2018 Ordeaux Cabernet Sauvignon
Making “Cab Sauv” cool again. Man, I have had my own fractured relationship with Cab. Like, Pinot Noir, there are many “standardized” examples out there. Lots of Cab is made by focus groups, not by winemakers. When I walked the REDACTED Vineyard with James Moss for the first time and he showed me his Cabernet blocks and explained their rarity (in Oregon and Washington) I was quick to say “yes”.
Images of the Past 🏔
There are wine memories that I still hold on to. They are burned into my mind so vividly that I reflect back on them frequently. They are some of those first wine memories I have, at a time when I was just starting to understand my own palate. There is a confidence that builds from tasting many wines and there are certain styles of wines that make a huge first imprint. For me it was Bordeaux, both red and white wines. The plushness, the dark fruits, the tobacco (I love cigars), the density. I set out to launch this inaugural release of Ordeaux as an homage to those Bordeaux styles.
Wine Info
APPELLATION: Columbia Gorge
VINTAGE: 2018
GRAPE: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon
ESTATE GROWN: No, purchased grapes
VINEYARD SOURCE: REDACTED Vineyard
VINEYARD AGE: 6 years old
DRY FARMED: Yes, 1st year
OWN ROOTED: Yes
SOIL TYPE: Basalt, River Sedimentary, Loess
ELEVATION: 600 ft (183 m)
HARVEST DATE: October 8th, 2018
HARVEST METHOD: Hand Harvested
BRIX @ HARVEST: 25.0
pH @ HARVEST: 3.41
SKIN CONTACT: 20 days in Wood Eggs
CHAPTALIZATION: Never
FERMENTATION: Ambient Yeast
MATURATION VESSEL: 390L Perle of Quintessence
ALCOHOL (by volume): 14.50%
SULFUR DIOXIDE (SO₂): 10 mg/L
ACIDITY SCALE (pH): 3.87 pH
TOTAL ACIDITY: 5.8 g/L
FINING AGENT: Unfined (Vegan)
FILTRATION: Unfiltered
BOTTLE SIZE: 750ml & 1.5L
CLOSURE TYPE: FineCorkX (99.99% TCA Free)
PRODUCTION: 107 cases + 48 magnums
BOTTLING DATE: September 13th, 2019 (Full Moon)
RELEASE DATE: December 1st, 2019
This wine was bottled in 🇺🇸 made glass, with a cork from 🇮🇹 and a label that was designed and printed in the 🇺🇸 .
Please ♻︎ this bottle when you are finished enjoying it.
“The 2018 vintage is the first release from Golden Cluster’s new cabernet project in the
Columbia River Gorge in Washington state, which they have dubbed Ordeaux. The wine is
composed entirely of cabernet sauvignon, comes in at 14.5 percent octane and was fermented
with indigenous yeasts and bottled unfined and unfiltered. It offers up an excellent and complex
nose of cassis, black cherries, cigar ash, tobacco leaf, dark soil tones and a nice touch of cedar.
On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and quite elegant in personality, with a good core, fine
focus and grip, ripe, buried tannins and a long, complex finish that shows just a whisper of
backend heat. This is made from six year-old vines, so there is not quite the core that this wine
will have when the vines have gotten older, but the wine is excellent in quality and is a very
welcome new addition to the firmament of old school, classic examples of cabernet sauvignon
(and a fine value). 2025-2055. 91.”
