Because so much Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is consumed in its youth, it’s easy to forget just how magical it can be with proper bottle age, especially from magnum. For a recent event we hosted at the Napa Valley Film Festival, we were able to get our hands on some magnum bottles of older Cabernet from Volker Eisele, and it was one of the most talked-about wines of the night.
First off, the wines were in pristine condition, arriving directly from the winery’s cellars and enjoying the extra protection of the larger, 1.5-liter format (wines are said to age more slowly in larger bottles since less surface area of the wine is in contact with the trace oxygen in the bottle). Second, Volker Eisele’s wines age gracefully by design, in the manner of the classic Napa wines of the 1970s and ’80s. Today’s offer is a ‘library release’ of 2006-vintage magnums that haven’t moved from their resting place in the winery—in short, an opportunity to experience properly aged, classically styled Napa Cabernet that has most definitely entered its sweet spot. Among other things, this is a wine I’d put in front of someone who claims not to like New World Cabernet Sauvignon. It is world class, plain and simple, with the ripe core of cassis fruit you’d expect from Napa layered with a host of savory ‘secondary’ notes more commonly associated with Bordeaux. I don’t care how Eurocentric you are—this wine will seduce you, especially when you consider that it’s a magnum for the price of countless lesser-quality 750s. It’s here just in time to impress holiday party guests, so have at it!
It’s not enough to say that Volker Eisele, who passed away in 2015, was a true ‘vigneron.’ He was a staunch anti-development activist in the Napa Valley, and, as noted above, he was a pioneer in farming his vineyards organically. He and his landscape-architect wife, Liesel, purchased 400 acres in Napa’s Chiles Valley in 1974, placing them squarely among that ‘first wave’ of back-to-the-landers and other wine luminaries who put Napa on the map in the early 1970s. Chiles Valley, often nestled beneath a layer of fog in the Vaca Mountains, rests in the northeastern stretch of the Napa Valley. It takes its name from Joseph Ballinger Chiles, who, in 1843, received a large land grant from the last Mexican governor of California. The cooler climate, higher elevations and fogs off the Pacific make for one of the cooler microclimates in the region, which results in longer hang time for the grapes and a more balanced, fresh expression of Bordeaux varieties.
At 900 to 1,100 feet in altitude, with clay-loam as well as shale soils, this special site is represented at its best thanks to the Eisele family’s dedication to organic viticulture. This 2006 (an especially ripe harvest for them) bottling was blended with 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc aged for 22 months in 50% new French oak. When I taste this wine, I do not experience a product that has been manipulated; rather, it showcases the terroir and expressiveness of pure, ripe grapes. The philosophy of Volker Eisele’s winemaker, Molly Lyman, mirrors this: “To use a light hand in crafting varietally correct wines that makes the taster think about where they were grown and not who made them.” She couldn’t be more spot on. It is simply a joy to experience an authentic expression of these high-elevation vineyards.
In the glass, the 2006 exhibits a nearly opaque, dark garnet core with bricked highlights on the rim. The nose brings great memories of the classic wines of Napa past with cassis, dried black cherry, dried plum, preserved blueberry, dried tobacco, sandalwood, aged leather, and a mixed bag of exotic spices. On the palate, the wine is nearing full-bodied with polished tannins and sweet, but restrained fruit. More secondaries also reveal themselves: crushed stones, dried violet, underbrush, cacao, and dried herbs. It’s a wonderful wine with great density and a fresh finish that avoids the jammy flavors that can often plague Cabernets unsuited for aging. Thanks to its magnum format and the sound quality from vine to bottle, this ’06 has another decade in its tank. When consuming, realize that this is a wine that opens up incredibly fast. You can decant to shed sediment, but letting it breathe in a large Bordeaux stem for 10-15 minutes was my chosen method. Without hesitation, I’d say serving up a succulent rack of lamb is the preferred dish here. Elegant, aged Cabernet just suits it so well. Enjoy!
