1999 Screaming Eagle Vertical (1992-2004)

The bottled 1999 (a blend of 88% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot, and 2% Cabernet Franc) is as profound as I predicted a year and a half ago. It boasts an opaque purple color along with a gorgeously pure nose of creme de cassis, charcoal, and floral characteristics. The wine is opulent, dense, and rich, with exceptional purity, a viscous texture, and impressive underlying tannin that frames its large but elegant personality. Not surprisingly, this is a candidate for the wine of the vintage. Anticipated maturity: 2005-2020. Tel. (707) 944-0749; Fax (707) 944-9271

Bright, saturated medium ruby. Very ripe, sweet, aromatic nose combines bitter cherry, currant, chocolate, espresso, baking spices and licorice. Expansive, sweet and mouthfilling; almost shockingly large-scaled for this wine. Velvety and seamless, with ripe acids giving the wine shape. Subtle notes of currant leaf, maple syrup and game. Finishes rich and long, with sweet tannins. Seems riper and more textured than recent vintages of this wine. After 24 hours in the recorked bottle, this showed cassis and bitter chocolate flavors, an even firmer structure and compelling sweetness.

The bottled 1999 (a blend of 88% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot, and 2% Cabernet Franc) is as profound as I predicted a year and a half ago. It boasts an opaque purple color along with a gorgeously pure nose of creme de cassis, charcoal, and floral characteristics. The wine is opulent, dense, and rich, with exceptional purity, a viscous texture, and impressive underlying tannin that frames its large but elegant personality. Not surprisingly, this is a candidate for the wine of the vintage. Anticipated maturity: 2005-2020.