2010 Ramey Cabernet Sauvignon Pedregal Vineyard

Bright, youthful medium ruby. Deep, claret-like scents of blackcurrant, tobacco leaf, spices and graphite. Plush and utterly seamless on entry, with terrific vinosity giving definition and lift to the intense, mineral-driven palate. At once utterly edge-free and pungent, this savory, penetrating wine is an essence of Oakville. And the Petit Verdot component is still keeping it under wraps today. Finishes with a powerful spine of tannins and outstanding slow-building length and lift. A distinctly backward 2010 with a long future ahead of it. With its iron-like minerality and impression of medicinal reserve, this wine reminds me very much of a top Médoc wine from the St. Julien/Pauillac neighborhood. Great finesse of grain here, and outstanding inner-mouth floral lift. This seems more youthful than it was on release! (ST) 95+

(includes 15% petit verdot; 100% new oak): Inky ruby. Pungent black and blue fruit aromas show an exotic peaty quality and suggestions of incense, violet and Indian spices. Deeply pitched cassis and blueberry flavors are braced by juicy acidity and pick up a suave floral pastille nuance with aeration. The spice and blue fruit notes dominate the finish, which is firmed by youthful but harmonious tannins. While I have no doubt that this wine is built to age it's pretty showy already.

Iron, graphite and a host of ferrous notes open up in the 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon Pedregal Vineyard. This is a distinctly savory, mineral-driven Cabernet long on intensity, power and depth. The most virile of the 2010 Ramey Cabernets, the 2010 is going to require a measure of patience. On this day, the 2010 Pedregal is a bit less expressive than it has been in the past. David Ramey elected to blend in 15% Petit Verdot, which is on the high side, and may explain the wine's reticence at this stage of the wine's development.