Robert Parker's Wine Advocate: 99 points

The opaque purple-colored 1996 Cabernet Sauvignon offers a spectacular, exotic bouquet of Peking duck skins, blackberry and cassis liqueur, roasted herbs, and burning charcoal. It is phenomenally intense, with record levels of dry extract and glycerin. This hedonistic blockbuster is crammed with jammy fruits nicely buttressed and framed by adequate acidity and tannin. Drink this marvelous Cabernet Sauvignon now or cellar it for two decades. This is mind-boggling stuff!The wine from this hillside vineyard near Napa's Pritchard Hill, has already become mythical (1992 was the debut vintage). This is a wine of world-class quality, and is certainly as complete and potentially complex as any first-growth Bordeaux. To date, it has been characterized by extraordinary richness, complexity, and harmony, as well as the potential to evolve and improve for 20 or more years.Release date, Spring 1999.Tel. (314) 231-8066; Fax (314) 231-4859

Review date: December 1998