This is a blend of the three single vineyard wines that Vida Valiente releases. The winery was formed with a charitable arm and its Foundation supports lower income students going to Stanford who lack the financial resources. One hundred dollars from every bottle sold goes to support this Foundation. The winemaker, Sam Kaplan, identifies particular barrels to achieve his goal for this wine. This is the first vintage and like all of their wines, it lists 14.8% abv on the label. Purple in color, ruby at the rim, opaque and bright. The nose is tight but opens to cassis, dark chocolate, spices and minerality. Velvety (glyserol) texture. Firm tannins. On the palate, this is much more open. Cassis, slight blueberries, dark chocolate and spice. Long finish. This as all of these wines, will improve with cellaring. Drink over the next twenty years. Better on its own right now, but with time, this will be a classic steak wine, but would work with Szechuan beef.
