The 1999 Cabernet/Merlot Prelude Vineyards (86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot, and the rest Malbec and Petit Verdot) displays a touch of herbaceousness along with savory, medium-bodied, red and black currant fruit with hints of cranberries, smoke, earth, and vanilla. With admirable purity as well as a long finish, it will offer modest pleasure over the next decade. Importer: Rob McDonald, Old Bridge Cellars, Napa, CA; tel. (707) 258-9552

Straightforward but tasty, with chocolate, earth and blackberry flavors. Similar notes are reprised on the nose. A pleasing wine, but doesn’t have quite the depth or structure of some other top-notch Western Australian offerings.——D.T.(10/1/2003)—— 85