Color:	burnished red, burnt orange & boss brown set in a high-toned mold
Surface:	A-1, brushed to read fingerprints
Temper:	sequined sheen
Snap:	sharp, bright (though not brittle) & super clean straight-edge

heady mix... exotically Eastern & scentual: lacquered wood, coffee, & tea declarative of deep roast -> spice chest (vanilla, fennel, & musk) encasing a Cabernet must

Texture:	built for comfort; soft-to-the-touch; round medium-bodied
Melt:	even flow pack w/ good reach around

husky musk -> vanilla brown sugar -> 1st tremor of bitter chocolate & hazelnut, mollified by cream, rolls into coffee toffee -> signature SdL reds, sweet & supple (plum then dried fruits [apricot & strawberry]; buttressed by Tahitian vanilla’s own red component – cherry blossom) shoot thru tobacco haze -> Oriental woods (ebony, linden, & sandalwood) + mushroom truffle, their bitterness enveloped / controlled in deepening folds of creamy chocolate -> spice mix (fennel, melissa herb, & grass interpreting tarragon, poppy seed) -> drifts off in the distance on chocolate saffron

Dark delight. Tahitian vanilla & bold roast direct the show to color an unusually overall dark tone lightened by Sur del Lago’s basket of fruits - restrained but concentrated - processing them to the outer detectable limits (besides Nacional, one of the few varietals whose fruit notes could withstand this level of roast, those fruits the defining character of what otherwise has the feel of Papua New Guinea cacáo). A production simultaneously dense & dazzling.