The 2003 Walter Clore Private Reserve is even better. It is composed of 57% Cabernet Sauvignon, 36% Merlot, and 7% Cabernet Franc aged for 28 months in new French oak. A classy nose of smoky oak, vanilla, lead pencil, plum, black currant, and blackberry leads to a rich, still youthful wine with loads of extract, thick fruit, superb integration of oak, tannin, and acidity, and a very long finish. This wine demands 6-8 years of cellaring and should drink well through 2025. Tel. (509) 875-2061; www.columbia-crest.com

Warm and fruity, the Walter Clore bottling delivers soft flavors of berry, cherry and vanilla cream, from a blend that is roughly two-thirds Cabernet, one-third Merlot. The pretty fruit seems to hit a wall of tannin, leaving an impression of a two-part wine that lacks the satiny seamlessness of its better peers. ——P.G.(12/31/2006)—— 88