Opaque ruby color with ripe cassis, plum and red currant fruit, toasty oak, vanilla, fennel, juniper berry and bay laurel. Well-integrated velvety tannins, full mid-palate, firm acid, and a long, sumptuous finish. Blend: 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Merlot, 4% Petit Verdot, 1% Cabernet Franc.
Mild temperatures in March prompted an early bloom that coincided with the spring rains. This resulted in a smaller crop that, accompanied by more summer fog than usual, allowed for slow, steady ripening into September. After assembling thirty-six of fifty-eight lots, the wine was returned to barrel for a further twelve months. As a classic Monte Bello, it will benefit from a decade of aging and develop over another twenty years. JO (5/22)