The 2002 Estate Cuvee, a blockbuster blend of 50% Syrah, 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 5% Petit Verdot, reveals a saturated purple color as well as a gorgeous nose of blackberries, blueberries, flowers, licorice, and a background note of toasty oak. Full-bodied yet elegant with vibrant acidity, superb definition, and a multilayered, concentrated mouthfeel, it can be drunk now or cellared for a decade. The 2002s were bottled about five weeks before I tasted them, so perhaps some allowance needs to be factored in these tasting notes. However, they are very impressive efforts, even though they may have been slightly closed. Tel. (805) 227-1588

The aroma doesn't give a hint of the richness and concentration in this bountiful young wine. Packed with ripe, vibrant, dense blackberry, earth, mineral and currant flavors, it's tightly focused, and finishes with a long, persistent aftertaste and ripe, integrated tannins. Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot. Best from 2006 through 2012. 500 cases made. -JL

A dramatic wine. Huge, almost overwhelming in the volume of cassis, cocoa, grilled meat and sweet oak flavors, yet elegantly dry and crisp. It has the most wonderful texture, mouthfilling and voluminous, yet somehow light as velvet. Finishes with a scour of tannins, but it’s probably not an ager. Drink now through 2007. ——S.H.(6/1/2005)—— 93