Antinori Family Estate Antica Napa Valley - 2007 (750ml) Merlot candied fig and anise

candied fig and anise

The dense ruby/purple-colored 1997 boasts a lavishly pure nose of blackberries

it is a huge

atypically backward Cabernet Sauvignon does not possess Silver Oak's usual approachability and precociousness

the wine has a certain elegance

Antinori Family Estate Antica Napa Valley - 2007 (750ml) Merlot candied fig and aniseGrown on Antinori's original property, high on Atlas Peak, although you'd never know it from searching the front or back labels. It's a very fine wine, dry and elegantly constructed, with little of the baby fat over the topness that affects some Napa Cabs. Within that firm structure are extraordinarily complex blackberry, black currant and spicy plum flavors. Delicious now despite the firm tannins, and should develop over the next 810 years, at least