Pitch black at the core, with a tiny yet bright açai-colored rim, this wine has a youthful and boisterous nose of Hershey’s Milk Chocolate bar and peak-of-summer blackberries. The palate echoes the nose and adds cassis and graphite to the mix. Showing medium complexity and a lightly nuanced finish that balances equally between oak and fruit tones, the palate feels slightly oily. The tannins are almost unusually caressing, especially for a dark, well-extracted wine. On the finish, it turns pithily bitter and the oaky tones linger longer than the fruit flavors. Otherwise, the surprisingly zippy acidity is left to do the heavy lifting. Toasty and chocolaty oak dominates the wine, and it’s unclear how it will integrate with time. Drink late 2018–2021.

— Published (2/28/2018)