Gary Farrell’s Bordeaux blend is quite good and well-made, but it isn’t showing much complexity now. It’s a big, tannic wine that impresses with its blast of fruit. Blackberries, cherries, plums, currants, cocoa all swamp the palate, along with smoky oak notes. Maybe it will do interesting things in the cellar.——S.H.(4/1/2009)—— 87

True to the house style, this young, dark wine will not wow you immediately. It’s tight now, weighed under by tannins and acidity. Yet there’s a succulence in the middle palate that suggests just-ripe black cherries and spicy blackberries. It seems balanced and harmonious enough for extended aging. ——S.H.(9/1/2004)—— 90