2012 BOND Pluribus

Healthy full ruby. Urgent scents of inky black fruits and black cherry plus a whiff of reduction. Extremely tactile but not at all heavy; still an infant today. Finishes with a powerful spine to support long aging, but the tannins show little in the way of give today. These recent vintages of Pluribus are quite locked up and may be even better than my scores suggest. Certainly this wine possesses an outstanding combination of size, power and refinement.

From a seven-acre parcel on Spring Mountain, the 2012 Pluribus exhibits the white flowers (acacia?), blueberry and black raspberry fruit that comes from this high elevation site. It is full-bodied but very tannic, backward, coiled and relatively tight, behaving in that sense more like a 2013 than a 2012. This wine is set for a long life of 30+ years. Forget it for another 4 or 5 years, then consume it over the following three decades.

The 2012 Pluribus has softened considerably over the last year. White pepper, cranberry, chalk, blood orange and spices are some of the signatures. Precise and finely sculpted, the 2012 is all about finesse. There is plenty to like here.