Renard
Napa Valley, California
Calistoga
Tres Ninos
Blend
2007
$19.99
14.5%
The opaque purple core clinging to purple before the proverbial fade to black, the rims a crisp brick red, looks matured. The nose displays eucalyptus, beef jerky, tar and campfire smoke, solid amount of cherry, red currant to plum fruit, not juicy but consistent, vanillin and butterscotch oak notes bubble up throughout, does not appear to have developed much by way of tertiary characteristics. Medium-bodied, velvety smooth and here the oak is just about out of control, all vanilla, butterscotch, caramel, toasted coconut, and molasses. While the tannic residue puts a hitch in its giddy-up, nothing interferes with the plum, cherry, blackberry fruit. Here too there's no sense of evolution, just fruit and oak. That said, it is tasty within its chosen idiom. Mainly Cabernet Sauvignon, remainder Petite Sirah with 2% Syrah.
88 points