Comanche Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon

Tasting notes & discussion 18

Worried the Summer heat will get to your wine before it gets to you? Try our new Summer Hold option here!

Typically $42/bottle from Comanche Cellars
Vintage 2022 from San Benito County
Available for AL; AZ; AR; CA; CO; CT; DC; FL; GA; ID; IL; IN; IA; KS; KY; LA; ME; MD; MA; MI; MN; MO; MT; NE; NV; NH; NJ; NM; NY; NC; ND; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; VT; VA; WA; WV; WI; WY
Sold by participating winery or licensee, fulfilled by Wine Country Connect

About Comanche Cellars: “My name is Michael Simons, and what started as a love affair with wine has turned into a passion for producing small lots of very handcrafted wines from neighboring vineyards. Our tiny (1,800 cases) winery is named after Comanche, my horse when I was ten years old.”

He's Been Through Enough

TASTING NOTES: “90 Points, Wine Enthusiast
A rich, full-bodied Cabernet Sauvignon with inviting aromas of dark chocolate and dried berries, spiced with mahogany, incense and charred walnut. The palate unfolds with layers of dark cherry, dried tobacco and wood spice flavors. These aromas and flavors paired with a dry, lingering finish showcase the wine’s depth and structure. Equally enjoyable alongside a hearty meal or sipped on its own.” (AbV 13.3%)

VARIETALS: 80% Cabernet Sauvignon (Inglenook clone), 12.5% Cabernet Franc, 7.5% Sauvignon Blanc

BARRELS: 39 months in 40% new French oak

PAIRS WITH: N/A

THAT REMINDS ME OF: Comanche, the horse.

Not the winery’s horse — the other Comanche. The one that survived the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876, later identified as the sole living survivor found on the U.S. Army’s side of the field. He was a mixed-breed mustang, a cavalry mount belonging to Captain Myles Keogh, and after the battle he was discovered badly wounded but alive among the dead. The Army nursed him back to health and issued a regimental order — an actual formal military order — declaring that Comanche would never be ridden again and would be present, saddled and draped, at all regimental formations. He spent his retirement eating, wandering the fort, and reportedly developing a taste for beer, which soldiers were apparently happy to provide.

When Comanche died in 1891, he was given a full military funeral, one of only two horses in U.S. history to receive that honor. Then — and this is the part that takes a turn — he was taxidermied and put on display. He currently stands in a glass case at the University of Kansas Natural History Museum, where you can go visit him. The case is climate-controlled. There is a sign asking you not to touch the horse.

I keep thinking about the regimental order. The formal paperwork drawn up by the U.S. Army to protect one horse’s feelings. That someone sat down, dipped a pen, and wrote the official military bureaucratic version of he’s been through enough, leave him alone. Reader, I respect it enormously.

ICYMI, you have two choices:

Worried Summer heat might get to your wine before your wine gets to you? Order from the sale linked here, and we’ll get it to you at a cooler time of year!
Want it shipped now? Every package during the summer will have protected temp control ground shipping for much of the country that takes longer but will ensure safe delivery. Expect up to two weeks for delivery. Now through the September 12th offer.

Who's buying this?

How are you buying your bottles?

What's your relationship with military bureaucracy?

I've filed enough paperwork to know it can actually protect something real

I've filed enough paperwork to know it can actually protect something real
I'm skeptical, but an order protecting a horse's retirement earns my respect

I'm skeptical, but an order protecting a horse's retirement earns my respect
I'd have been the soldier sneaking Comanche an extra beer

I'd have been the soldier sneaking Comanche an extra beer
I think we over-formalize everything — just be kind without the memo

I think we over-formalize everything — just be kind without the memo
Tell me your own bureaucratic redemption arc ↓

Tell me your own bureaucratic redemption arc ↓

13 votes