The 2001 Firebreak (93% Sangiovese and 7% Cabernet Sauvignon) reveals strawberry and cherry notes intermixed with saddle leather, tobacco, and herbs. Medium-bodied with abundant fruit and fragrance, it is a classic food wine to drink over the next 3-4 years. Tel. (707) 944-2877; Fax (707) 944-9454

The 2001 Firebreak (93% Sangiovese and 7% Cabernet Sauvignon) reveals strawberry and cherry notes intermixed with saddle leather, tobacco, and herbs. Medium-bodied with abundant fruit and fragrance, it is a classic food wine to drink over the next 3-4 years. Tel. (707) 944-2877; Fax (707) 944-9454

Massively oaked, but massive in every other respect, too. The fruit is explosive, suggesting the ripest, purest blackberries distilled to sweet creme de cassis, with notes of olives, white chocolate and oak sap. Cabernet Sauvignon character dominates, although it’s only 7 percent of the blend, but the Sangiovese contributes an earthy, tobaccoey pepperiness, and perhaps smooths the tannic grip. Cellar through this decade. ——S.H.(9/1/2004)—— 93