Above 11 bottles per lot
Details
ARAUJO ESTATE
The cult wine craze from California arguably began when Bart and Daphne Araujo bought the historic Eisele vineyard in 1990. From the beginning, Araujo represented California Cabernet at its finest, full of the dense and chewey fruit that kept the mailing list years long. Only 2000 cases made each year from 3 of the 38 Eisele acres.
Presented here is a rare vertical from 1993 to 2003 and an opportunity to taste the cult fever a decade at a time.
AC
Araujo Estate, Eisele Vineyard, Cabernet Sauvignon
Napa Valley
--Vintage 1993(1)
"As I reported last year, the 1993 Cabernet Sauvignon Eisele Vineyard is a spectacular wine from a vintage that has consistently received unfavorable press (particularly from the Wine Spectator). It seems to me that if the 1993 vintage were taken out of the context of the historical succession of outstanding years in the nineties, and put in the eighties, qualitatively, 1993 would tower over the likes of 1987, 1985, or 1984. The Eisele Vineyard 1993 Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the half dozen or so candidates for wine of the vintage. I have tasted it three times out of bottle, once rating it as high as 98, but never less than 96. It is a mind-boggling Cabernet Sauvignon that is remarkably well-balanced for its size and intensity. The color is an opaque purple, and the nose offers up smoky, chocolatey, blackcurrant, licorice, and mineral scents. On the palate, the wine reveals fabulous density, concentration, sweetness of fruit as well as tannin, and a 30-40 second finish. Although there is a high percentage of new oak, this wine has completely soaked it up, a testament to its extract and concentration of fruit. While the wine displays a certain precociousness, unusual for a 1993, there is plenty of tannin lurking in the finish, but it is well-concealed by the wine's exceptional richness. This beauty is destined to age effortlessly for 20-25 years. The Eisele Vineyard has always produced concentrated Cabernet Sauvignons with blackcurrant/cassis personalities intermixed with a mineral component. What the Araujos have been able to achieve is to intensify the fruit character, as well as the wine's purity and definition. That, plus high quality French oak barrels and a natural approach to winemaking has resulted in a succession of extraordinary Cabernets that began in 1991, and shows no signs of abating." Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #108 (December 1996)
--Vintage 1994(1)
"The Cabernet Sauvignon comes from the renowned Eisele Vineyard, which has a long history of producing stunning wines (the Ridge 1971 Eisele Vineyard, the Conn Creek 1974, the Phelps 1976 Insignia, and the 1975 and 1978 Eisele Vineyard Cabernets). At present, the Araujos limit production of their estate Cabernet Sauvignon to approximately 2,500 cases. It is a wine that combines the extraordinary power and richness of this hot area of Napa, with stunning purity and delineation. The 1994 Cabernet Sauvignon Eisele Vineyard is just beginning to emerge from a period of post-bottling dormancy. Like its siblings, it exhibits an impressively saturated dark purple color. This wine is intent on revealing its charms at a relatively early age given its knock-out aromatics. Although slightly less powerful than the 1993 and marginally less concentrated than the 1995, the 1994 is still a profoundly rich, silky-textured wine with an uncanny balance between its smooth tannin and layers of cassis and blackberry/mineral-tinged fruit. This wine is particularly impressive if it is first decanted for 45 or so minutes. It will age well for 15-20 years. As is evident after tasting the wines from Araujo Estate in Napa Valley, this is a formidably run winery dedicated to producing exceptionally high quality wines. Readers should try and get on the mailing list, or at least on the waiting list for the mailing list!" Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #114 (December 1997)
--Vintage 1995(1)
"Araujo's Cabernet Sauvignon Eisele Vineyard has become a benchmark. I believe the 1995 is the finest produced under the Araujo regime. It is close to perfection. The wine combines extraordinary power and richness with remarkable complexity and finesse. The saturated purple/black color is followed by aromas of sweet vanillin intermixed with riveting scents of black currants, minerals, exotic spices, coffee, and toast. There is nothing garish about this subtle yet powerful giant of a wine. A Napa Valley classic, it is full-bodied and extremely rich, yet retains its sense of balance and symmetry. This fabulous Cabernet Sauvignon should age effortlessly for 30 or more years. Anticipated maturity: 2001-2030." Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #120 (December 1998)
--Vintage 1996(1)
"The saturated purple-colored 1996 Cabernet Sauvignon Eisele Vineyard offers an attractive nose of black fruits intermixed with toast, minerals, subtle tar, and wood smoke. Full-bodied, with impressive purity, a multi-layered mid-palate and finish, it is an expressive, pure, powerful, and large-boned wine." Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #126 (January 2000)
