2000 Merryvale Profile Napa

(92 Points) 56% Cabernet Sauvignon; 40% Merlot; 3% Cabernet Franc; 1% Petit Verdot. The shining star of the Merryvale clan in 2000, the Profile bottling is a big, bold, deeply constituted wine that marries lots of concentrated, black currant qualities with a most generous dose of lovely oak. Redolent of sweet cream, coffee, cocoa and caramel, it is kept solidly on course by its unwavering fruit, and, if admittedly a little tough and tannic just now, it is no more so than a very young Cabernet might be expected to be, and its prospects for five to seven years of improvement are all but guaranteed. Connoisseurs Guide Review Date: 12/2003