Sunday, February 8, 2009

Steven Eisenhauer's Congruence Cabernet Update

If you have ever met Steve you may already know of his passion for great wine (alongside that boyish smile) but did you also know that his passion extended to making a top performing Cabernet? It’s tricky when a friend shares wines that he has made with you. You want to always be fair and with a friendship in the balance you might have the tendency of fluffing, even in the slightest. Happily for all, fluffing is not needed when we speak of Steve’s Congruence Cabernet Sauvignon.

2008 Congruence Napa Valley (barrel sample 1) - nice blackish color, purple tinged edges. Great nose of red and black fruits with something of a hint of herbaceousness reminiscent of Petit Verdot but I was assured none was in the mix. 4 separate vineyards of Cab coming together here.
The palate has great currant filled fruits layered with some black cherry and blackberries. Throw in some cassis liqueur and a touch of leather. Elegant now and if it were a bit plusher I would have thought it be a very high end Cali cab. Really.
The mouth feel is very nice and everything is hitting a harmony very early on, keeping in mind this is a barrel sample, I just got to say….wow. Super structured with a balance and promise one could not ignore. Once this has a few years in the bottle and sheds its almost non-existent baby fat anyone lucky enough with some in their cellar will be greatly rewarded. (This is the final blend choice for the 2008 Congruence).
I had asked Steve to please re-label as Chateau Mike. He said he will think bout it. :)
93/100

2008 Congruence barrel sample (blend 2) – This was very different. One of the component sites of Cab has been removed and it is surely missed. It had some black fruits, some cassis but was much edgier and more four square in style. Gone is the elegance and structure and present is some sour cherry and and a slightly green tinged short finish. Amazing when you realize how that one site of Cab really fills out the sum of all. The group of tasters all agreed on this as well. Since final blend choice was not known going in, Steve was beaming as he told us that his final blending choice had already been decided and was glad to announce it was number 1 above. So were we.

Contact Steve Eisenhauer at princessgate@comcast.net to get further info about this wine today. The inaugural vintage (2007) is already allocated but for this vintage (2008), he has increased production to about 115 cases.