This is easily the cheapest, littlest Happy Canyon Cab I have tried to this date. Medium density clear ruby with pink edges. A little bell pepper and squished-bug nose with sweet oak and banana-peel bright-fruit forwardness. Tiny bits of spice and woodsy-roundness but in a wet-cardboard sorta way. Good, clean entry with almost instant acidity and tannin blocking off the initial meager fruit. This is not a horrid wine, it’s just not something to get even remotely excited about. 2nd or 3rd-growth BDX comes to mind. Deep dark ripe cherry DOES follow through the finish, and the whole package is going to appeal to palates perhaps moving out of third-and fourth-shelf local cabs but not yet really experiencing or embracing a quality cab with fruit and balance at or above this price-point. Clean and neat and totally serviceable, but boring. This came as a vintage-mistake on a restaurant menu, and was opened before I could approve. I would never, under ANY circumstances, order–or drink–2yo cab. Crazy young, and will settle down into something entirely more enjoyable with a couple years under its belt, and I suppose it has the balance to carry on for a decade, but I wouldn’t put too much money on it. Cab like this just isn’t designed for that. Drink it an enjoy it… I would love to revisit this in 2 years. 14-3 ◊

