2014 Justin Justification

Happy Sunday!  It's been a busy week, what with all the turkey and shopping and such, so today we decided to take it a bit easy with a leisurely brunch and a late dinner with a nice bottle of wine.  Tonight I've decided to open a bottle of 2014 Justin Justification, a blend of Cabernet Franc (55%) and Merlot (45%) from Paso Robles.  I recently found this wine at Costco, so let's see how it tastes!

The wine is a deep, inky purple in the glass with bright garnet at the edges, just as you'd expect with such a Merlot concentration in the blend.  The nose is a cascade of ripe black fruit, blackberry to cherry to plum, all with an overlay of leather and earthy peat.  The taste is a rush of blackberry and cherry at the outset, that transitions to some lovely notes of fresh herbs and a hint of mint midpalate.  The finish is quite nice, with well integrated tannins providing the framing to a long, smooth and seductively dry finish that treats you to a reprise of black fruit at the end.

Overall, I would rate this wine a solid 8.5, as it's a solid, well-structured wine that tastes a lot more expensive than it's $34 price tag.  This wine would pair well with salmon, roast duck, lamb or steak, quite versatile as we hit the winter months.   Tonight, we are enjoying this wine with grilled filet mignon, baked potato and butter braised Brussels sprouts.  Cheers!