I also tasted Terra Valentine’s regular Cabernet Sauvignon cuvee, but it was too tight and closed to judge. If it sheds it tannin, it may merit a recommendation. More impressive, the 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon Wurtele Vineyard reveals a dense ruby/purple hue along with a distinctive nose of damp earth, black cherries, and currants. Medium-bodied and tannic, with nobility, elegance, purity, and a singular, distinctive personality, 1-2 years of bottle age is suggested. Consume it over the following 7-8 years.

This single-vineyard bottling is great. It’s a huge, deep wine, brilliant in black currant, green olive and cocoa flavors, yet packed in big-time mountain tannins that pretty much shut it down on the finish. If you buy a case, begin popping corks in 2008. If you have a single bottle, it should be great in ten years, if cellared properly. ——S.H.(4/1/2006)—— 96