2002 Ravenswood, Pickberry Vineyard, Sonoma Mountains, Meritage

Very dark with garnet around the edges. Tight nose with cherry and forest floor. Red cherry, earthy, and mushrooms fruit flavors, moderate acid, hard tannins on the long finish. This wine tastes rough and needs some time to soften out the hard tannins. It is 81% Merlot and 19% Cabernet Sauvignon. For a wine with this much Merlot it is surprising tight and tannic. I think it needs at least 5 more years and perhaps more. It tasted a little disjoint to me right now, but perhaps it is just too young. My rating 85.