Clear medium ruby with purple edges.  Dried-fruit nose, with distinct prune and tar and AL.  Some high cassis and nutmeg notes coupled with some root-vegetable, but you have to look for them pretty hard at first.  Give it some air.  While the whole bouquet is fairly dark and dreary, the spice elements DO blossom with time.  In the mouth, appropriately acidic for the fruit available on entry but it all thins out considerably from there–while a gangly bitter-petrol core solidifies.  The whole package kinda has that *bottom-refrigerator-drawer* staleness and flavor integration is hit-and-miss.  It is ripe here and thin there–and then visa-versa.  A decent bottle of wine–not undrinkable, by any means–just young and awkward.  Tastes like a fairly ripe Paso cab blended into some thin, vegetal Monterey stuff.  It could settle down into something interesting in a couple years.  13-5   ◊