2018 Gård Cabernet Sauvignon, Columbia Valley, Lawrence Estate Wines
91pts - Vinous/ Owen Bargreen
Tasting Notes
Dark and concentrated notes of currants, cassis, plum, and black cherries with a touch of wood smoke and fig paste. Swirling adds sweetness and a savory component that makes your mouth water with vanilla bean and black tea. The palate has density and firm, with fine tannins with good fruit sweetness through the mid-palate and a long and concentrated finish.
The Winemaking
Fermented in 47% concrete tanks and blended after 14 months. This wine is beginning to see more consistent use of a small amount of Cabernet Franc and Merlot than previous vintages. As the Solaksen vineyard is maturing (nearly 50% of this wine now), the wine is beginning to show more volume and texture while displaying more classic dark fruits. Bottled unfined and unfiltered.
The Vineyard
Gård Vintners is 100% estate grown sustainably at Lawrence Vineyards, featuring eight distinct vineyard sites in the Royal Slope AVA. With elevations that range 930 feet to 1,675 feet and primarily a south-facing slope, Lawrence Vineyards provides a great framework for grape production, while the diversity of each of the locations delivers a high level of complexity to Gård wines. We also farm vineyards on the Wahluke Slope and Conner Lee in the Columbia Valley. Lawrence Vineyards is certified sustainable by Vinewise.org.
Specs
Vintage: 2018
Varietals: 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, &% Cabernet France, 7% Merlot
Release Date: October 2021
Alcohol: 14.9%
pH: 3.82
Production: 625 cases
What’s Included
4-bottles:
4x 2018 Gård Cabernet Sauvignon, Columbia Valley, Lawrence Estate Wines
Case:
12x 2018 Gård Cabernet Sauvignon, Columbia Valley, Lawrence Estate Wines
Gård, meaning “farm” in many of the Scandinavian languages, is a tribute to our family’s Scandinavian heritage and farming tradition.
Our mission at Gård is to capture and bottle the unique characteristics of the land we farm. We humbly craft value-driven, award-winning wines from our sustainable estate vineyards to create lasting memories for our customers. Gård Vintners is dedicated to crafting world-class wines from its sustainably-farmed estate vineyard on the Royal Slope of Washington’s Columbia Valley AVA. We produce 6,000 cases a year for our wine club, three tasting rooms, and select distribution in the northwest and across the country.
Founded in 2006, Gård Vintners is a family-owned and operated estate winery in the heart of Washington’s Columbia Valley AVA, with vineyards on the Royal Slope, wine production in Walla Walla, and tasting rooms in Woodinville, Walla Walla, and Ellensburg.
The winery was founded by Josh and Lisa Lawrence, along with Josh’s dad John Lawrence and uncle Sandy Lawrence, who had farmed the Royal Slope for more than 40 years. The winery and estate vineyard is now owned and operated by Josh and his wife, Lisa, who oversees sales and marketing, while Josh oversees the vineyard and other farm and orchard operations.
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IA, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, NV, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OR, TN, TX, VA, WA, WI
Late last week a bottle of the 2018 GÅRD Cabernet Sauvignon showed up at the UPS Depot, courtesy of the labrat purveyors at Casemates. Unfortunately, it was a couple of days too late for International Cabernet Sauvignon Day, but we weren’t about to let that interfere with an opportunity like this.
I opened the bottle a few days later, and could catch just a hint of dark fruits: plums, cassis, and dark cherries, on the nose right away. The first sip offered more of the cassis, but also convinced me it would be nicer a few degrees cooler, and needed a bit of air time. Dinner wasn’t ready yet, so there was plenty of time to take care of both. As expected, a half-hour helped it to open up, and it turned out to be a wonderful pairing with my famous spaghetti sauce over whole wheat garlic linguine made by a former colleague.
Throughout the meal, the wine continued to improve as the dark fruit flavors became more pronounced and the tannins softened. It’s a classic example of a well-made Cabernet Sauvignon from an area in Washington noted for such excellence. In my opinion, it will benefit significantly from some additional aging, but meanwhile, definitely needs to be uncorked for a while before drinking it.
The GÅRD Vintners website shows an MSRP of $45, which I think is perfectly in line with the quality of this wine. We’ve previously had their 2014 red blend (an early Casemates offer) and their 2013 Riesling ice wine, and they were also really well-made and very enjoyable.
At the Casemates price of $99.99/4 bottles, this is a steal, at $259.99 for a case, it’s downright grand larceny.
