Saturated, bright medium ruby. Crushed cassis, licorice and minerals on the nose. Pure, primary black fruit and mineral flavors framed and enlivened by surprisingly juicy acidity. Very firmly built, vibrant wine with the structure to reward aging. Winemaker Bob Foley noted that Pride's cabernet had better than usual acidity in 2004, and certainly more than in 2003 or 2002; the harvest here lasted into early November. If the 2004 Reserve Claret is better than this, it will be a stunner.

Medium-dark purplish ruby; attractive, intense, tarrish, plumy, spicy, cassis, blackberry, and ripe black cherry fruit aroma with overtones of creamy oak; full body; big, intense, concentrated, highly extracted, plush, plumy, peppery, very ripe blackberry fruit flavors; full tannin; lingering aftertaste. Shows forward, rich fruit that is appealing to taste now, though deserving of another three to five more years of bottle aging. Very highly recommended.

Soft, rich and ripe, this is one of those Cabernets that feels dramatic in the mouth. Partly it's the fruit; complex in cherries, blackberries, mocha and rum and cola. Partly it's the oak and partly it's the fabulous balance of rich, sweet tannins and acidity. Put it all together, and it's irresistible. Best now-2010.

Though percentages from the two counties imply a blend, this is, in fact, a wine from one contiguous estate, straddling the border of Napa and Sonoma at the top of Spring Mountain. Most of the Cabernet is planted at the higher elevations of Pride's property, where the soils are particularly thin: gravel patchworks of volcanic rock, sandstone, clay and loam. They grow a structured Cabernet with distinctively pure black currant flavor, this '04 potent with the mineral tannin of those mountain soils. Check on it ten years from the vintage; it should continue to develop beyond that.

One could argue for a little more fruit to go with the ripeness and lavish oak of this intense and highly extracted young Cabernet, but there is no getting around the fact that this is a deep and very rich wine. It fights at the finish with more heat and tannin than is ideal, but its richness and sheer concentration sustain it even then. It is not nor ever will be the picture of polish, but it will definitely reward four or five years of cellar aging.

Although lighter than previous efforts, the 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon exhibits a dark ruby color, medium body, black currant and damp earth characteristics, and a lean finish.