Bright ruby-red. Superripe aromas of dark raspberry, mocha and truffle. Creamy, ripe and sweet in the mouth, with strong roasted, nutty oak tones to go with the flavors of raspberry, mocha and graphite. Really saturates the palate with sweet fruit and finishes with substantial but thoroughly ripe tannins. (Incidentally, my even riper first bottle of this wine came across as porty and high-toned.)

Supposedly Dona Paula’s top selection for 2005, and while the wine shows some earthy darkness and plenty of fruit on the bouquet it doesn’t follow up with the mouthfeel or overall balance that it should. It’s ripe for sure, but also aggressive, with a disjointed acid-to-tannin ratio and an almost syrupy mouthfeel.——M.S.(8/1/2008)—— 84