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: Tax & Shipping not included in savings calculations).
2018 Gård Estate Cabernet Sauvignon - $40 = 14.32%
WooHoo! ddeuddeg missed the coveted Lab Rat email last week! Gotta love it when our UPS guy calls and says, “You’ve got a single-bottle box here.” He knows us too well! ddeuddeg brought the box home and found a bottle of 2018 GÅRD Vintners Columbia Valley Lawrence Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon.
Ddeuddeg opened the bottle about a half hour or so, before we sat down to dinner. Being that the wine inside this bottle was so young, and had I thought of it then, I would have opened it a bit sooner. Ddeuddeg poured a tasting portion. The wine is a beautiful deep red. I got nothing on first sniff. Swirled the wine a bit and took a sip. Not much on the palate, spit, it seemed rather high on the alcohol. I just looked at the label now. It’s 14.9%. I poured more into my glass and swirled the heck out of this wine. It needed help to open up to compete with ddeuddeg’s homemade pasta sauce over whole wheat garlic linguine and meatballs with a side of broccoli with lemon and salt & pepper.
Ah, now the wine was talking! It just needed a little air to help it along! This wine was providing a nice blend of rich, deep flavors of dark fruits, black cherry, some vanilla, and black pepper. Now, this wine seemed to be nicely well-balanced and quite enjoyable. I did not want to come to the end of the bottle! As is customary in our house, after we’ve had a really nice red wine with dinner, we may take the almost empty wine glass into the living room, finish the wine a little while later, and then, do the “sniffy test.” We pick up the empty glass every so often and give the remaining contents a sniff, thereby continuing to enjoy over the course of a few more hours! Give it a try sometime! You’ll be glad you did! This wine is also worth giving a try!
I was excited to get the email from Alice informing me I was ratting!
Unfortunately my bottle did not deliver last Friday as planned and so I got it yesterday. I am sure it did not enjoy sitting in a hot UPS truck for a long weekend. As soon as it was delivered I got it in the wine cooler.
After a nice chill, I took it out to examine it. Great bottle, thick glass and classy labels on the front and back. Nice job by the Gard on the outer presentation! It has been awhile since I had a nice Cabernet Sauvignon from the Columbia Valley so I was looking forward to having a glass of this.
When I peeled the foil back to remove the cork, an odd thing happened. My corkscrew actually pushed the cork into the bottle about half an inch. I’ve had corks break, I’ve had corks come apart but I’ve never had one push into the bottle so easily. I carefully threaded the screw in at this point. I was happy that when I removed it there was a nice thunk. It was sealed well.
The color of this one is a perfect, inky purple cab. A swirl revealed plenty of long legs.
I didn’t get much of a nose off this at first. A bit of earthiness, some dark stone fruits and maybe a bit of oak.
At this point I was a bit worried between the long weekend in the UPS truck and the weird cork issue I had and the lack of a nose I suspected I might have a cooked bottle. I decided I needed to take a taste to see what I had here.
First taste and wow, this is a full bodied wine. Lots of tannins, some berries and stone fruit and a slight savory taste. At this point I decided this one would need some air to open up. Better safe than sorry, I owe that to my fellow Rats!
After some swirls in a decanter and a nice long sit for about an hour, I came back to it. Good choice, because it definitely opened up a bit.
The nose started to appear a bit more, it is a little more fragrant. The earthiness lightened up and the berries popped out a bit more. This smells nicer!
Second taste, after the rest, and I must say this wine tastes better. The berries and stone fruits are coming together. Is that a nice black cherry in the background? I still get the tannins but instead of them smacking me in the palate, it has come together. It’s good, but maybe still a bit unbalanced. I’m guessing the long weekend in the heat led to this. If I had to guess I would say this is a great wine for a hearty meal. It would have went perfectly with last night’s lechon asado and moros rice.
I would take a chance on this and if you do and it’s unbalanced, let it sit awhile!
That Owen Bargreen:
91 Points. “A really nice value, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon delivers ripe dark currant flavors with chocolate fudge and stony mineral undertones. Medium-bodied with a nice veil of tension, this beautiful wine will cellar well for another eight-plus years.”
Incase the winemaker shows up, I’m curious on how the wine was aged, oak from where? Neutral or new?
RWS had an article on concrete tanks a few weeks ago, and what benefit does GARD fermenting this in concrete, feels it gives the wine? Or they were used just because of availability?