--Vintage 1997(1)
"The 1997 Cabernet Sauvignon Eisele Vineyard, is a beauty. The healthy ruby/purple color is followed by classic, unevolved but promising aromas of minerals, cedar, smoke, and black currants. The wine is medium to full-bodied, with admirable purity, a sweet, lush mid-palate, and ripe tannin in the finish. The top-notch 1997 is a classic, restrained. Anticipated maturity: now-2020." Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #132 (December 132)
--Vintage 1998(1)
"The 1998 Cabernet Sauvignon Eisele Vineyard was bottled earlier than usual as this vintage is not as massive or concentrated as its predecessors. To my palate, the 1998 is good, although I am not convinced it will be long lived. There are 2,300 cases of this 90 Cabernet Sauvignon, 7 Petit-Verdot, and 3 Cabernet Franc blend. It is supple and elegant, with a complex, evolved bouquet of smoke, black currants, spice box, and cedar. In the mouth, the wine is forward with sweet tannin, gorgeously rich, concentrated fruit, and impressively integrated acidity and tannin. Drink this alluring charmer now and over the next 12-15 years." Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #132 (December 2000)
--Vintage 1999(1)
"The 1999 Cabernet Sauvignon Eisele Vineyard (a 1,750-case blend of 85 Cabernet Sauvignon, 7 Cabernet Franc, 5 Petit Verdot, and 3 Merlot) boasts explosive aromas of incense, creme de cassis, minerals, and flowers. It is medium to full-bodied, with great harmony, and a sweet attack as well as finish. This is a classic example of power and richness allied to considerable elegance. Those in the foreign press who accuse California of being incapable of producing elegant wines have obviously never tasted this Cabernet. Anticipated maturity: now-2020." Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #142 (August 2002)
--Vintage 2000(1)
"The 2000 Cabernet Sauvignon Eisele Vineyard is a 1,700 case blend of 84 Cabernet Sauvignon, 9 Cabernet Franc, and the rest Petit Verdot and Merlot. This vintage produced lighter wines, resulting in a Bordeaux-like example of this cuvee. After 22 months in oak, this textured, perfumed Cabernet offers up aromas of black currants, earth, and lilacs (reminiscent of Chateau Margaux). It possesses a deep ruby/purple color as well as medium body, a good texture, a slight austerity, but brilliant purity and balance. A lighter-weight effort by Araujo's standards, it is extremely well-balanced and approachable. Drink it over the next 10-12 years." Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #150 (December 2003)
--Vintage 2001(1)
"The 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon Eisele Vineyard was produced from the largest crop of this glorious trilogy (1,700 cases from a blend of 75 Cabernet Sauvignon and 25 Cabernet Franc). Its saturated purple color leads to a restrained but impressive nose of cassis, toast, earth, and a hint of cedar. Full-bodied and multi-layered, with impeccable balance and a noteworthy juxtaposition of power and elegance, it is starting to close down ever so slightly and seems more masculine when compared to the 2002 and 2003. Anticipated maturity: 2008-2025." Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #157 (February 2005)
--Vintage 2002(1)
"A potential candidate for perfection is the exquisite 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon Eisele Vineyard. A 1,650-case blend of 92 Cabernet Sauvignon, 5 Cabernet Franc, and 3 Petit Verdot made from extremely low yields, it boasts superb intensity, flavor, elegance, and nobility in addition to a marvelously complex nose of minerals, licorice, cedar, creme de cassis, vanilla, and spice. Exceptionally rich, nuanced, and precise, it is a magnificent expression of Cabernet Sauvignon that offers the elegance of a Bordeaux with the power and potency of Napa Valley Cabernet. A tour de force, this wine can be drunk now or cellared for up to two decades." Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #157 (February 2005)
--Vintage 2003(1)
"One of the candidates for "wine of the vintage," the 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon Eisele Vineyard represents 1,600 cases produced from a 40-acre vineyard, which tells you how Draconian Araujo's selection process is. The final blend of 88 Cabernet Sauvignon, 9 Cabernet Franc, and 3 Petit Verdot has resulted in a beautifully pure wine displaying an extraordinary floral, black currant, and mineral-scented bouquet, with no hint of new oak. The purity, richness and full-bodied power yet surreal finesse and impeccable balance should be cherished by wine lovers. This beauty can be drunk now and over the next two decades. Wow!" Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #168 (December 2006)
Above 11 bottles per lot
The cult wine craze from California arguably began when Bart and Daphne Araujo bought the historic Eisele vineyard in 1990. From the beginning, Araujo represented California Cabernet at its finest, full of the dense and chewey fruit that kept the mailing list years long. Only 2000 cases made each year from 3 of the 38 Eisele acres.
