L'Ecole No 41 Seven Hills Vineyard Estate Perigee 2017

Based on 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 21% Merlot, 11% Cabernet Franc, the rest Petit Verdot and Malbec, the 2017 Perigee Estate Seven Hills Vineyard offers more classic cassis, tobacco, and sappy herbs as well as a solid sense of minerality. Full-bodied, concentrated, and beautifully balanced as well as elegant, give it 3-5 years of bottle age and enjoy over the following two decades or more.

Bright, saturated ruby-red. Blackberry, boysenberry, licorice and minerals on the nose, lifted by topnotes of Tellicherry pepper and violet. Very suave, silky and smooth, conveying enticing sweetness to its refined dark berry, spice and mineral flavors. Terrific energy and delineation here, and long and suave on the rising finish, where the dusty tannins are beautifully buffered by the wine's material. A lovely showing, even if this very juicy wine is still a bit youthfully imploded. This may be the most floral of the current red wine releases from L'Ecole.

Cabernet Sauvignon makes up half of this wine, with the rest Merlot (21%), Cabernet Franc (11%), Petit Verdot (9%) and Malbec (9%). Brooding aromas of cherry, plum, mocha, graphite, cherry and herb lead to medium-bodied fruit flavors, backed by tart acidity and firm, grainy tannins. The structure is lovely. It needs some time to stretch its legs, with the tannins giving a bigger impression than they often do from this vineyard. Best after 2024.

Dense and compact, with currant and spice flavors that struggle against muscular, gritty tannins. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec. Best after 2021. 1,280 cases made.