2013 2013 Pirouette

Philippe Melka's 2013 Pirouette is no slouch and offers serious amounts of ripe black cherry fruits, graphite, hints of chocolate and plenty of sweet oak in a beautifully concentrated, ripe, textured package. Made from 63% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 12% Petit Verdot and 5% Cabernet Franc (mostly from Red Mountain) that spent 22 months in 75% new French oak, give bottle 3-5 years in the cellar and enjoy over the following decade or more.

Dark ruby-red. Medicinal scents of black cherry, blueberry and violet, complicated by a whiff of game. Wonderfully suave and fine-grained, with a restrained sweetness perfectly countered by a light saline character, firm minerality and a solid tannic spine.