Ray Signorello Jr. has hit a home run with this vintage. It has evolved absolutely spectacularly, and seems significantly more dramatic and higher quality than I remember in its youthfulness. A blend of 88% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Cabernet Franc and 5% Merlot, there are only 700 six-bottle cases of the 2005 Padrone. Should you be able to find any in the marketplace, run, don’t walk, and pay the fare. From the highest elevation of their estate vineyards, the yields in 2005 were meager, 1.3 tons of fruit per acre. That seems reflected in this great Cabernet Sauvignon, which has floral notes, blueberry and blackberry fruit, and touches of lead pencil shavings and forest floor. Just about everything one could ask for is present in the aromatics, flavor and multilayered texture. If you are a betting man or woman, I would lay odds that this is Ray Signorello’s greatest wine to date, but perhaps I just need to taste them all at age ten, rather than at age two or three. Bravo!

Hot, spicy, berry jam, roasted. Leathery mountain of tannin. Super high extraction. Ripe. Massive. Very young.

Marks a welcome return to the magnificence of the 2002, although more recent vintages haven’t exactly been slouches. The ’05 is amazing, a densely structured, deeply flavored Bordeaux blend that’s mainly Cabernet Sauvignon. Shows classic notes of cassis, currants and black cherry liqueur, while 70% new oak adds enticingly rich layers of sweet toast and smoky vanilla. The tannins are pure, classic Napa, very refined and ripe, offering solid structural support with no trace of astringency. Beautiful now, and should slowly develop for many years. ——S.H.(12/15/2008)—— 97