2007 Cabernet Sauvignon St Helena

(14.8% alcohol): Good medium-deep red-ruby. Lovely violet lift to the sexy, perfumed aromas of cassis, licorice and eucalyptus. Supple, sweet, pure and very ripe; large-scaled but a bit youthfully monolithic, even musclebound today. This very backward wine quickly shut down in the glass. But its big, chocolatey, very ripe tannins suggest that patience will be rewarded.

The 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate may be one of Ric Forman’s finest wines to date (keep in mind he was producing some of the great Sterling Cabernet Sauvignons of the early 1970s). The 2007 is a slightly more voluptuous, flamboyant, and exuberant version of the 2006. The color is a healthy dense purple, and the bouquet reveals plenty of creme de cassis, licorice, wood smoke, and forest floor notes, a soaring, multidimensional, velvety, full-bodied texture, and ripe tannins. The sweetness of the tannins and the wine’s lush, heady texture are reminiscent of a ripe Pomerol. It will evolve over two decades. Ric Forman has hit all cylinders with both these Cabernet Sauvignons. Tel. (707) 963-3900; Fax (707) 963-5384