ALTAGRACIA
2017 EISELE VINEYARD
CABERNET SAUVIGNON
The Eisele Vineyard dates back to the 1880s and is one of the New World’s great terroirs. The site was made famous by the Araujos in the 1990s through 2013 when Chateau Latour purchased it. Today, they farm the vineyard organically and biodynamically, and the new owners aim to make singular wines of the highest caliber. The wines invariably express remarkable depth, elegance, longevity, and balance. At around a quarter of their top Eisele Vineyard Cabernet’s price, Altagracia offers a beautiful introduction to this magical Estate.
At Eisele Vineyard, winemaking takes a back seat to terroir, allowing the vineyard to express its most clear voice. There is no signature style to their winemaking, yet their team is precise, uncompromising, natural, and honest in their approach, and all of this is highly transparent in their wines.
The vineyard sits at the Eastern edge of Calistoga, at the Palisade Mountain Range base, where an ancient creekbed that bisects the Estate spread an alluvial fan of cobbly volcanic soils that make this site unique. The vines there produce small berries of thick-skinned, intensely flavored grapes.
ALTAGRACIA
2017 EISELE VINEYARD
CABERNET SAUVIGNON
Your Price: $135
“Blackberry and tile aromas with tobacco and spice. Some chocolate, too. Medium to full body and firm, velvety tannins that show a juicy finish. Fine yet dusty tannins. Rich for the vintage. Delicious now or hold.”
94 Points
“… Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Altagracia leaps from the glass, offering bold, expressive notes of blackberry pie, Black Forest cake and warm cassis with hints of garrigue, mossy tree bark, dusty soil and black pepper plus a fragrant waft of cinnamon stick. Medium to full-bodied, the palate offers a great core of rich, spicy black fruit preserves, framed with firm, chewy tannins and just enough freshness, finishing earthy.”
93 Points
“The 2017 Altagracia is closer to its brother the Eisele Vineyard Cabernet than ever. The nose is floral and delicate at first, opening with a whiff of laurel, musk and patchouli. The mouthfeel is generous and ample with spicy notes of cumin and turmeric. The tannins are fine and chiseled, revealed by a gentle hand on extraction in the cellar. Notes of mocha, espresso and graphite linger on the palate while the fruit breaks out in the finish with fresh fig and black currant, reminding us of the tiny berries that were the signature of the 2017 vintage.”