Black currant, black mushroom, baking spices, lavender and dried flowers. Lead pencil. Full-bodied with pretty framing and tension from the French oak and a blend of 44% merlot, 27% malbec, 10% cabernet sauvignon, 10% petit verdot, and 9% cabernet franc. Drink or hold.

The 2021 Bordeaux Red Blend is the first iteration to include a significant amount of fruit from Farrow Ranch, Aperture's latest vineyard acquisition. It's a blend of 44% Merlot, 27% Malbec, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Petit Verdot and 9% Cabernet Franc and was matured for 18 months in 50% new French oak. It has slowly unfurling scents of red and black currants, chocolate-covered cherries, integrated new oak spices, tobacco and tapenade. The palate is particularly elegant, balancing concentrated, nuanced flavors with a frame of velvety tannins and vibrant acidity that calls you back to the glass. 5,270 cases produced.

The 2021 Aperture Cellars Red Blend represents their entire estate, comprising all five classic Bordeaux varieties and all blocks of their estate plantings. Winemaker Jesse Katz ferments each variety separately, then blends them together roughly one year into the wine's development. Katz cites 2021 as his favourite vintage of the Red Blend, emphasising that Aperature's new Healdsburg facility has allowed him to showcase their fruit's textures and overall polish. His approach shows in the wine, which has a beautiful savoury nose of expressive dark berry fruits, cedar, and sandalwood, with notes of cocoa nibs and wisteria flowers. An excellent medium to full-bodied richness envelops the palate, with fine-grained tannins with a graham cracker crust quality. The mouthfeel also shows impressive freshness and brightness with raspberry, black cherry, spiced plum flavours, and an extended finish of earth and crushed stone minerality. It is lovely and complete. 44% Merlot, 27% Malbec, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Petit Verdot, and 9% Cabernet Franc.

Cherry, crushed blackberry, cassis and purple flower aromas explode from the glass of this Merlot-dominated Bordeaux blend. The palate is decadent and powerful, with flavors of chocolate-covered cherry, spiced plum jam, cocoa powder and tobacco mingling and swirling for over a minute. There\'s plenty of tannin here for serious aging, but vibrant acid makes this wine exceptional right here, right now.