Tasting Notes

Release Date: Fall 2019

All of our vineyards are surrounded by wildlands which makes Santa Cruz Mountain wines so intriguing and unique. The wines subtly pick up these special aromas and flavors from this proximity. Essential oils from the native flora blow into the vineyard and in a minuscule way, attach to the fruit and leaves. This only happens in small isolated mountain vineyards.

In my 38 years making wine on this mountaintop, I have never seen such a low yielding Cabernet vintage. Averaging at best one-half ton per acre, it was confounding.

While there is not much of it, it is certainly delicious—a classic nose of cassis with the added complexity of plum, bay and earthy sage. On the palate, there is concentration without heaviness, flavors of currant, raspberry, oak and earth—which speaks to our surrounding forest.

Production

728

Tech Notes

Yield: 1 ton per acre

Harvest: September 16th-23rd

Numbers @ Harvest: 23.5° Brix, 3.43 pH, 6.0 grams acidity

Cepage: 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc & 1% Petit Verdot

Barrel Regimen: French & American; 100% new; aged 24 months in barrel

Bottling: August 2017; no fining or filtration

Alcohol: 14%

Reviews

95 points Decanter - November 2018

The rocky minerality of the region shows from first sniff through to the lengthy finish. The earthiness is beautifully offset by fleshy red and black fruit, with spice-infused cherry, bittersweet chocolate, espresso and vanilla notes. For all its youthful intensity, the palate is remarkably fresh and bright. (Tasted by Linda Murphy)

94 points Antonio Galloni presents Vinous - October 31, 2019

Mount Eden’s Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the hidden gems, not just in the Santa Cruz Mountains, but in wine more broadly. The 2015 is bold, deep and pungent, with striking fruit density and tons of aromatic nuance. Jeffrey Patterson told me he had never seen such a tiny crop. Some vines produced no fruit at all. As a result, the 2015 was aged entirely in new oak, all of which it handles very well. The balance of savory Cabernet aromatics, fruit and structure is already terrific, and will only improve with more time in bottle.

94 points Robert Parker Jr's The Wine Advocate - February 2020, Week 1

“In all my years, I’ve never seen a Cabernet vintage like 2015, in terms of yield,” Jeffrey Patterson tells me. “We had very low yields. The vines didn’t have clusters. It was the tail end of the drought, and the year before was so dry. Normally, small yields are caused by shatter at bloom. But in 2015, it was just an absence of clusters.” The 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate is a blend of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot and was aged almost entirely in new barrels. It has a medium to deep ruby color and is more powerful and intense on the nose than the 2014 version, with aromas of blackcurrant bud, cassis, bay leaf, pencil shavings, dark chocolate and cedar with savory/meaty hints, plus tons of red fruit sparks and licorice hints. It’s medium to full-bodied with intense, ripe fruits laced with savory and herbal accents. It has a frame of juicy acidity and grainy, ripe tannins, finishing very long and energetic. —E. B.

93 points Wine Enthusiast Magazine - October 2019

This is savory style of Cab from a mountainside site, starting with aromas of roast beef, crushed asphalt and dark seared elderberry fruits. Black plum and more elderberry show on the sip, but the focus of the smoothed out tannic profile is showcasing rocky soil-driven flavors, with hints of olive and charred meat toward the finish. —M.K.

92 points Wine & Spirits - December 2019

Jeffrey Patterson manages generations of vines at Mount Eden, tracing their lineage to 19^th-century cuttings, purported taken at Château Margaux. His vineyard, at an elevation of 1,800 feet on an east-faxing slope, produced a vibrant 2015, cool and sleek in its flavors of red and black fruit skin. The wine’s zesty energy seems to awaken with air, driving the texture and flavor through a lovely finish (728 cases)—J.G.