Thackrey "Orion" Rossi Vyd. St. Helena 2006

Deep, opaque, vibrant purple.

Crazy, completely atypical (for me at least) Thackrey nose - green chile, cheese. Could be Copain.

Round and mouth-filling, with acidity and tannin at the periphery of the mouth. Black raspberry and moderate chile/cheese flavors. Much better than it sounds. Raspberry picks up steam as the wine airs. No sign of eucalyptus. Thackrey said nothing about stem inclusion when we visited in early 2007 (apart from his initial vintage in 1986), but I can't imagine any other source for this action. I also get the impression that this has not been acidified nearly as much as previous vintages.

Day 4 - Similar, more sumptuous nose - something you eat. Very deep and plush, tannin is really in the background now. Must admit, this is better than any of my recent Copain bottlings. Old vineyard, though. The pH has to be quite high to take the edge off the stem tannin.

$75