another Bordeaux blend, raises the question: Is Beaulieu actually producing too many of these proprietary blends, instead of focusing on four or five top wines? In any event, this is a smooth, supple, delicious, front-end loaded style of wine for 2013, with elegant cedar wood, fruitcake and soil undertones intermixed with red and black cherries and blackcurrants. It is ruby/purple, medium to full-bodied, elegant and well-balanced. Drink it over the next 12-15 years.

Complex aromas of blackcurrants, tobacco and stones. Some oyster shell. Medium to full body, very fine tannins and a polished, refined, textured finish. A wine that harkens back to its traditions.