In the mouth, chewy tannins, stewy blueberries, ink and a ripple of caramel run into dark fruit, char, chalk and a green-herb twinge on the back end. One whiff of its blackberry, blueberry and sinus-clearing black peppery bouquet and you'll know what people mean when they call wines “black beauties.” It is brooding, chalky and has loads of tannin; a fellow taster compared it to a young Barolo. With that in mind, consider aging it as you would its Italian counterpart. As it is now, it will be too big for most palates to handle. —D.M.
In the mouth, chewy tannins, stewy blueberries, ink and a ripple of caramel run into dark fruit, char, chalk and a green-herb twinge on the back end. One whiff of its blackberry, blueberry and sinus-clearing black peppery bouquet and you'll know what people mean when they call wines “black beauties.” It is brooding, chalky and has loads of tannin; a fellow taster compared it to a young Barolo. With that in mind, consider aging it as you would its Italian counterpart. As it is now, it will be too big for most palates to handle. —D.M.
In the mouth, chewy tannins, stewy blueberries, ink and a ripple of caramel run into dark fruit, char, chalk and a green-herb twinge on the back end. One whiff of its blackberry, blueberry and sinus-clearing black peppery bouquet and you'll know what people mean when they call wines “black beauties.” It is brooding, chalky and has loads of tannin; a fellow taster compared it to a young Barolo. With that in mind, consider aging it as you would its Italian counterpart. As it is now, it will be too big for most palates to handle. —D.M.
In the mouth, chewy tannins, stewy blueberries, ink and a ripple of caramel run into dark fruit, char, chalk and a green-herb twinge on the back end. One whiff of its blackberry, blueberry and sinus-clearing black peppery bouquet and you'll know what people mean when they call wines “black beauties.” It is brooding, chalky and has loads of tannin; a fellow taster compared it to a young Barolo. With that in mind, consider aging it as you would its Italian counterpart. As it is now, it will be too big for most palates to handle. —D.M.