'01 Gallo Sonoma County Cab

[newsguy]

($9.99; 13.9%) deep purple color. initial nose is a dead ringer for a bordeaux: dark fruits, tar and earth. similar flavors. silky entry, very good midpalate and a finish that gets stomped by fine, drying tannins. light/medium mouthfeel, good concentration. after double decanting for two hours, the flavors evolved a bit but still were bordeaux-like: the tar disappeared; a bit of barnyard and spice appeared. gina does bordeaux?

not quite up to the '99 version (which to me was the best since '95), but still a very good, short-to-midterm ageworthy bottling from this perennial QPR favorite. 88 points.

[Drew]

Bought a case some months ago for $6 and change and have already gone thru half. Popped one last night...what a great qpr wine. Am thinking about another case purchase. BTW, I still have several of the '97 which are still going strong.

Drew