a mid palate with excellent structure and balanced acidity. Ripe cherry and strawberry dominate the finish which is clean and long.

The 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer George III Vineyard comes from clone 337, from a Beckstoffer-owned vineyard in Rutherford. Its dense purple color is followed by a big, sweet nose of black cherries, black currants, cedar, spice box, and subtle oak. Enormously concentrated and full-bodied with superb minerality as well as tannic structure, it will benefit from 4-5 years of bottle age, and should evolve for three decades.

This red is so thick and rich it's almost oily in texture, with exotic flavors of black fruit, game, dried herb and hoisin. Muscular tannins keep this structured, but give way to floral and graphite notes on the finish. A powerful wine with modern structure and distinctive character. Best from 2011 through 2020. 530 cases made.

Tight but already alluring, with gorgeous fig cake and warm cocoa aromas slowly yielding to a dark, dense core of plum, blueberry, hoisin sauce, currant reduction and maduro tobacco. Muscular but supervelvety, with a long finish. There's impressive density for the vintage. Best from 2011 through 2026. 2,040 cases made.

The 2003 Barolo Arborina reveals great depth in its expansive sweet fruit, licorice, earthiness and menthol notes. It is made in a fairly accessible style... Anticipated maturity: 2008-2015

It has arrived!!  The 2009 Clio, much like the 2004, is a show stopper! A powerhouse of a Spanish red with huge press year after year. Clio is made up of 67% old vine Monastrell and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon. A glass-coating opaque purple color, it displays an in-your-face bouquet of wood smoke, underbrush, incense, blueberry, and black currant. Dense, chewy, packed and stacked, the fruit quality is superb, the balance impeccable, and the finish lasts for nearly a minute.

Made by famous Napa Valley winemaker Heidi Peterson Barrett, this wine is predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon, with 7% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot added to the blend for extra dimension. A powerful wine from an excellent vintage, the 2007 offers a sweet mocha and blackberry nose accented by a touch of sweet black licorice. It is full and lush, with mouthfilling berry fruit, vanilla and spice underscored by a bit of tobacco. A powerful wine now, this will age nicely in your cellar over the next decade, maybe even more.

The Bouchaine 2007 Estate Vineyard Pinot Noir was blended from a selection of the most dramatic estate wine lots to yield the most expressive wine possible. These are among the southernmost plantings in the Napa Valley and encompass the highest landmark terraces in the Carneros. The vineyard reaps the full benefit of the region’s defining marine influence, which, along with limited irrigation water, serves to limit crop size, retain bright fruit acidity, and assure early ripening making the most well behaved and richly flavored wines. The 2007 vintage was marked by fears of drought conditions early in the season, but prudent watering from partially-filled ponds allowed for full fruit development while limiting crop yields.

The 2007 Ma Belle-Fille is spectacularly intense, boasting aromas of ripe peach, tangerine blossom, dried apricot, golden apple and nectarine, accented with wet stone-like minerality, brioche and lily flower notes. Generous in the mouth, rich and concentrated, the wine displays flavors of William pear, honey, dried almond, meringue, dry chamomile, orange rind and notes of baked Reinette apple. In the mouth, the wine is tactile, gourmand and extremely pure. Layered and seductive, the finish is very long.

The wine is clear or pale with hints of green typical to the Chardonnay.  The nose is both flowery and fruity. Citrus brings a beautiful impression of smoothness and freshness. The first impression is dominated with fresh white fruits (Lemon, Pear)

and with flowers (Acacia), followed by creamy notes. The finish is persistent on the citrus (candied grapefruit, tangerine and lemon) and minerality, bringing freshness and elegance to the wine.

The purple-colored 2006 Espiritu de Apalta is composed of 50% Carmenere, 33% Cabernet Sauvignon and 17% Petit Verdot bottled without filtration. It offers a nose of toasty oak, pencil lead, spice box, cinnamon, clove, sage, blueberry, and blackberry. Plush on the palate, it has layered fruit, succulent flavors and a finish which is long and pure. Drink it over the next 8-10 years.

Love Orin Swift’s The Prisoner then you’ll love Palermo.  Aromas of dark, brooding fruit with subtle French oak in the background lead into a smooth entry of ripe cherry and fig. The mid-palate is subtle and stretches with loads of bright acidity and candied cassis. Layers of stone fruit and ribena lead into a round, supple, lingering finish of integrated soft tannins that roll on and on. This wine is amazing now and has another 8 to 10 years in it at least!  And the label is just amazing!

Ruckus is a blend of Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon from Klipsun and Kiona Vineyards on Red Mountain. Massive, ripe and supple with truckloads of wild blackberry, blueberry pie, licorice, smoke and toasty oak. Firm tannins frame sweet opulent black fruit.