Kinsella Estates Tamara Cabernet Sauvignon 2012
| Country: | United States |
| Regions: | California California (Sonoma County) |
| Grape Type: | Cabernet Sauvignon |
| Winery: | Kinsella |
| Organic: | Yes |
Kinsella Estates Heirloom Cabernet Sauvignon is made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon
20 months in French Oak (75% New)
Organic made.
This constant “fan favorite” certainly doesn’t let us down for the new vintage! With the yields lending to the smallest vintage in our Heritage Vineyard’s history, it certainly doesn't skimp in quality. Aromas of violet, lavender and cedar starts you down the path to a luscious, smooth and feminine 100% cabernet. Black fruits lead the charge here with a level of sucrosity that shockingly surpasses previous vintages. One phrase keeps coming back to us, “Liquid velvet!”.
From one of the earliest seasons on record and a fourth year of drought, the quality is high across the board. A mild winter caused early bud break, followed by a much longer bloom contributing to smaller grape clusters which led itself to a 20% reduction in crop size. An intense, compacted harvest began the first week of September and finished with a bang just six weeks later. The early and quick start was due to an unusually warm Spring that contributed to early vine development. Once again, we feel blessed with a 3rd straight vintage of astonishing quality. Th e only wish for the 2015 vintage would be for more fruit! - Winemaker Thomas Rivers Brown
Kinsella Estates Spencer Cabernet Sauvignon 92% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Petit Verdot
Cedar and cinnamon aromas give way to a cherry cobbler deliciousness. Flavors of black cherry, sandalwood, and honeysuckle are nicely integrated with rich leathery undertones.
Review:
"A blend of 92% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8% Petit Verdot, with 345 cases produces, the 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Spencer Vineyard is equally impressive, exhibiting more graphite notes along with licorice, underbrush and copious quantities of blackcurrant and blackberry fruit. The wine is full-bodied, with sweet tannin (characteristic of all of these Kinsella Cabernet Sauvignons). Readers know that sometimes Dry Creek Cabernets can be rustic in their tannic framework, but that is not the case here. - RP"
- Robert Parker's Wine Advocate (Issue #227, October 2016), 95 pts
"A rich, juicy, seductive style, with tiers of blackberry, licorice, dusty, loamy earth and anise notes, showing touches of flowers and herbs. Engaging and deftly balanced. Drink now through 2030. 300 cases made.–JL"
- Wine Spectator (November 2017), 94 pts
Pure 100% cabernet Sauvignon, this vineyard continually astonishes. Loads of loamy soil notes followed by blue and black fruits give this cabernet massive depth and beautiful integrated tannins. Milk chocolate, crème de cassis and tobacco give this massive wine the depth you come to expect with Napa cabs, but it is all Sonoma County, all from our magnificent little private valley which sees sun all day! We buy no fruit; we sell no fruit.
Jersey Boys Vineyard (Kevin Kinsella is the largest individual investor in the hit Broadway show "Jersey Boys")
Jersey Boys is a six-acre vineyard that was replanted in 2008 with four different clones of Cabernet Sauvignon, handpicked by winemaker Thomas Rivers Brown.
“While it was the third consecutive year marked by limited rainfall, the 2014 vintage offered a perfectly temperate growing season characterized by long, moderate days and cool, clear nights. We began the year with warm spring conditions that gave way to an early budbreak and the consistent, dry weather afforded an optimal fruit set of small berries with incredible concentration. Crop yields were down a bit from 2013, but the quality was magnificent. It was a textbook growing season, every winemaker’s dream.”
- Winemaker Thomas Rivers Brown
Any vegetable or meat in the grill. Delicious with Chocolate as well.
