97 burgess napa valley

[newsguy]

finally opened the double-magnum of this wine (signed by tom burgess himself) that i purchased at the silent auction during last year's bern's winefest. (will post TNs soon from this year's event.) had this wine with friends after my wife's coating ceremony at UF's college of veterinary medicine (she just finished her second year). anyhow...

wine was a deep garnet, with bricking around the edges. very quickly reminded me of a bordeaux -- tar evident in the nose and on the palate, along with prominent elements of smoke and barbecue spice, plus dark fruits. good finish, with backbone and plenty of tannins left. one thing that i found unusual was that while the flavors of this wine were still quite strong, the actual fruit flavors were very much in the background. the smoke and barbecue spices really took the lead. there's enough tannin for this wine to go a while, but i don't know for how much longer it will actually taste like fruit.

anyone out there had this wine and would care to comment?