Hello from Gard! I’m the owner/grower, along with my husband Josh. Our winemaker is not able to participate today, sorry, but I did ask for his input on your question. The wine was aged in 64% new French oak for 18 months. 47% was fermented in concrete tanks to provide more layers, texture and to influence the aromatic profile.
@cbilyak yes! Think this is the 3rd offer recently I was sad to see IN didn’t make the list. If anyone in SW Michigan would like to split a case, I’d come to you.
@alx10mgmg each state has its own laws and individual companies/breweries/vineyards/etc. have to have permits/licenses/whatever to ship to each state, some states being more of a pain in the ass than others. I am sure it is more complex than that, but that is the jist of it.
Tough decision here. I have enjoyed the previous Gard offerings and also I know this region as producing very fine Cabernet, though a bit different from what most Sonoma/Napa winemakers aim for. The reviews indicating breathing time to open and soften are in-line with what I would expect. But I’m still sorting out boxes of wine I got last year or two (luckily stored in a cool basement, not in a hot UPS truck) … still might go for a 4 pack to try it.
@canonizer@rjquillin Ok, I got a 98% on the state high school exam in Chemistry, but that was 60+ years ago, and the statins and prednisone may be affecting my memory, so I double-checked. Just as I thought, a pH number of 7 is neutral, lower than that is acidic, higher is alkaline. After 50 years of teaching Math, I didn’t have to check to be sure that 3.8 < 7. And even after 5 years of retirement, I haven’t forgotten how to be pedantic, lol. Am I missing something here?
I would expect a wine at 3.8 to be not acidic enough for my tastes, usually preferring wines at 3.3-3.4ph. I certainly would not fear it being too acidic and, if anything, I might fear it to be flabby.
Anyway, in the words of my forebears, I regret everything.
@canonizer@rjquillin I should have known better. This certainly sets my head straight. Thanks to both of you for your patience. I’m going to continue blaming the pharmaceuticals.
Update: I guess GÅRD really needs to move this. It’s now available on WineText for $19.94 + shipping, depending on how many you order. Free if you buy a case.
2018 Gård Cabernet Sauvignon, Columbia Valley, Lawrence Estate Wines
91pts - Vinous/ Owen Bargreen
Tasting Notes
The Winemaking
The Vineyard
Specs
What’s Included
4-bottles:
Case:
Price Comparison
$586.52/Case for 12x 2018 Gård Cabernet Sauvignon, Columbia Valley, Lawrence Estate Wines at Gard Vintners
About The Winery
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IA, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, NV, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OR, TN, TX, VA, WA, WI
Estimated Delivery
Thursday, Sep 29 - Monday, Oct 3
2018 Gård Estate Cabernet Sauvignon
4 bottles for $99.99 $25/bottle + $2/bottle shipping
Case of 12 for $259.99 $21.67/bottle + $1/bottle shipping
Late last week a bottle of the 2018 GÅRD Cabernet Sauvignon showed up at the UPS Depot, courtesy of the labrat purveyors at Casemates. Unfortunately, it was a couple of days too late for International Cabernet Sauvignon Day, but we weren’t about to let that interfere with an opportunity like this.
I opened the bottle a few days later, and could catch just a hint of dark fruits: plums, cassis, and dark cherries, on the nose right away. The first sip offered more of the cassis, but also convinced me it would be nicer a few degrees cooler, and needed a bit of air time. Dinner wasn’t ready yet, so there was plenty of time to take care of both. As expected, a half-hour helped it to open up, and it turned out to be a wonderful pairing with my famous spaghetti sauce over whole wheat garlic linguine made by a former colleague.
Throughout the meal, the wine continued to improve as the dark fruit flavors became more pronounced and the tannins softened. It’s a classic example of a well-made Cabernet Sauvignon from an area in Washington noted for such excellence. In my opinion, it will benefit significantly from some additional aging, but meanwhile, definitely needs to be uncorked for a while before drinking it.
The GÅRD Vintners website shows an MSRP of $45, which I think is perfectly in line with the quality of this wine. We’ve previously had their 2014 red blend (an early Casemates offer) and their 2013 Riesling ice wine, and they were also really well-made and very enjoyable.
At the Casemates price of $99.99/4 bottles, this is a steal, at $259.99 for a case, it’s downright grand larceny.
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: Tax & Shipping not included in savings calculations).
