2003 Arietta Variation One

Medium ruby. The nose is at once cool and exotic, with expressive, explosive aromas of black cherry, raspberry, smoked meat, iris and brown spices. Wonderfully sweet and dense in the mouth, saturating every square millimeter of the palate. A magical combination of syrah energy and merlot breadth. Finishes horizontal and with great persistence, with a strong element of baking spices. A great California red blend.

The 2003 Variation One (60% Merlot and 40% Syrah) exhibits a scorched earth/primordial character in the nose, along with hints of white chocolate, espresso, and black fruits. Pure, rich, and dense, with a singular personality and a complex style, it is firmer and more tightly knit than it was from barrel. Give it another 1-2 years of bottle age and consume over the next 10-12 years. This partnership between winemaker John Kongsgaard and auctioneer Fritz Hatton has produced distinctive, singular wines, with the H Block a California version of Bordeaux’s famed Cheval Blanc, and the Variation One a “who knows what the heck” blend of Merlot and Syrah. Think of it as a hybrid version of a Bordeaux Graves mixed with a Rhone Valley Hermitage. All of the current portfolio offerings are top-notch, although the 2004s are not up to the quality level of the last three vintages. Fax (707) 963-4512

(a 60/40 blend of merlot and syrah, co-fermented) Good saturated ruby-red. Nose offers a compelling combination of syrah and merlo t perfume: black raspberry, minerals, licorice, flowers. Dense and thick, but with terrific flavor definition and lift and captivating notes of flowers and graphite. A powerfully structured wine that finishes with explosive fruits and minerals and great persistence. Incidentally, this syrah comes from a different block of the Hudson Vineyard than the syrah that goes into Kongsgaard's own syrah bottling. This is a hotter site that produces more full-blown wine, Kongsgaard explains. One of those rare 1+1=3 wines, where the whole is more than the sum of the parts. Ob viously, the blend works.