As one would suspect from the vintage style, the 2012 The Matriarch Proprietary Red Blend is one of the strongest efforts to date for this cuvée. The flamboyant, exuberant nature of the vintage serves this wine well, since it comes from the softer lots. This wine can be drunk now or cellared for another 15 or more years. Beautiful fruit such as cassis and blackberry are interwoven with forest floor, charcoal and barbecue smoke, all followed by an elegant, expansive and savory wine with very ripe tannin, adequate acidity, and a long finish. The color is a dense plum/purple and the wine delicious already, as well as complex, but capable of easily lasting 15+ years.