2018 Gård Estate Cabernet Sauvignon - $40 = 14.32%
WooHoo! ddeuddeg missed the coveted Lab Rat email last week! Gotta love it when our UPS guy calls and says, “You’ve got a single-bottle box here.” He knows us too well! ddeuddeg brought the box home and found a bottle of 2018 GÅRD Vintners Columbia Valley Lawrence Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon.
Ddeuddeg opened the bottle about a half hour or so, before we sat down to dinner. Being that the wine inside this bottle was so young, and had I thought of it then, I would have opened it a bit sooner. Ddeuddeg poured a tasting portion. The wine is a beautiful deep red. I got nothing on first sniff. Swirled the wine a bit and took a sip. Not much on the palate, spit, it seemed rather high on the alcohol. I just looked at the label now. It’s 14.9%. I poured more into my glass and swirled the heck out of this wine. It needed help to open up to compete with ddeuddeg’s homemade pasta sauce over whole wheat garlic linguine and meatballs with a side of broccoli with lemon and salt & pepper.
Ah, now the wine was talking! It just needed a little air to help it along! This wine was providing a nice blend of rich, deep flavors of dark fruits, black cherry, some vanilla, and black pepper. Now, this wine seemed to be nicely well-balanced and quite enjoyable. I did not want to come to the end of the bottle! As is customary in our house, after we’ve had a really nice red wine with dinner, we may take the almost empty wine glass into the living room, finish the wine a little while later, and then, do the “sniffy test.” We pick up the empty glass every so often and give the remaining contents a sniff, thereby continuing to enjoy over the course of a few more hours! Give it a try sometime! You’ll be glad you did! This wine is also worth giving a try!
@bahwm and a BONUS Rat…yum!
/giphy slow-logical-lawyer
I was excited to get the email from Alice informing me I was ratting!
Unfortunately my bottle did not deliver last Friday as planned and so I got it yesterday. I am sure it did not enjoy sitting in a hot UPS truck for a long weekend. As soon as it was delivered I got it in the wine cooler.
After a nice chill, I took it out to examine it. Great bottle, thick glass and classy labels on the front and back. Nice job by the Gard on the outer presentation! It has been awhile since I had a nice Cabernet Sauvignon from the Columbia Valley so I was looking forward to having a glass of this.
When I peeled the foil back to remove the cork, an odd thing happened. My corkscrew actually pushed the cork into the bottle about half an inch. I’ve had corks break, I’ve had corks come apart but I’ve never had one push into the bottle so easily. I carefully threaded the screw in at this point. I was happy that when I removed it there was a nice thunk. It was sealed well.
The color of this one is a perfect, inky purple cab. A swirl revealed plenty of long legs.
I didn’t get much of a nose off this at first. A bit of earthiness, some dark stone fruits and maybe a bit of oak.
At this point I was a bit worried between the long weekend in the UPS truck and the weird cork issue I had and the lack of a nose I suspected I might have a cooked bottle. I decided I needed to take a taste to see what I had here.
First taste and wow, this is a full bodied wine. Lots of tannins, some berries and stone fruit and a slight savory taste. At this point I decided this one would need some air to open up. Better safe than sorry, I owe that to my fellow Rats!
After some swirls in a decanter and a nice long sit for about an hour, I came back to it. Good choice, because it definitely opened up a bit.
The nose started to appear a bit more, it is a little more fragrant. The earthiness lightened up and the berries popped out a bit more. This smells nicer!
Second taste, after the rest, and I must say this wine tastes better. The berries and stone fruits are coming together. Is that a nice black cherry in the background? I still get the tannins but instead of them smacking me in the palate, it has come together. It’s good, but maybe still a bit unbalanced. I’m guessing the long weekend in the heat led to this. If I had to guess I would say this is a great wine for a hearty meal. It would have went perfectly with last night’s lechon asado and moros rice.
I would take a chance on this and if you do and it’s unbalanced, let it sit awhile!
That Owen Bargreen:
91 Points. “A really nice value, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon delivers ripe dark currant flavors with chocolate fudge and stony mineral undertones. Medium-bodied with a nice veil of tension, this beautiful wine will cellar well for another eight-plus years.”
fwiw
Incase the winemaker shows up, I’m curious on how the wine was aged, oak from where? Neutral or new?
RWS had an article on concrete tanks a few weeks ago, and what benefit does GARD fermenting this in concrete, feels it gives the wine? Or they were used just because of availability?
