This wine’s vibrant magenta rim blends into a near-black core. Black cherries, ripe blueberries and pomegranate seeds are joined on the nose by tar and licorice along with a dusting of animale. The palate is packed with forest fruits and there is a candied tone reminiscent of Kool-Aid drink mixes. Full bodied but restrained in tannin, the generous alcohol is well-balanced principally by the medium acidity. This bottling finishes fairly modestly but has the acidity–if not the complexity–to keep the sipper going back to the glass. Drink up through mid-2014.

— Published (7/16/2013)