I am fond of both the Rutherford and Oakville offering from Provenance.  For 2001, my preference was for the Oakville.  The Oakville  was a little more approachable in its youth, but with a few years in the bottle, the Rutherford is now just as approachable.  The Oakville has a slighlty bigger and smokier bouquet, which I like.  The tannins in the Rutherford are a little more prevalent, which contributed to it's stand-offishness at first, but is not an issue now.  Both wines have gobs of blackberry and a hint of spice on the palate.  The finish on the Oakville was a little longer.  In a nutshell, the Ruthrford was a little more jammy, and the Oakville was a little more earthy.  Since my palate leans heavily towards earthy Bordeaux, I gave the slight edge to the Oakville, but both wines were a delight.  These wines sell for anywhere between the mid 20 dollar range on sale to the near 40 dollar level at full retail.

Oakville 3.75 stars
Rutherford 3.5 stars

 

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