It’s been about six years since we last had any of Sean Thackrey’s non-vintage multi-varietal red blend. Pleiades XIX wasn’t quite up to previous versions of what Kim once used to describe as “my wine,” and maybe that’s why we stopped buying it, along with the fact that the price kept creeping upward. By the time Thackrey’s wines finally became available at retail in Day-twah a few years ago, the prices were just plain stupid. I saw a bottle of Pleiades (probably XXII or XXIII) about a year and a half ago in an area wine shop priced at around $43, and I just shook my head.

Since that time, Thackrey changed distributors, and Little Guy Wine Company has the wines priced much more reasonably, so when I saw a bottle of the Pleiades XXIV on the shelf at Mudgies a few weeks ago, I figured “what the hell” and picked one up for Kim and me to find out what was going on with it. I’m pleased to report that this one has a lot more stuffing than that XIX we were only lukewarm towards.

Sean Thackrey “Pleiades XXIV Old Vines” California Red Blend, 14.5% alc., $29: Clean, dark color; mint gets the better of a little barnyard over black and red plum and berry on the moderately expressive nose, and a hint of cereal sneaks in with a little air. Very much in the same style and character as all of those from the past that we remember so fondly, being intense and well-structured. The multi-vintage solera-styled wine shows earthy, leathery and, yes, slightly funky black and red fruit. Good stuff here; this is a wine that can age and develop for several years, and I’d actually lay it down for another 3-5 years before opening another. Tannin pigs’ mileage may vary. Bottled in April, 2015, a blend of Sangiovese, Viognier, Pinot Noir, Zinfandel and Mourvedre, “to name a few.” Find this wine

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1. Sean Thackrey Pleiades XIX
2. A Tale of Two Orions