2006 Paul Hobbs Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer To-Kalon Vineyard Oakville Napa Valley

This altogether show-stopping wine is a tour de force in unbridled richness, and, while unstinting in ripe-ness and simply swimming in oak, it shows a stunning degree of articulate Cabernet fruit at every stop. Lush and weighty, yet wonderfully well-balanced with more than enough extract to counter a trim of last-minute heat, it makes no claim to finesse and speaks with a full and lusty varietal voice that continues on and on at the finish. Like so many of Mr. Hobbs' wines, this one is so showy as to tempt drinking now, but more complexity and polish will come, and sorry will be those who find it impossible to wait for a few years.

Glass-staining purple. Spicy blackberry and cherry-cola on the nose, with sexy floral and smoky mineral qualities gaining power with air. Deep, forceful dark fruit flavors coat the palate and are framed by gently chewy tannins. The floral and mineral notes build on the finish, which delivers solid punch and betrays no rough edges. These tannins are really suave.