Since 1971, some of California's most age worthy and intensely flavored Cabernet Sauvignons have been made from grapes grown at the Eisele Vineyard, located on an alluvial fan near the northern end of the Napa Valley, just east of Calistoga. Protected by the Palisades Mountains to the north and cooled by westerly breezes from the Chalk Hill Gap, this 38-acre vineyard is planted on well-drained cobbly soils that produce a low yielding crop of exceptionally concentrated fruit.
The wines produced in this remarkable place have a rare combination of forthright character with precisely defined flavors and fine textures, deep concentration without any sense of heaviness, and the capacity to develop profound complexity with age. The Eisele Vineyard was originally planted in the 1880s to Zinfandel and Riesling, and has been under vine continuously since then. The first Cabernet was planted in 1964.
Vintner Notes
The 2018 Eisele Vineyard Cabernet is one of the finest and most terroir-transparent vintages that our team had the joy to produce. Very subtle and elegant, the wine unveils a nose of intense black currants, blackberries and Burlat cherry with a scent of roses, crushed rocks, tobacco box and cocoa bean. The mouthfeel is ample and silky, exploding with layers of black and red fruits, spicy cinnamon, vanilla and earthy notes. The personality of the Eisele Vineyard terroir is unmistakable in this vintage: a precisely delineated structure, racy tannins and an incredibly refined texture, combined with great freshness from floral and mineral notes ending in a very long, velvety finish.
Ratings
Robert Parker 99.The very deep, purple-black colored 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon is made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. It takes a fair amount of swirling to unlock an incredibly intense nose of dark chocolate, warm cassis, baked plums and Morello cherries plus touches of red roses, violets, pencil shavings, cinnamon stick and dusty soil with a hint of iron ore. The full-bodied palate is so exquisitely elegant, charged with electric black and red fruits and a firm frame of super-ripe, grainy tannins and bold freshness, finishing very long and very perfumed. This is pure energy in a glass!