Review:
"There are 645 cases of the 100% Cabernet Sauvignon 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Jersey Boys Vineyard (named after the fact that the Broadway Musical “Jersey Boys” was brought to the stage and screen by the owner of Kinsella). This wine and its siblings will do a lot to establish Dry Creek as more than another viticulture area better known for Zinfandel than Cabernet Sauvignon. This is a killer Cabernet Sauvignon with dazzling fruit levels and loads of loamy soil notes intermixed with black raspberry, blueberry and blackcurrant. The superripe and pure fruit hits the palate with a full-bodied crescendo. The wine offers up notes of underbrush, unsmoked cigar tobacco, pen ink and plenty of crème de cassis and blackberry, Drink it over the next 20-25 years. - RP"
- Robert Parker's Wine Advocate (Issue #227, October 2016), 95 pts
This wine leads with a distinctive red licorice nose and a hint of dusty minerality. Gorgeous bright red fruit flavors of fresh tart cherries and ripe raspberries are layered with cedar cigar box notes. As the wine opens up, it shows magnificent elegance and finesse.
The 2012 Kinsella Estates Tamara Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon shows expression of this unique vineyard, drenched in warmth during the West Dry Creek growing season. The vineyard is a steep-sloping two-acre, 16 year old parcel, wedged in between an arroyo and a knoll of Spanish oaks.
Pairs with any vegetable or meat in the grill. Delicious with strong cheese as well.
Review:
"Graphite, smoke, savory herbs, cedar and tobacco flesh out in the 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Tamara Vineyard. This open-knit, perfumed Cabernet dazzles from start to finish. This is a fabulous showing from Kinsella. - Antonio Galloni"
- Antonio Galloni's Vinous (January 2015), 94 pts
ABOUT KEVIN KINSELLA
Before buying a vineyard and creating a wine in Sonoma's Dry Creek Valley, Kevin Kinsella had established himself as a successful entrepreneur with diverse business interests. Kinsella is founder of the private venture capital fund, Avalon Ventures, which funded the first big data company, multiple billion dollar pharmaceutical companies, the first touch screen for the Apple iPhone, the first mega social gaming company and the radically new stealth vessel for the Navy SEALS. Avalon has developed more than 120 different companies. As a consultant to the Peruvian government, Kinsella developed the first international marketing plan for the remarkable Andean grain, quinoa. Kinsella is also a Tony Award winner and largest private investor in the Broadway hit Jersey Boys. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
When Kinsella purchased a 12-acre vineyard in the foothills of the western edge of Dry Creek Valley in 2007, his business instincts took over. "Part of the philosophy of venture capital is to go with the best people you can," explains Kinsella, who hired talented winemaker Thomas Rivers Brown.
Kinsella quickly set his sights on making the best-tasting Cabernet from Dry Creek, an area better known for Zinfandel. And success has come swiftly - his very first vintage, the 2008, scored 95 points at Wine Spectator.
Kinsella says the terroir of his hillside vineyard is key to quality, based partly on the good drainage patterns its soils provide, which helps avoid the green notes that grapes grown on the valley floor can show. There are no plans to branch out or grow beyond what the vineyard has to offer. "Buying grapes to supplement a label would be considered absurd in Burgundy or Bordeaux," he says. Instead, he wants the Kinsella story to be about a single estate. "I have no need for other varietals," Kinsella says. "No need to amp up production. I'd be very happy just to do this perfectly."
Zinfandel (0.83 acres planted)
Vineyards: Tamara Vineyard (2.23 acres), Jersey Boys Vineyard (6.02 acres), Spencer Vineyard (3.4 acres)
From a high, sun-drenched private valley in the western foothills of Sonoma's Dry Creek Valley comes an exquisite Cabernet Sauvignon hand crafted with the ultimate expertise and care by esteemed winemaker, Thomas Rivers Brown.
Kinsella Estates is an organically farmed vineyard elevated 500 feet above the Russian River. The East-West running valley enjoys a warm climate that never sees winter frost. It is planted with 12 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon vines on the steep sun-drenched hillsides composed of loamy, metamorphic soil. The vineyard is composed of three distinct blocks: The Tamara Vineyard, a steep-sloping two acre, 16 year old parcel, wedged in between an arroyo and a knoll of Spanish oaks; the Jersey Boys Vineyard, a six-acre parcel that was replanted in 2008 with four different clones of Cabernet Sauvignon, hand-selected by Thomas Brown; and the four-acre roadside Spencer Vineyard, twenty-two rows of which are planted in the Monte Rosso clone of Zinfandel.
