2005 Anakota Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Dakota Vineyard

Also remarkable is the 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Dakota, which Seillan told me was from a slightly cooler site with red soil. It is always a wine that shows more chocolate and mocha, but still lots of fat, flesh and blackcurrant fruit. Full-bodied, and from a slightly lower elevation than the Helena Montana, this wine should drink well for another 15 or more years.

Good red-ruby. Musky aromas of currant, iron, leather and smoke. Lush, fat and nuanced, with noteworthy purity and depth to its flavors of black cherry, game, spices, mint and earth. Very full and round but not at all sweet or easy. Compared to the Helena Montana, this shows a tad less energy and finishes with more obvious though fine tannins.

Good deep medium ruby. Crushed cassis, licorice, spices, minerals and a whiff of currant leaf on the complex nose. Juicy, firmly built and serious, with ripe flavors of dark berries and spices complemented by a whiff of fresh herbs. At once sweet and classically dry. This offers lovely aromatic lift on the back end, finishing with broad, toothdusting tannins and excellent subtle persistence. Interestingly, this has the highest pH of these four Anakota wines (3.84, compared to 3.63 to 3.68 for the other three), but there's no shortage of verve.