Pale to medium garnet in the glass, the wine is brilliantly clear and showing minuscule amounts of opacity. On the nose the dusty, chocolate cherry aroma meets subtle anise aromas, matched by oak elements of toasted coconut, clove and vanilla. The slightly burnt sugar aromas match well the with more subdued red fruit flavors of stewed cherry, plum and dried raspberry. The Pallet is light, mixing secondary notes from elevage like biscuit and spice and almond with tertiary notes of earth and a slight mushroom but all in all this wine has strong sense of barrel with slightly less fruit. Light bodied it has a strong sense up front on the pallet where acid meets the tongue. This SMT is a great food wine wine with lamb, duck and red meats.