Tasting Notes

W&S95

Rainy and unseasonably cold, the 2011 vintage wasn’t a year for beginners, but for better or worse it was Bettina Sichel’s first vintage at Laurel Glen, after she purchased the property from Patrick Campbell. In March of that year she brought in Phil Coturri to manage the vineyard, which he began cultivating organically while dialing back the irrigation. The vineyard, perched on a saddle of volcanic soil above the fog line yet sheltered from the coastal wind, did manage to fully ripen, just later than normal. The final grapes were harvested on November 1. Sonoma Mountain is one of California’s cooler areas for cabernet, so you might be surprised at how expansive this wine feels. Made by Randall Watkins, with input from David Ramey, this is tight with mineral tannins and flashes of minty black-currant tang. With a day of air, the tannins turn more supple and the floodgates open into a clean line of cassis flavor that’s driven by fresh acidity, energizing a wine with the lilting complexity of a string quartet, scents of violet and Christmas spices and bay-infused meat stock intertwining in a finish that goes on for minutes. Give this ten years in the cellar; it’s a classical mountain cabernet with a profound structural integrity, build to last.

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