A powerful red blend, with full-bodied weight on the palate, and deep, dark fruit flavors enlivened by spicy echoes on the finish, this wine will benefit from cellaring but shows considerable potential right now. What impresses most is its fine balance, for while certainly big, it in no sense seems overblown or excessive. (Tasted blind at the 2011 Sonoma County Harvest Fair wine competition.)
Arbor Bench Vineyards, Dry Creek Valley (Sonoma County, California) 2009
By Paul Lukacs