Eisele Vineyard - Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2013
Price: $575.00
| Producer | Eisele Vineyard |
| Country | United States |
| Region | California |
| Subregion | Calistoga |
| Varietal | Cabernet Sauvignon |
| Vintage | 2013 |
| Sku | 01028 |
Eisele Vineyard Description
In wine, there is nothing so immutable as the land. Vintages offer variation, as do winemakers and proprietors. Mother Nature is capricious, always wanting the last word. But the land is a constant, its geology and composition immovable. At the heart of every great wine is a piece of land like no other.
First planted to vines in the 1880s, Eisele Vineyard sits in the northeast Napa Valley, just east of Calistoga at the base of the Palisades Mountain range. Farmed organically since 1998 and biodynamically since 2000, the site has been principally dedicated to Cabernet Sauvignon for the last fifty years. Beginning with the inaugural release bearing the Eisele name in 1971, this iconic vineyard has received consistent recognition for possessing one of the great terroirs of Napa Valley. The wines invariably express the exceptional depth, elegance and longevity which are hallmarks of the Eisele Vineyard.
Our vision is nothing less than to re-embrace the long history of Eisele Vineyard while realizing the full potential of this remarkable estate. Preserving and expanding upon the vineyard’s distinguished legacy in Napa Valley — and among the great winegrowing estates of the world — is both an honor and our aspiration. Through intellectual rigor, humility, and with the utmost respect for the land, our aim is to make wines that speak of the Eisele Vineyard in the most authentic way possible.
WINEGROWING INFORMATION:
The warm spring of 2013 brought exceptionally little rain. These conditions resulted in small berry sizes giving excellent flavor concentration and structure to the wine. Summer provided optimal ripening conditions, with overcast mornings, mild temperatures during the day and cool nights. The first Cabernet Sauvignon parcels were picked on September 12th under ideal conditions, and harvest was completed on October 1st. The fruit was delicious, intensely flavored, with an amazing quality of tannins. 2013 will be remembered as a great vintage for Napa Valley, and also one with particular significance for the estate, as the first vintage “from berry to bottle” under the Pinault family ownership.
TASTING NOTES:
Our winemaking team notes: “The 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon is pure Eisele. In the cellar, the wines revealed themselves with practically no need to intervene. The secret of the vintage was to be gentle on the fruit and not overdo it. The natural concentration and depth of the vintage are combined with exquisite elegance, precision and finesse, which are hallmarks of this terroir. The 2013 Eisele Cabernet opens up on notes of dried rose petals and spices with a hint of boysenberries. On the palate, the multiple dimensions of the texture and the expression of black and blue fruit combine with a sense of extraordinary purity. The refined and tightly-knit tannins give way to a very long, deliciously mineral, almost saline finish. One of the greatest vintages from the Eisele Vineyard, along with 1971, 1978, 1995 and 2001.”
Wine Advocate: 99 Points
The 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Eisele Vineyard reveals the same weight and density of the 2012, but it possesses an extra dimension of purity as well as surreal elegance and finesse that are difficult to marry to a wine this concentrated. The tannins are super well-integrated and silky, but are clearly present in this full-bodied, multidimensional 2013. It exhibits Eisele’s hallmark character of extraordinary floral notes intermixed with forest floor, blueberries, black raspberries and blackcurrants. This beautifully crafted Cabernet builds incrementally to a fabulously long finish that equals that of the 2012. Both these vintages are so spectacular that it will be hard to choose a favorite whether the wines are 2-years-old, 5-years-old, 15-years-old or 25-years-old. This beauty should last 25-35 years.
In 2013, this historic estate was sold by the Araujos to the Groupe Artemis and François Pinault, the French entrepreneur/billionaire who is best known in the wine world as the proprietor of Bordeaux’s Château Latour as well as several other French estates, most notably the tiny diamond with its own appellation, Château Grillet near Condrieu. Pinault also owns Domaine René Engel in Burgundy. This is my first look at the wines under the new ownership. I was among the first to review these wines when the vineyard was owned by the Eisele family, who sold grapes to Ridge in 1971 for the first single vineyard offering from this site, and subsequently to Conn Creek in 1974 and Joseph Phelps for nearly a decade. The 38-acre vineyard protected by the Palisades Mountains sits in the northeast quadrant of Napa Valley. It was planted on low-yielding, gravelly, cobbly soils in the 1880s to both Riesling and Zinfandel. The first Cabernet Sauvignon was planted in 1964 with the Olmo Clone (believed to have originated at the nearby Larkmead Vineyard on the valley floor). Araujo has turned out some fabulous wines in 2012 and 2013, all incredibly young and primary, but bursting with potential.
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