(“What’s in Wine Girl’s Glass?” is a weekly quiz featuring a description of one of the wines she is currently enjoying. From the details of her tasting notes, readers can try to guess what sort of wine it is. The winners, if they like, will be named and quoted in the next instalment.)

Hedonistic is first word to come to mind. Dark, dark purple in the glass, with a gorgeous nose of blackberry, cedar, and a little mocha. Huge, sweet flavors of black fruit nicely rounded out with a touch of toasty oak, chocolate and coffee. A pleasant hint of green pepper way in the back. Lucious, soft mouthfeel, with a long finish, this wine is almost like a liquid dessert, but its mountainous origins are revealed by its extraction and solid structure. Impeccable. Hint: this wine’s popularity took a recent hit, but this particular winery is known for its consistently A-1 efforts with it.

Write me with your guess, or click here for the answer:

Clearly this is a “new world” red, with its classically Californian levels of concentration and plush mouthfeel. With all that softness, it could be a pinot, but its flavors are more on the black fruit side, rather than the cherry and raspberry usually found in pinot. Not delicate, either, and not spicey like a syrah. So it’s probably a cabernet sauvignon or merlot, and since green pepper notes are often found in the latter, I’d go with merlot. Showy and exuberant, I’d guess it’s young, but not just released. Finally, the mountainside winery best known for its well-crafted merlots is Pride Mountain Vineyards, which makes only one merlot, with fruit grown on both sides of the Napa-Sonoma county line that runs through its estate vineyards. So if you guessed a Pride merlot, 2002, you go girl.