Roland Velich set out to prove Blaufränkisch belonged in the same sentence as Burgundy, and this bottle is the argument — dark cherry and cracked black pepper over fine-grained tannin, a cool mineral thread running through the middle. It's serious without being severe, structured the way a good argument is structured: every point earning the next. Smells like a wood-paneled room where someone is about to be proven right. Best decanted an hour before the conversation actually starts.
Matched to the wine's region, weight, and weather — not the other way around.
Precise and controlled, every element in its place — Stevens would approve of a wine this well-organized.
Structured and a little severe, the kind of red that rewards close attention and punishes carelessness.