October 2006 Wine Tasting Notes:
2004 Consilience Cabernet Sauvignon, Camp 4 Vineyard, Santa Barbara County.
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Dark ruby color with good clarity. The nose opens with light, sweet oak and cedar notes. Demure blackberry, cherry and currant aromas follow. On the palate, blackberry, cherry and currant flavors are somewhat subdued by toasted oak and tannins. The medium finish of bright cherry and blackberry ends with an oaky vanilla note. A combination of silky but firm tannins, bright acidity and bold alcohol make for a somewhat coarse structure. |
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RWB Score: 87 breakdown 15.0% Alcohol $36.00 Retail (from winery); 174 cases produced |
A lighter bodied, straightforward Cabernet Sauvignon with bright berry flavors on an oak-dominant base. Very nice results from 5 year old vines in a short growing season with variation across the spectrum of 2004 Central Coast offerings. Best enjoyed with steak and other hearty, well-seasoned meats. Firm tannins and prominent toasted oak notes should soften over the next five years or so. This a good barbecue wine that should appeal to most palates. |
More Consilience reviews
Detail
Composition: 96% Camp 4 Cabernet Sauvignon (Santa Ynez Valley), 2% Rhodes Vineyard Syrah and 2% Rhodes Vineyard Zinfandel (Mendocino County). Aged 24 months in 83% French and (17% new) and 11% American oak (no new barrels).
Camp 4 Vineyard is part of the Fess Parker estate in the Santa Ynez Valley, purchased in 1999. Initially planted to 250 acres of Rhône varietals: Grenache (25 acres), Mourvedre (10 acres), Roussanne (15 acres), Syrah (130 acres) and Viognier (25 acres), the first crop was harvested in 2003. Situated Southwest from the Fess Parker winery.
The 182 acre Rhodes Vineyard (in the Redwood Valley area of Mendocino County) is farmed without pesticides and herbicides and with nutrients supplied through composts. Some of the vines in the vineyard are reported to be over 90 years old (at this time, it is not know to us which varietals). Varietals grown are: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petite Syrah and Zinfandel. The Redwood Valley is subject to a strong marine influence and temperatures can vary as much as 50 degrees from day to night. Typically long growing seasons allow the Rhodes fruit a long hang time.
The 2004 growing season was one of the shortest in the history of the state. Harvest came two to three weeks earlier than usual, at the start of August. Statewide reports of light to normal yields of excellent quality fruit with superb extraction raised anticipation of the wines to come. However, the wines from this vintage are proving variable by our experience. While this "crop of crops" was lauded as producing highly extracted fruit, some wines have been rather unbalanced while others were stunning an memorable. This seems to depend more on the combination of AVA and vineyard management, rather than winemaking techniques. Each offering from this vintage should be judged individually and not by virtue of vintage alone since the shortened growing season affected different varietals in different AVAs and even vineyards.
Consilience winery has been making wine since 1997, but was formally founded in 1999. They have been making wines "loosely focused around the typical Rhône varietals" ever since. Their philosophy is to create wine with distinct expression of regional characteristics. Brett Escalera is the wine maker from Consilience. He brings experience from his ongoing tenure at Fess Parker Winery where he has been making wine since 1996.
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5 points |
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Nose |
3 points |
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Palate |
3 points |
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Finish |
3 points |
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Tannins |
4 points |
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Acidity |
5 points |
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Alcohol |
4 points |
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Aging potential |
2 points |
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Overall quality |
8 points |
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