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Aged an average of 10 years, produced only once. A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Sangiovese, Cabernet Franc, Mourvedre and Syrah. This is a silky smooth operator that will make your tastebuds party all night long. It has class and elegance, it even has style. Whether you pair it with a stinky cheese or a sweet dessert, or if you pair it with itself, this wine is guaranteed to make new friends.
The 2013 starts a new program producing 100% vineyard designated Sangiovese from 40 year old vines in Oak Savanna Vineyard in Los Olivos, CA.
Aged in 860L French Oak barrels, the layered floral notes, and spiced red fruits from this vineyard are balanced with an old vine structured midpalate & integrated fine tannin.
Drink 2019-2027
13.2% alcohol
140 cases produced
Tasting Panel Blue Reviews: 91pts
Schaefer On Wine: "Lighter in color than most, it shows strawberry and cinnamon on the nose. Both red and black berry fruit on the palate, the wine is boisterous and generous with hints of characteristic earthiness. Well structured, it has the gravitas to age for many more years. It shows a certain finesse that follows through to the finish." Dennis Schaefer SB News Press 06/14/18
The 2013 vintage from Premier Vineyard in Los Alamos shows off both the elegant, feminine side of Pinot Noir, along with the ripe structure with good acidity from the steep hillside vineyard. Beautifully balanced, it was fermented 100% whole cluster. A blend of Swiss clone 2A and Dijon 115.
WINE ENTHUSIAST : 90 pts (September 2018)
231 cases produced. 14% alcohol.
Schaefer on Wine: "This Cabernet has already spent more than 4 years total in barrel and bottle but it's still just a baby. Great nose of cassis, black currant, and dark berry fruit. Rich and effusive on the palate, it's the dark star of the lineup with plum, blackberry, barrel spice, and lavender in the flavor mix. Lengthy and sustaining flavors last all the way to the full-bodied finish. Delightful to drink now, it will really show its stuff with another 5 or 10 years in the bottle." Dennis Schaefer SB News Press 06/14/18
Blue Lifestyle Blue Reviews - 92 pts August 2018
"Ripe with luscious plum notes, and a creamy texture;rich and nicely structured;deep, mellow and balanced."
Wine Enthusiast - 91pts
Schaefer on Wine: "Vanilla, blueberry, leather, and tobacco leaf are very inviting on the nose. Blueberry and mulberry are the immediately accessible flavors along with a hard core of darker fruit buried underneath. Having spent 3 years in older oak barrels, and another year in bottle, the wine has great grip on the midpalate, showing deep. complex and persistent flavors." Dennis Schaefer SB News Press 06/14/18
77% Cabernet Franc
14% Sangiovese
5% Cabernet Sauvignon
4% Petit Verdot
The Cabernet Franc was produced from the Coghlan Vineyard located in the Happy Canyon AVA of Santa Ynez. Clone 623 and only the third leaf off young vines.
Exotic aromas & fantastic balance make this wine extremely flexible with pairings.
Only 171 cases produced.
TASTING PANEL Magazine BLUE REVIEWS- 92pts
To say the entire 2011 year, vintage & resulting wines were a "challenge" would possibly be the understatement of the year.
In December 2011, after harvest, our second child arrived and she was perfect & balanced. I was dreading having to one day explain to her why there wasn't a commemorative birth year namesake wine, as there was for her big brother.
Lucky for me, and for her, the 2011 wines finally sorted themselves out with a little extended barrel age, and eventually became phenomenal!
There wasn't much tonnage to start with in 2011. I very carefully selected the best of the best.
59% Sierra Madre Vineyard Pommard clone
41% Premier Vineyard Dijon clone 115
Aged in both 228L & 320L 100% new French Oak barrels for 30 months.
A very exotic spice, silky fruit driven vintage with impeccable fruit to acid balance.
13.5% Alcohol by volume.
92 cases produced.
Wine Enthusiast 93pts
92pts Wine Enthusiast: "Beautiful aromas of roasted pork in a blackberry-licorice reduction sauce pick up a bit of grape candy before hitting the palate with black pepper, blueberries and solid tannins. It’s fun…" — M.K. (3/1/2015)
The 2010 vintage from my 3 acre block of 38 short rows at White Hawk Vineyard in Los Alamos. A blend of Clones 470 & 174. Perfectly balanced from a very long growing season at 13% alcohol.
Blended with 2% Viognier and 8% Mourvedre, Grenache & Syrah.
This is a wine built to last, one I hope to be able to drink for the next 15-20 years! (I recommend cellar ageing it for at least one to two years if possible to allow the bottle bouquet to develop more.)
Varietals:
91% Syrah
4% Mourvedre
3% Grenache
2% Viognier.
