Wine Advisor
Bryant Family, Cabernet Sauvignon 2015
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Lisa Perrotti-Brown
Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon is closed and largely unyielding at this very youthful stage. With coaxing, it offers up black cherries, crushed blackberries and mulberries notes with hints of pencil lead, damp soil, truffles, licorice and dark chocolate plus a waft of cigar boxes. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is as tight as anything, displaying a rock-solid backbone of taut, grainy tannins and plenty of freshness to support the muscular fruit, finishing with earth and mineral layers. This is a stunning wine that really will need a good 4-5 years in bottle, at least, and should give much pleasure over the next 25-30 years. This was tasted as a barrel sample.
About the Producer
Bryant Family Vineyard, located in Saint Helena, California, was established in 1987 by Don Bryant and Barbara Bryant. The original winemaker was Helen Turley and the current winemaker is Helen Keplinger. The Bryant family winery was praised by Parker from the very first vintage. The estate can produce upwards of 2,000 cases per year. The 5.3 hectare vineyard is located on Pritchard Hill at an altitude of 1,500 feet and is blessed with a microclimate where the cool breeze from the west across Lake Hennessey in the summer helps to cool the vineyard and facilitate the growth of the grapes. In addition, the soil is of high quality and covered with small and large stones for good drainage. The ideal distribution of light in the morning and evening, combined with the good drainage of the stony soil, also makes the vines more inclined to root deeper to absorb water. The average age of the vines is 10 years and the planting density is 5,000 vines per hectare. Yields are in the region of 3.8 tonnes per hectare. During the harvest season, the fruit is carefully selected by the workers. Fruit from different parts of the vineyard, and even from different sides of the yin and yang, are placed in different picking baskets, which are only half full, and transported to the winery. At the winery, the fruit is sorted and destemmed and, after a second re-sorting, it sinks by gravity to the bottom of the tank. The fermentation is preceded by a cold maceration of 5 days and then all the grapes are fermented in open top stainless steel tanks before being aged for 18 months in new French oak barrels. Bottling is done without any filtration or clarification. The winemaking consultant at the winery is Michel Rolland, the famous wine patriarch. In addition to the main label, the Bryant family winery also produces a secondary label (Bettina Bryant), which follows the style of a "Bordeaux blend", combining Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Merlot and Petit Verdot. It is also worth noting that Parker gave the estate's 1997 Cabernet Sauvignon 100 points and WineSpectator scored it 94 points. This Cabernet Sauvignon is well balanced, dense and capable of being cellared for 30-35 years. The recent best vintages of the estate are: 1996, 1997, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006.
