91-93 Points | International Wine Cellar , July/August 2005

($56; 16.5% alcohol; tasted from tank prior to bottling) Deep ruby-red. Superripe aromas of black cherry and black raspberry. Large-scaled and utterly mouthfilling, with a wonderful chocolatey richness leavened by ripe acidity. In fact, this huge wine offers surprising mid-palate delineation offlavor for its outsized ripeness. Finishes with very ripe tannins and excellent length. "It was critical to eliminate the raisins," noted Alban. Indeed, as extravagantly ripe as this is, it's not at all cooked. There's very little grenache from elsewhere inCaliforniawith the saturation of color of Alban's fruit.