Vineyard Sources:
92% White Hawk Vineyard in Los Alamos
8% Vogelzang Vineyard in Happy Canyon
Bottled unfined and unfiltered.
Case Production: 530 cases
Saviezza - (An old Italian word for “wisdom” or “knowledge”) A Santa Barbara super-Tuscan styled proprietary blend
90% Sangiovese Tepusquet Vineyard in the Santa Maria bench.
5% Cabernet Franc Tierra Alta Vineyard in Los Olivos.
5% Cabernet Sauvignon Casa Blanca Vineyard in Los Olivos.
The 2010 is the third vintage labeled as “Saviezza”, but my 10th vintage of Sangiovese from the old Tepusquet Vineyard in the Santa Maria bench. Planted in 1971 to Cabernet Sauvignon, it was grafted in the early nineties to Sangiovese. Yield was less than 2 tons per acre.
Harvest: 10/22/10
The Sangiovese clone 3 was picked after six days of rain! The vintage was a cooler later one, producing very small berries and small clusters. I performed a saigne to bleed off some juice in the fermenter before the cold soak and fermentation began.
General style of vintage: The 2010 wines are big and bold with dark fruits, smooth and lots of spice, great structure with some integrated tannins.
Aromatics: Ripe black plums, blackberry fruit, cola, anise, cinnamon spice with a hint of sweetness from oak.
Body: Ripe dark fruit flavors and intense warm spices fill the mid palate,. The tannin is fantastically integrated with the fruit, forming a bigger structured wine than normal. This ball of fruit & spice carries into the finish.
Although this vintage has the exact same percentages & same fruit sources as the preceding 2008, and 2009 it is a different wine. It’s more like the 2008 than the 2009. Aging took place in Seguin Moreau French oak 500L puncheons for the first time. The extra time in barrel and tank, the 2010 has successfully married together the three grape varieties seamlessly to become its own personality.
Enjoy the 2010 with an Osso Bucco, or with a spaghetti bolognese.
Now through 2023.
**Please serve at 58°-62°F (20 minutes in the refrigerator before drinking.)
Sourced from my favorite vineyard in the Santa Maria Valley, this vineyard's personality and elegance is so unique it stands out from all others in the area.
In 1994, after drinking the '88 & '89 ZMW Pinots from this vineyard, I realized how unbelievably special the quality of fruit in Santa Barbara County was.
In 2009, I started sourcing fruit here after Mondavi sold it to a strawberry farmer.
100% Pommard clone aged for 36 months "sur lees" in 45% new French Oak barrels. Bottled unfined & unfiltered.
Decant 20-30 minutes. Serve between 58°-64°F
Only 127 cases produced.
Dark spicy syrah fruit wrapped in a sweet vanilla kiss.
"Grape jelly, pipe smoke, lilac cologne, woody incense and a bit of tar show in the nose of this wine. Flavors of blackberry, wet tobacco, gamy meats and beef jerky are pleasantly rustic." 88pts — M.K. (6/1/2015) Wine Enthusiast Magazine
91% Syrah, 4% Mourvedre, 3% Grenache, 2% Viognier.
92% White Hawk Vineyard in Los Alamos
8% Vogelzang Vineyard in Happy Canyon
Aged for 48 months. Thirty-six months in 40% new American Oak and 60% seasoned French Oak barrels, and twelve months in tank.
Bottled unfined and unfiltered.
Case Production: 389 cases
Official Release Date: October 15, 2014
(This wine will make all the 2004 El Ojo Rojo Cuvee Tres zealots very happy!)
Starting a harvest with a baby due at any second is something you'll never forget. After racking the Viognier to barrel for fermentation, I ran off to take my wife to the hospital not knowing what to expect! Joshua arrived in typical winemaker fashion at the beginning of harvest, on September 18, 2009!
Wanting to commemorate this historic event, I bottled a "barrel select" from his vintage. I carefully selected the best five barrels of Pinot Noir and wrote his name on the head of the barrel in chalk.
Three barrels of Julia's Vineyard Pommard clone, and two barrels of Sierra Madre Vineyard Clone 777 & 2A were blended together to form this special three clone Santa Maria Valley Cuvee.
I look forward to having Joshua re-write the wine notes for his birth year wine as we drink the wine together some day in the future.
Bottled unfined & unfiltered.
122 cases produced
Please serve at 58°F-64°F
"This powerful blend of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Sangiovese and 5% Cabernet Franc by longtime urban winemaker Benjamin Silver comes together in a big way. Aromas recall rosemary-crusted beef, boysenberry, sweet tar and, thanks to the oak-aging, both caramel and vanilla. The rich palate shows black cherry, black raspberry and a pinch of tarragon." - Matt Kettmann, Wine Enthusiast 11/01/15
