This was re-gifted to me by someone who doesn't drink wine and who received it as a gift from one of his clients (lucky me!). I planned to drink it with a friend on New Years Eve, and I'm really glad I talked my friend into letting me pick up BBQ pork ribs to go with this versus the spaghetti he had planned on making. This was one of the best wine/food matches I've experienced.
Still retaining some youthful purple coloring, but the rim is widening and there is just a hint of brick. Sweet black fruit still there on the nose, but firmly backed up by tertiary aromas. Great balance of tannins and acidity, earthy and smoky and tangy, it was hard to tell where the ribs ended and the wine began. If you could change the molecular composition of wine to make it food, this wine would be the ribs that we ate (and vice versa). The sides that we had (potato salad and cornbread with bacon) also worked really well with the wine, but provided more contrast.
This looks like it retails for around $50, which is more than I usually spend on a regular basis but I might try to order a few bottles of this. Really nice.