2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Eisele Vineyard
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Tasting notes
The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon is another brilliant wine from this estate. Lots of smoky currants, tobacco, graphite, and spicy notes define the aromatics, and it's concentrated and layered on the palate, with beautiful yet building tannins as well as a crushed rock-like sense of minerality. I love its mid-palate depth, it's flawlessly balanced, and it has a great finish. It shows the seamless, incredibly layered style that this terroir always seems to yield, and while it's beautiful today, 3-5 years of bottle age are warranted.
Critic scores
Jancis Robinson MW
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
100% Cabernet Sauvignon. Made entirely from the alluvial fan laid down by Simmons Creek in what the team considers the heart of the Eisele vineyard. Certified organic by CCOF and biodynamic by Demeter. Released June 2021. Currently in an introspective phase. Wait a few more years before opening to allow the wine to become naturally more expressiveness. Notes of pink and white grapefruit, cocoa nib, plum skin, graphite and cracked pine emerge with air. There is a very good architectural focus to the vintage, with balance and a lot of length. The details are still coming into view but everything is here for a beautiful wine. Nice freshness, a lot of persistence: fine-grained tannin balanced with mouth-watering acidity for a lot of length. Leave it patiently in the cellar before opening for a lovely vintage. (ECB)
100% Cabernet Sauvignon from the parcels bordering Simmons Creek. Certified organic by CCOF and biodynamic by Demeter. Aged for 20 months in 100% new oak. Very dark crimson. Luscious texture whereby the tannins are actually less obvious than in the Altagracia because the fruit is so concentrated and ripe – until the very end of the palate. Serious, complex wine. Really mid-Atlantic. With great vitality and it’s not ashamed of the tannin. (JR)
Blackberry, dried-blueberry, bitter-chocolate and some volcanic-ash and burnt-orange aromas. Crushed stone and subtle vanilla notes, too. It’s full-bodied with firm, chewy tannins framing a deep core of dark fruit. Dense, muscular and firmly structured. So long. Goes on for minutes. Elegance with power. Really love the beautiful refinement and integrity to this. Captures the essence of the vintage. Try from 2025.
About the producer
Eisele Vineyard is one of Napa’s oldest properties, first planted in the 1880s. Today owned by François Pinault of Ch. Latour, it is known for its top Cabernet Sauvignon, as well as the unique Sauvignon Blanc.