Another fabulous I Block from Mondavi. Exceptionally ripe in grapefruit, lime and gooseberry fruit, it shows the minerality of this vineyard that gives the wine grip and grounding. Bone-dry, with crisp supportive acidity and just the right amount of oak, it’s wonderful now. This is not a wine to age, but will hold over the next four years. — (6/1/2012) —93

Made from 100% Sauvignon Blanc, with a great many vines more than 50 years old, this is an enormously complex wine. Fruit doesn’t dominate. Flowers and minerals do, with flavors of stones, herbs and earth. What fruit there is brings to mind tart limes and lemons, perhaps white apricots and peaches, with peppery Asian spice accents. Has the weight of a great red wine, and is bone dry. Don’t drink it too cold. Will age for a long time, perhaps a decade, in a cool cellar.——S.H.(9/1/2010)—— 95

The limited production 2003 Fume Blanc I Block To-Kalon Vineyard (378 cases) reveals that wonderful combination that sets fine wine (as well as great cuisine) apart, incredible intensity of flavor with wonderful delicacy and lightness of personality. Discrete tropical fruit aromas intertwined with notions of figs, minerals, and honey jump from the glass of this perfumed Fume. In the mouth, it is all power and concentration built around restraint and finesse, good acidity, and a wonderfully nuanced character. It’s just a shame so little of it is available. Lucky purchasers should enjoy it over the next several years. Tel. (707) 226-1395 and (800) MONDAVI; fax (707) 251-4386

Explosive. Like the Reserve Fume on steroids. Tons of tropical fruit, persimmon, passion fruit, lime and fig, with rich, bright acidity, all seamlessly married to oak. Showy, flashy and flamboyant. ——S.H.(6/1/2005)—— 94

The 1997 Fume Blanc To-Kalon Estate I Block is produced from the oldest Sauvignon Blanc vines of the estate vineyard. It offers a subtle, honeyed, citrusy nose, followed by rich, medium-bodied, elegant, exceptionally long, and remarkably concentrated flavors. The overall impression remains one of delicacy and finesse. It was bottled without filtration and should drink well for 4-5 years. I think it is safe to say that no white wine at Robert Mondavi goes through 100% malolactic fermentation given winemaker Tim Mondavi's belief in trying to produce wines with flavor, vibrancy, and as he says, "nerve." Tel. (707) 259-9463 and (800) MONDAVI; Fax (707) 963-1007