Eight reds (all very good)

To load eight of them into one post might seem to give short shrift to all. This is not intentional; all really were very good and it so happened they all fell into my lap nearly at once. Now do they, in their baked fruits-and-vanilla richness and their "we're for grownups" tannic punch(es), come a bit close to defining the "global red"? Perhaps. Still, we won't complain. In no obvious order, I was privileged to savor:

2009 Black Stallion Estate Winery cabernet sauvignon

2007 Concha Y Toro Don Melchior cabernet sauvignon

2008 Concha Y Toro Terrunyo carmenere, Block 27

2008 Concha Y Toro cabernet sauvignon, Block Las Terrazas

2008 Trivento golden reserve malbec

2008 Beaulieu Vineyards BV Reserve "Tapestry" (a birthday treat)

 2010 Miro petite sirah (the sweetest of the bunch, I must say)

2010 Miro pinot noir

May I conclude with another picture from my garden? I tend to give you closeups because the whole view would look rather weedy. This is a peony. And a bon and delicious weekend to all.