This ruby-colored wine reveals sweet cherry and toasty oak aromas that give way to a medium-bodied, juicy, silky-textured, and fresh personality. Its beautifully ripe flavor profile is filled with layers of raspberries, black cherries, and stone-like flavors. The sample I was given to taste still contained a great deal of carbon dioxide (a natural by-product of malo-lactic fermentations as well as extended lees contact) which has the effect of "tightening" a wine's body, texture, and fruit. If that has taken place with this wine - and I assume it did - my score will appear conservative after aeration and bottling. Drink it between 1999 and 2005. Note: This is a special wine that is neither fined nor filtered and is bottled by hand for Patrick Lesec, this estate's broker. My understanding is that it is available throughout the world but that other, non-Lesec cuvees, are also available.A Patrick Lesec Selection (Paris Fax # 011-33-1-42-84-38-22), various American importers.