Thick, staining garnet with full-colour edges.  Considerable sediment in bottle.  A little heady fruit in nose with a pairing of alcohol alongside and equal.  The obvious alcohol does interesting things with both the early briar funk and the later wet gravel–staying the constant through the ripe, fat nose.  Bought several of these a few years ago on discount knowing they needed to be drank and of course so many other bottles got in the way they got pushed to the rear.  California Merlot doesn’t have the greatest track record for ageability in my opinion, but this one is doing quite the opposite of what I normally run into.  This one is all flabby and pruney, and typically I find the fruit is what comes up short in the long term–thinning out behind mild astringency.  None of that nonsense here!  Disgustingly ripe, concentrated fruit headed South in the ‘freshness-selector’ followed by bracing alcohol.  Consistent finish of mild tannin and surprisingly ample acidity.  I need to drink these.  14-5  Everything from this producer has been solid, slightly above boring and a definite ‘must try’  ♦