These are polishing out pretty pretty, gotta say. Deep maraschino cherry in the nose, dirty ashtray and wet cigar-wrapper, a polished concentration to go along with the clear ruby with the slightest hint of brick. Peat hits the mint-butter, and smiles on all the BDX Gods of a New World wine at 13. Especially for 25 bucks. In LITERALLY the best packaging ever anywhere. Round and unctuous all the way through the bouquet, it’s tired, yes. These wines need to be dranken, but the layers of dusty rose and crushed velvet and ripe floral make this a stand-alone bottle.
In the mouth, smooth full-flavored. Dense patches of black pepper and HdP grate against fruit maintaining magnificent blackberry robustness while letting rocky red dust settle on the palate. Pretty sure this deviates from the BDX blend purism with a small chunk of Syrah–something that will be obvious in the early years–but here everything works charmingly together. Granular mineral and a rasping acid over-take the finish, where bullet-proof tannins still reside beside the chubby cherry.
If you’ve got these in your cellar, I applaud you. I know I have a few more, and visiting them is always interesting. These are coming along nicely. But I’m gonna recommend drinking them.
2007 HEDGES Red Mountain Estate ME/cab/SY/CF 56/30/8/6 Washington 13.6
Stephen McConnell 