Presented here is a rare vertical from 1993 to 2003 and an opportunity to taste the cult fever a decade at a time.
AC
Araujo Estate, Eisele Vineyard, Cabernet Sauvignon
Napa Valley
--Vintage 1993(1)
"As I reported last year, the 1993 Cabernet Sauvignon Eisele Vineyard is a spectacular wine from a vintage that has consistently received unfavorable press (particularly from the Wine Spectator). It seems to me that if the 1993 vintage were taken out of the context of the historical succession of outstanding years in the nineties, and put in the eighties, qualitatively, 1993 would tower over the likes of 1987, 1985, or 1984. The Eisele Vineyard 1993 Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the half dozen or so candidates for wine of the vintage. I have tasted it three times out of bottle, once rating it as high as 98, but never less than 96. It is a mind-boggling Cabernet Sauvignon that is remarkably well-balanced for its size and intensity. The color is an opaque purple, and the nose offers up smoky, chocolatey, blackcurrant, licorice, and mineral scents. On the palate, the wine reveals fabulous density, concentration, sweetness of fruit as well as tannin, and a 30-40 second finish. Although there is a high percentage of new oak, this wine has completely soaked it up, a testament to its extract and concentration of fruit. While the wine displays a certain precociousness, unusual for a 1993, there is plenty of tannin lurking in the finish, but it is well-concealed by the wine's exceptional richness. This beauty is destined to age effortlessly for 20-25 years. The Eisele Vineyard has always produced concentrated Cabernet Sauvignons with blackcurrant/cassis personalities intermixed with a mineral component. What the Araujos have been able to achieve is to intensify the fruit character, as well as the wine's purity and definition. That, plus high quality French oak barrels and a natural approach to winemaking has resulted in a succession of extraordinary Cabernets that began in 1991, and shows no signs of abating." Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #108 (December 1996)
--Vintage 1994(1)
"The Cabernet Sauvignon comes from the renowned Eisele Vineyard, which has a long history of producing stunning wines (the Ridge 1971 Eisele Vineyard, the Conn Creek 1974, the Phelps 1976 Insignia, and the 1975 and 1978 Eisele Vineyard Cabernets). At present, the Araujos limit production of their estate Cabernet Sauvignon to approximately 2,500 cases. It is a wine that combines the extraordinary power and richness of this hot area of Napa, with stunning purity and delineation. The 1994 Cabernet Sauvignon Eisele Vineyard is just beginning to emerge from a period of post-bottling dormancy. Like its siblings, it exhibits an impressively saturated dark purple color. This wine is intent on revealing its charms at a relatively early age given its knock-out aromatics. Although slightly less powerful than the 1993 and marginally less concentrated than the 1995, the 1994 is still a profoundly rich, silky-textured wine with an uncanny balance between its smooth tannin and layers of cassis and blackberry/mineral-tinged fruit. This wine is particularly impressive if it is first decanted for 45 or so minutes. It will age well for 15-20 years. As is evident after tasting the wines from Araujo Estate in Napa Valley, this is a formidably run winery dedicated to producing exceptionally high quality wines. Readers should try and get on the mailing list, or at least on the waiting list for the mailing list!" Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #114 (December 1997)
--Vintage 1995(1)
"Araujo's Cabernet Sauvignon Eisele Vineyard has become a benchmark. I believe the 1995 is the finest produced under the Araujo regime. It is close to perfection. The wine combines extraordinary power and richness with remarkable complexity and finesse. The saturated purple/black color is followed by aromas of sweet vanillin intermixed with riveting scents of black currants, minerals, exotic spices, coffee, and toast. There is nothing garish about this subtle yet powerful giant of a wine. A Napa Valley classic, it is full-bodied and extremely rich, yet retains its sense of balance and symmetry. This fabulous Cabernet Sauvignon should age effortlessly for 30 or more years. Anticipated maturity: 2001-2030." Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #120 (December 1998)
--Vintage 1996(1)
"The saturated purple-colored 1996 Cabernet Sauvignon Eisele Vineyard offers an attractive nose of black fruits intermixed with toast, minerals, subtle tar, and wood smoke. Full-bodied, with impressive purity, a multi-layered mid-palate and finish, it is an expressive, pure, powerful, and large-boned wine." Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #126 (January 2000)
