An elegant, medium-bodied wine displaying black cherries, cassis, violets, pine and underbrush. Displays bright acidity and dark stone fruits in the mouth, persistent through the mid-palate, finishes steely with espresso and toast aromas.
Anticipated maturity: 2011-2013
year to year. In this vintage, the wine is made of 68 percent Cabernet Sauvignon (a relatively high proportion), 22 percent Merlot and five percent each of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. It was bottled after 20 months in 70 percent new French oak barrels. Color is young, dark purple and almost opaque. Although it’s just a baby, the nose is open and offers a great bouquet of ultra pure, sweet and intense dark berry fruit with loads of cassis and blackberries, still it’s overall a very elegant wine with a youthful oak sweetness. What I really liked when I tasted it, and had it in the glass for around 20 minutes, was how slow but well it developed in the glass. Don’t forget it’s a very young wine, it’s should be (and it is) packed with primary aromas, yet I almost wrote complexity in my first tasting notes. On the palate, it is rich with that same purity I always find in the wines from Kapcsándy, they really can afford to use only the very best grapes, therefore the texture is lush and silky and just held together with a very fine tannic structure. The oak is well integrated, although at this stage just a bit toasty. Consider the youth of this wine, the finish is very long, and delicious.
Drinking it in the coming few years, I’d give it at least one hour in the decanter, and I’d pour it in large Bordeaux glasses. But I recommend a few more years of bottle age, and then the true complexity will be there.
Drink it 2013-2028
Very fine, rich and dramatic, a wine that feels important all the way through. Dry and vital in concentrated blackberry and currant flavors, with a rich appliqué of smoky oak, it announces its terroir with authority. But it’s extraordinarily tannic, and needs lots of time. Try after 2015. S.H.
The 2008 Estate Cuvee State Lane Vineyard (68% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot) is spectacular. In fact, I rated it the same as I did the 2007. A dense ruby/purple hue is followed by a gorgeous bouquet of espresso roast, chocolate, blackberries and black fruits. Full-bodied with extraordinary elegance as well as tremendous texture, intensity and length, this singular wine should drink well for two decades. For those who complain that California wines are too alcoholic, every one of the Kapcsandy wines is under 14.6% alcohol.
Good bright medium ruby. Crushed blackberry, licorice, tar and violet on the nose, along with a minerality that carries through onto the palate. Sweet, broad and deep, offering lovely chewy fruit and excellent lift. Dominated by its dark berry, licorice and minerally cabernet sauvignon element. Finishes with broad, fine-grained tannins.
The 2007 Estate Cuvee State Lane Vineyard (a 750-case blend of 46% Cabernet Sauvignon, 46% Merlot, and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot) boasts an inky/plum/purple color as well as a complex bouquet of melted licorice, chocolate, creme de cassis, mocha, and sweet forest floor aromas. Full-bodied and layered with exquisite purity, texture, and length, this large-scaled offering reveals a supple texture along with 20-25 years of drinkability. It is a seductive yet extraordinarily complex wine that should prove to be a future super-star.
The 2006 Estate Cuvee State Lane Vineyard (a blend of 48% Cabernet Sauvignon, 48% Merlot, and 4% Cabernet Franc) possesses a dark plum/purple color as well as notes of roasted coffee, cocoa, chocolate, black currants, sweet cherries, and subtle oak. Medium to full-bodied, elegant, layered, intense, pure, and long, it is approachable now, but promises to drink well for two decades or more.
Good full, deep ruby. Lovely floral lift to the aromas and flavors of cassis, licorice and violet. Supple and light on its feet-and likely to fill in with more time in bottle. This represents a barrel selection intended to make an earlier-drinking wine. Carrying a moderate 13.5% alcohol.
The 2005 Estate Cuvee State Lane Vineyard (56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, and 4% Cabernet Franc) reveals a dense ruby/purple color as well as a gorgeous nose of chocolate-covered black cherries and hints of cedar and licorice, medium to full body, superb richness and weight, and moderate tannins. Reminiscent of a 2005 classified growth Bordeaux, it should be at its peak between 2012-2030.
