Jayson Napa Valley Red 2005

Jayson, Napa Valley, Red 2005 This Bordeaux-style blend is opulently fruity and imminently approachable – no need to let this dawdle in the cellar. Our good friend Richard Trost brought this to dinner last night and we enjoyed it with a roasted pork tenderloin, served with a reduction sauce of pan drippings, white wine, mushrooms, fresh herbs and cream.

It’s now 12 hours since dinner and the drips still remaining in the bottle are a delight to smell. I picked up the bottle as I was about to place it in the recycling and stopped to take a whiff. There’s essence of black fruit in there that keeps on delivering.

Though this is the second red wine at Pahlmeyer it stands on its own and bests the first wines of other estates. The grapes behind it are 73% Merlot, 19% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Cab Franc, 1.5% Petit Verdot and just a smidgen of Malbec. The wine was aged in French oak, 80% of it new.

Winemaker Erin Green. Produced and bottled in Oakville 15.2% purchased for $44.99 at Draeger’s. www.pahlmeyer.om