@winecaseaholic Obviously not the winemaker but producer website states this wine was aged in 64% new French oak.
Hello from Gard! I’m the owner/grower, along with my husband Josh. Our winemaker is not able to participate today, sorry, but I did ask for his input on your question. The wine was aged in 64% new French oak for 18 months. 47% was fermented in concrete tanks to provide more layers, texture and to influence the aromatic profile.
@gardwine Hello. With this being the 2018 vintage, was Aryn involved up to bottling? Just curious where the transition point is. Thanks.
@trifecta Hello! Yes, Aryn finished all Gard wines through the 2020 vintage.
Engarde! Got me some Gard!
mousy-vexing-bobcat
No Indiana
I feel like we might be becoming one of those difficult states.
@cbilyak yes! Think this is the 3rd offer recently I was sad to see IN didn’t make the list. If anyone in SW Michigan would like to split a case, I’d come to you.
@cbilyak any idea why Indiana isn’t an option? I don’t know enough of the law regarding shipped alcohol to even know where to look
@alx10mgmg each state has its own laws and individual companies/breweries/vineyards/etc. have to have permits/licenses/whatever to ship to each state, some states being more of a pain in the ass than others. I am sure it is more complex than that, but that is the jist of it.
@alx10mgmg @cbilyak
FreeTheGrapes
and
Wine Institute
Tough decision here. I have enjoyed the previous Gard offerings and also I know this region as producing very fine Cabernet, though a bit different from what most Sonoma/Napa winemakers aim for. The reviews indicating breathing time to open and soften are in-line with what I would expect. But I’m still sorting out boxes of wine I got last year or two (luckily stored in a cool basement, not in a hot UPS truck) … still might go for a 4 pack to try it.
I hate you lab rats! You’ve done such a great job.
In addition to my temp controlled 200ish bottle cellar, I have over 250 bottles in boxes in my basement, which isn’t temp controlled.
And soon it will be about 262 bottles…
/giphy wobbly-finicky-shark
Any rattage comments on acidity? 3.8 just feels a bit eek to me.
@canonizer Frankly, I didn’t happen to notice that low number in the specs, and I’m surprised. It didn’t taste that acidic to me.
@canonizer @ddeuddeg A pH number of 3.8, while on the higher numerical side, indicates lower acidity, not higher.
@ddeuddeg @rjquillin
I would say this is the least acidic ph of red wines that we see here which makes me wonder about the balance.
Not trying to derail the conversation but it was a surprising stat.
@canonizer Agreed with the other rats, not overly acidic.
@canonizer @rjquillin Ok, I got a 98% on the state high school exam in Chemistry, but that was 60+ years ago, and the statins and prednisone may be affecting my memory, so I double-checked. Just as I thought, a pH number of 7 is neutral, lower than that is acidic, higher is alkaline. After 50 years of teaching Math, I didn’t have to check to be sure that 3.8 < 7. And even after 5 years of retirement, I haven’t forgotten how to be pedantic, lol. Am I missing something here?
@ddeuddeg @rjquillin
I would expect a wine at 3.8 to be not acidic enough for my tastes, usually preferring wines at 3.3-3.4ph. I certainly would not fear it being too acidic and, if anything, I might fear it to be flabby.
Anyway, in the words of my forebears, I regret everything.
The labrats were very helpful and thorough!
@canonizer @ddeuddeg TA does enter into tartness and the perception of acidity ‘equation’ iirc.
@canonizer @rjquillin I should have known better. This certainly sets my head straight. Thanks to both of you for your patience. I’m going to continue blaming the pharmaceuticals.
@canonizer @ddeuddeg @rjquillin Don’t do drugs … do wine!
Gard Cab is an auto-buy in this house.
/giphy darling-tactical-yoke
Probably too late but if any of the SE MI peeps buy this and want to offload some bottles, I’m in.
@jrbw3 ooohhh I should have checked back sooner
What’s wrong with me, not stalking this site as usual
OK just one teeny cup of wine…
/giphy humble-teeny-cup
/giphy accessible-nefarious-cat
Sad news on my front. I got the dreaded email. I was really looking forward to this one.
Meanwhile, at UPS, a steak BBQ is going into it’s 2nd hour, and everybody is enjoying the steak and a unexpected red wine.
Update: I guess GÅRD really needs to move this. It’s now available on WineText for $19.94 + shipping, depending on how many you order. Free if you buy a case.
@ddeuddeg Yup, and up yet again on WT today with FS/12