The 2012 Promontory, which is the softest vintage to date, was slightly better this year than last year, as it had rounded out. It does not have the depth of the 2013, but it is a great wine on its own merits. Notes of new saddle leather, loamy soil, and crushed rock intermingle with blackcurrants, plum, tobacco leaf and spice in a full-bodied, wonderfully pure and large-scaled style with ripe, well-integrated tannin. It is accessible enough to enjoy, and in spite of its massiveness, it is certainly capable of evolving beautifully for 30 or more years.

The 2012 Promontory comes across as dense, powerful and super-concentrated, something I did not think was possible on this rugged hillside site. Black cherry, mocha, plum, spice and new leather open up gradually, but the 2012 is years away from offering its finest drinking. Today, the 2012 is a bit monolithic, but these wines have consistently shown that what they need most is time.

Bright medium ruby. Black raspberry, mocha, coffee and wet stone on the nose, with a hint of almost candied ripeness. Plush and voluminous without coming across as heavy; the mid-palate offers compelling building sweetness without quite the definition or nobility of the 2010. But then this very ripe wine, racked just once when the blend was made, still has nearly a year of elevage ahead of it. Finishes with huge but ripe, nutty tannins and outstanding length.