Ripe, chunky black fruit aromas reflect a hot year but get a freshness boost from lemony oak. A thick palate is creamy and oaky, with prune, vanilla and chocolate flavors. A fat finish is almost too ripe and heavy, but not quite. This should appeal to fans of ripe red wines. MICHAEL SCHACHNER

Wafts of dried flowers and cigar box spices offer a subtle, fragrant thread that winds through plump cherry, plum sauce and vanilla flavors in this well-meshed red. Fresh and focused, with dense, fine-grained tannins emerging to trim the finish. Drink now through 2029. 3,000 cases made, 1,500 cases imported.