Rubicon Estate, Rutherford (Napa Valley, California) 2008

 I tasted this sumptuous wine in a line-up of other Rutherford Cabernets, looking for that elusive “Rutherford dust.”  What I found in this wine, as well as its neighbors, was Rutherford suaveness or Rutherford silk, the ripeness of the 21st century obliterating any sense of dusty tannins of the past.  The heavy embossed bottle and the stated 14.8% alcohol made me want to dislike the wine, but that was impossible after tasting it.  It’s a gorgeous wine.  A Bordeaux blend with Cabernet Sauvignon predominating (87%), it is thick and rich but not overdone or overwrought.  Instead, it’s powerful and classy with black fruit flavors, of course, but more impressive are the complementary savory notes and a distinct dark minerality.  Extraordinary length allows additional flavors to explode on the palate.  Finely polished, it impossible to resist its allure and charm now, but its balance suggests it will evolve beautiful with a decade or two of bottle age.   I’ll let others decide whether it’s worth $200 a bottle.  But there’s no question that it shows the heights that Rutherford Cabernet can achieve.