--Vintage 1997(1)
"The 1997 Cabernet Sauvignon Eisele Vineyard, is a beauty. The healthy ruby/purple color is followed by classic, unevolved but promising aromas of minerals, cedar, smoke, and black currants. The wine is medium to full-bodied, with admirable purity, a sweet, lush mid-palate, and ripe tannin in the finish. The top-notch 1997 is a classic, restrained. Anticipated maturity: now-2020." Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #132 (December 132)
--Vintage 1998(1)
"The 1998 Cabernet Sauvignon Eisele Vineyard was bottled earlier than usual as this vintage is not as massive or concentrated as its predecessors. To my palate, the 1998 is good, although I am not convinced it will be long lived. There are 2,300 cases of this 90 Cabernet Sauvignon, 7 Petit-Verdot, and 3 Cabernet Franc blend. It is supple and elegant, with a complex, evolved bouquet of smoke, black currants, spice box, and cedar. In the mouth, the wine is forward with sweet tannin, gorgeously rich, concentrated fruit, and impressively integrated acidity and tannin. Drink this alluring charmer now and over the next 12-15 years." Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #132 (December 2000)
--Vintage 1999(1)
"The 1999 Cabernet Sauvignon Eisele Vineyard (a 1,750-case blend of 85 Cabernet Sauvignon, 7 Cabernet Franc, 5 Petit Verdot, and 3 Merlot) boasts explosive aromas of incense, creme de cassis, minerals, and flowers. It is medium to full-bodied, with great harmony, and a sweet attack as well as finish. This is a classic example of power and richness allied to considerable elegance. Those in the foreign press who accuse California of being incapable of producing elegant wines have obviously never tasted this Cabernet. Anticipated maturity: now-2020." Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #142 (August 2002)
--Vintage 2000(1)
"The 2000 Cabernet Sauvignon Eisele Vineyard is a 1,700 case blend of 84 Cabernet Sauvignon, 9 Cabernet Franc, and the rest Petit Verdot and Merlot. This vintage produced lighter wines, resulting in a Bordeaux-like example of this cuvee. After 22 months in oak, this textured, perfumed Cabernet offers up aromas of black currants, earth, and lilacs (reminiscent of Chateau Margaux). It possesses a deep ruby/purple color as well as medium body, a good texture, a slight austerity, but brilliant purity and balance. A lighter-weight effort by Araujo's standards, it is extremely well-balanced and approachable. Drink it over the next 10-12 years." Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #150 (December 2003)
--Vintage 2001(1)
"The 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon Eisele Vineyard was produced from the largest crop of this glorious trilogy (1,700 cases from a blend of 75 Cabernet Sauvignon and 25 Cabernet Franc). Its saturated purple color leads to a restrained but impressive nose of cassis, toast, earth, and a hint of cedar. Full-bodied and multi-layered, with impeccable balance and a noteworthy juxtaposition of power and elegance, it is starting to close down ever so slightly and seems more masculine when compared to the 2002 and 2003. Anticipated maturity: 2008-2025." Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #157 (February 2005)
--Vintage 2002(1)
"A potential candidate for perfection is the exquisite 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon Eisele Vineyard. A 1,650-case blend of 92 Cabernet Sauvignon, 5 Cabernet Franc, and 3 Petit Verdot made from extremely low yields, it boasts superb intensity, flavor, elegance, and nobility in addition to a marvelously complex nose of minerals, licorice, cedar, creme de cassis, vanilla, and spice. Exceptionally rich, nuanced, and precise, it is a magnificent expression of Cabernet Sauvignon that offers the elegance of a Bordeaux with the power and potency of Napa Valley Cabernet. A tour de force, this wine can be drunk now or cellared for up to two decades." Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #157 (February 2005)
--Vintage 2003(1)
"One of the candidates for "wine of the vintage," the 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon Eisele Vineyard represents 1,600 cases produced from a 40-acre vineyard, which tells you how Draconian Araujo's selection process is. The final blend of 88 Cabernet Sauvignon, 9 Cabernet Franc, and 3 Petit Verdot has resulted in a beautifully pure wine displaying an extraordinary floral, black currant, and mineral-scented bouquet, with no hint of new oak. The purity, richness and full-bodied power yet surreal finesse and impeccable balance should be cherished by wine lovers. This beauty can be drunk now and over the next two decades. Wow!" Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #168 (December 2006)
Above 11 bottles per lot