2007 Chalk Hill Estate Red
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Tasting notes
(51% cabernet sauvignon, 24% malbec, 13% merlot, 11% petit verdot and 1% carmenere) Inky ruby. Highly aromatic nose combines cassis, cherry skin, cured tobacco and smoky oak. Supple on entry, offering sweet dark fruit flavors, then tightly wound in the middle, with a sappy quality to the dark berry liqueur and smoky herb flavors. Showing a lot of exotic character right now, much of which seems oak-derived, but there's a concentrated dark fruit as well. The smoky note gains power toward the back, which shows rather suave tannins and lingers with very good intensity.
Critic scores
Average Score
Robert Parker
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
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Perhaps the finest Estate Red to date is the 2007. Its dense ruby/purple hue is followed by blackberry, cassis, cedar, and licorice characteristics, supple tannins, a more accessible personality, full body, and admirable purity, texture, and length. Drink this beauty over the next 2-3 decades. This may be the finest portfolio of Chalk Hill wines I have yet tasted. All are super-impressive with beautiful purity, balance, texture, and complexity. There are just under 200 cases of one of the rarest dry white wines readers will find in California. Barrel samples of the 2008 Estate Red and Syrah Estate look nearly as impressive as the 2007s. Tel. (707) 838-4306; Fax (707) 838-9687