Pure elegance and a savory style characterize the 2006 Marriage, a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Cabernet Franc. This wine was aged longer (30 months in barrel), and the result is a savory, more complex, and polished wine. Dense ruby purple-colored, with a big sweet kiss of Allspice, black cherry, and black currant intermixed with tobacco leaf, white chocolate, and espresso, it is deep, rich, full-bodied, and backward, but at the same time extraordinarily pure and elegant. This is a beauty that could actually get better over the next 3-4 years and drink well for two decades. These are the most impressive wines I have tasted to date from Terra Valentine.Tel. (707) 967-8340

Dramatically rich and structured, this mountain blend of Bordeaux varieties needs time in the cellar. Right now, it’s tannic and astringent, with youthful flavors of blackberries, minerals and smoky new oak. But it’s a very fine wine that should hold and mellow through 2014. ——S.H.(12/1/2009)—— 93