Our wines let the fruit speak for itself - an expression of the terroir, the exceptional clones and the seasonal variation of sun and water in our vineyard. Kinsella Estates wines showcase beautiful expressions of the vineyard blocks from which they are made. Characteristics of the wines include expressive floral and dried herb aromas combined with bright fruit flavors and seductively smooth tannins.
The wines have been highly rated and received praise from Wine Spectator and Wine Advocate alike. James Laube says, "a gorgeous wine that delivers a pure, rich dark berry mix of flavors, with blackberry and mocha at the core. Full bodied, yet graceful and balanced."
"Su Una Stretta Di Mano" (on a handshake) is a line from my Broadway show, Jersey Boys, but expresses perfectly the enduring bond forged among us, the sun, rain and soil, our excellent winemaker, Thomas Rivers Brown, our dedicated vineyard team... and our customers, who by buying and enjoying our wine - our passion - have joined that circle of friendship.
- back
view More...
view More...
view More...
view More...
Sweet, savory aromas lead the way, sort of a mineral-laden black fruit---dark berries and plums. Smoke, dried herbs, violet, meat, wet stones and a hint of ironstone complete the package. It penetrates yet is a broad fragrant expression. I've always felt the aromatic range of this wine has its foundation in the four clones we use.
The black fruits continue on the palate, with black cherry, dark plum and spices echoing the aroma. While it's rich, almost luxurious, there's a tannic foundation and a structured acidity. Floral and earthy, the dried herbs and stones emerge here too, along with tobacco, thyme and lavender. This is a food-lover's Syrah, with weight, brightness and dimension.
(Clones 174, 383, 99 and Phelps) Vineyards: Ciel du Cheval Ranch at the End of the Road Classic Red Mountain character defines the Syrah La Côte Rousse, despite being the product of a cooler vintage. The warm site vineyards, Ciel du Cheval and Ranch at the End of the Road accumulated more heat than our other sites and ripened the four Syrah clones to a greater extent; we’ve never seen Red Mountain deliver less than full physiological maturity, every vintage. Nevertheless this vintage retains a vibrancy and energy that isn’t often found on Red Mountain.
Review:
The 2015 Syrah la Cote Rousse is a blockbuster Syrah from Red Mountain that’s from the Ranch at the End of The Road and Ciel du Cheval vineyards. It’s a mix of four different clones and is brought up in barrel. This deep, inky, seriously black Syrah gives up Hermitage-like notes of scorched earth, charred meats, graphite and licorice. It’s a big, concentrated effort that’s going to benefit from short-term cellaring and keep through 2035. Robert Parker 96 Points
The light hay coloring is loaded with greenish reflections. The fragrance is soft and complex, especially inviting with aromas hinting broom, chamomile and fresh fruit. The flavor is pleasantly tangy, full and very persistent.
Area of production: Monteu Roero
Fenocchio Roero Arneis is made from 100% Arneis
Vineyards area: 1.2 hectares (2.98 acres)
Exposition: Southeast
Altimetry: Hilly zone at around 300/350 meters a.s.l
Soil: calcareous,clay, soil of medium texture
Age of the vineyards: 10/15 years
Grape yield per hectare: 70 quintals
Harvest: Mid September
Vinification: The grapes are gently pressed and then the wine-must obtained is refrigerated in stainless steel vats to allow the lees to settle. After 24-36 hours the juice is separated from the lees and fermented at a controlled temperature. Bottling is done in sterile conditions. Aged in stainless steel tanks and matured in the bottle.
Tasting notes: the light hay coloring is loaded with greenish reflections. The fragrance is soft and complex, especially inviting with aromas hinting broom, chamomile and fresh fruit. The flavor is pleasantly tangy, full and very persistent.
Food Pairing: Great as an aperitif. Pairs nicely with saucy dishes white meats and grilled fish .
Serving temperature: Recommended serving temperature is around 10 - 12 degrees Celcius (52-56 degrees Fahrenheit)
Alcohol: Approx. 13-13,5% Vol
Total acidity: Approx. 5.5 – 5.8 g/L
