Pride Mountain Vineyards Reserve Claret 2001

"A potentially perfect wine, which is in bottle after having spent 30 or so months in a combination of old and new oak. The practice under Bob Foley is to first keep the wines in neutral wood as the selections are made for the different cuvees and then, once made, move the wines into new oak until bottling. The 2001 Reserve Claret, which is a 450-case blend of two-thirds Merlot and one-third Cabernet Sauvignon, is a spectacular wine, offering up a dense purple color and a nose of lead pencil shavings, blackberries, creme de cassis, chocolate, and espresso roast. The wine is full-bodied, opulent, layered, with tremendous purity and persistence on the palate. It is a stunning example of mountain viticulture that can be drunk now, although it is still an adolescent in its evolutionary development and will age for 15-20 years."

99 Points

The Wine Advocate

"Deep Ruby-Red. Knockout nose combines roasted black raspberry, cassis, espresso & bitter chocolate. Sweet, fat and deep, with extravagantly rich, seamless flavors of dark berries and chocolate. Not as sweet as the Mountaintop merlot but even larger scaled. The finish shows more obvious cabernet tannins and considerable sweet oak, but has more than enough powerful, palate staining fruit. As a potential purchase, this is a no-brainer for collectors who can find and afford it."

94 Points

International Wine Cellar