A blend of 42% Merlot, 36% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Cabernet Franc, 6% Petit Verdot and 2% Malbec, the 2008 The Puzzle offers up notes of burning embers, charcoal, Chinese black tea, spice and earth. The complex aromatics are followed by a medium-bodied, elegant, Bordeaux-like wine that is still somewhat restrained and discrete. It should drink well for a decade. Newton has a brilliant history of making very long-lived wines (their 1991s and 1992s are still showing well), although the current vintages seem slightly more developed and forward than those earlier years. Nonetheless, they are noteworthy efforts. They have always done an exceptional job with Merlot, largely because Newton was one of Napa Valley’s early clients of Bordeaux’s famed Michel Rolland.Tel. (707) 963-9000; Fax (707) 963-5408