Another blockbuster and a rather massive, backward, full-bodied wine is the 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Christopher’s Vineyard, no doubt named after the exuberant and burly son of Jess Jackson and Barbara Banke. This wine comes from the family’s beloved Alexander Valley Mountain Estate, from a 2,400-foot elevation vineyard, and is 91% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest other Bordeaux varietals. Infantile, opaque purple, with beautifully pure blueberry and blackcurrant fruit, floral notes, a striking liquid-rock minerality, good acidity and ripe tannin, this wine has future greatness written all over it, but it is too young to drink. It is certainly one of the youngest and most backward of the 2005s, but the promise is exceptional. Forget it for another 3-4 years and drink it over the following 2-3 decades.

Not ready for drinking now. Shows youthfully aggressive tannins and forward flavors of blackberries, currants, herbs and unintegrated new oak, making it the least satisfactory of Stonestreet’s impressive new releases if you’re looking for something now. Seems like it will make a very fine bottle after 2011 or so.——S.H.(12/31/2009)—— 93