2016 Gård Cabernet Sauvignon: Fermented in concrete and stainless steel before being aged 26 months in 63% new French oak, this wine has aromas of vanilla and Mounds bar out front, followed by notes of baking spice, dark-roasted coffee bean, cherry, and herbs. Full-bodied fruit and barrel flavors follow, with vanilla notes lingering on the finish. Fruit and barrel play equal parts in the show. – Sean Sullivan, Wine Enthusiast
Vineyard/Winemaking Notes
Estate grown at Lawrence Vineyards’ Corfu Crossing, Laura Lee, Scarline and Solaksen sites. Fermented in 73% concrete tanks and 27% stainless steel. Aged in 63% new French oak for 26 months. Made using four of the Lawrence’s seven vineyards that are planted with Cabernet Sauvignon, each having quite unique soils, elevations, and aspects. Bottled unfined and unfiltered.
The Vineyards
Gård Vintners is 100% estate-grown sustainably at Lawrence Vineyards on the Royal Slope of the Columbia Valley AVA in Washington state. Featuring eight unique vineyard sites with elevations ranging from 930-1675 feet. The combination of elevation and slope provides a great framework for grape production, while the diversity of the locations delivers a high level of complexity to Gård wines.
Founded in 2006, Gård Vintners is a family-owned and operated estate winery on the Royal Slope in the heart of Washington’s Columbia Valley AVA, with Aryn Morell at
the helm as winemaker at our production facility in Walla Walla, and tasting rooms in Ellensburg, Walla Walla, and Woodinville.
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, meaning “farm” in many Scandinavian languages, is a tribute to our family’s heritage and farming tradition.
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NJ, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: Tax & Shipping not included in savings calculations)
2016 Gård Washington Cabernet Sauvignon - $30 = 11.53%
The 2014 Gård Vintners Don Isidro Red Blend that was offered here on Casemates way back in March 2018 was really good, especially at it’s case price of $8.33/bottle! It was one of my go-to everyday wines before I ran out. This one (2016 Cabernet Sauvignon) is aged for 26 months, but more than twice the price of that one…hopefully some rats will show up.
@TimW I shared about half a case of that and I agree! It was a solid wine that beat my expectations. I understand we’re talking about a very different wine here but I’m excited to see Gård back up for sale. I’m very tempted even at 2x the price but would love to see some rattage.
Gård Washington Cabernet Sauvignon
3 bottles for $64.99 $21.66/bottle + $2.67/bottle shipping
Case of 12 for $229.99 $19.17/bottle + $1/bottle shipping
A ray of sunshine in these trying times; I am a lab rat! I was very excited to see a bottle from Gård, because I really enjoyed their Don Isidro blend. My first impression out of the box was that it has an understated, but classy, label with texture when you touch. The back provides no information about descriptors that one should expect from this particular wine, but does list the blend percentages: 88% Cabernet, 7% Franc, 5% Merlot. 14% alcohol has me excited that it has some elegance and not just a jammy bomb, and 685 cases produced is notably something you will not find at your big box store. Here we go…
Pulled the synthetic cork with virtually no staining, but I am no expert on how much they do, especially on a “younger” wine. I like their farmhouse logo that is present on both ends.
Color is deep ruby. It is intensely deep and almost looks like black/purple from afar, but when you catch it in the right light you find a brilliant ruby. Thick viscous legs cling to the side of the glass, and after 2 minutes still hadn’t made their way back to the wine.
First sniffs were a menthol-like astringency and alcohol. The wine is very closed and not offering up much. This is difficult as pop and pour, and I suspect in a few hours it will be completely different. I am getting no fruit, but rather rosemary, eucalyptus, and camphor.
It has been in the glass for 15 minutes now and there are some very hidden fruits emerging: plum? Getting some muted cedar. Time to go in for some sips.
It had a surprisingly light mouth feel that took me by surprise. It just doesn’t look like it would taste like that, and that is a good thing. This is not a sweet wine but finally I got some red fruit and apparent sweetness to complement all the herbal notes (I wouldn’t want to drink a glass of bay leaves). The finish lingers for quite some time with a juicy mouth-watering acidity. It is going down really easy.
It presents itself as a well made wine, and a thoughtful blend. I think this drinks well on its own, but I suspect it plays better with food. Let’s see what I can dig up in our quarantine kitchen.
(This glass was poured 50 min ago) Trying it with some raw walnuts, the wine does a good job of cutting through the fatty coating they tend to leave on your tongue. I finally detect some oak/vanilla and the red fruits are really singing. On to some SarVecchio Parmesan and the wine really brings out the caramel and nuttiness of the aged cheese. (Or maybe thats the walnuts. Who knows? I won’t quit my day job.) The cheesemaker—blessed they are—recommends lighter wines with this cheese, but this elegant Cabernet also does it justice.
Muhumarra dip is a nutty, spicy, sweet, and peppery Syrian dip. This wasn’t as successful of a pairing. It wasn’t OJ and toothpaste clashing, but everything kind of fights and gets lost. The acidity does help with the spicy heat and cleanses the palate, but I would not recommend the pairing.
The wine has been open for an hour now, and it is a bit more generous with the fruit aromas, but still pretty closed and herbal. As fun as it is to play wine reviewer trying hard to give you all a decent honest assessment, it can be exhausting. Wine is pleasurable after all, so I am pouring a small glass to be enjoyed outside without overthinking.
6 hours after opening bottle I poured another small glass; the bottle had sat uncorked at room temp. None of the pop and pour alcohol and astringency are present. There is a much more delicate herbal note, with an aroma that now reminds me more of a fancy crepe filling: vanilla, macerated red berries, mascarpone and caramelized sugar in some strange way. Again, even though I am picking up sweet descriptors, this is a dry wine.
When the better half arrived home after a long day at work, it had been 8 hours of the bottle being opened in same conditions. She found it to still have a somewhat alcoholic and menthol nose, but also detected plum, cherry, cedar, and mushroom?!?
As always, thank you to WD, Ariana, WCCWineGirl, and Gård for giving this amateur a chance to review. It is a pleasure (and not really tiring…) to be forced to drink and appreciate wine differently than most of the bottles I pop. I hope all of you Casemates out there stay safe and healthy during this pandemic!
TL;DR It is a really well made Cabernet (Bordeaux Blend) that has nice fruit, abundant herb/woodsy notes, and a charming vanilla/crème brûlée component. (What a fun review it has been for ASCII character codes.) Smooth and balanced with juicy acidity and a lighter—yet not thin or watery—mouth feel. I like this wine very, just give it some time to open up.
Hello! Lisa with Gård Vintners here. I’ll be checking in today while doing my best to maintain sanity here in Washington with our “stay at home” order from the governor. At least we’ve got wine, right?! Cheers, all!
@gardwine Thanks for checking in! Hope you all are hanging in there. These are certainly difficult times.
Can you tell me about the cork for this wine? I have purchased the Gård Grand Klasse Syrah, the Malbec, and the 2014 Grand Klasse reserve Cabernet from this site.
I enjoyed all three very much but my case of the reserve Cabernet had many corked bottles. Almost all had leakage despite appropriate temperature storage and laying on the side. So while I am tempted to jump on this offer I would appreciate to know if you have heard anything similar and if you all have changed anything regarding the cork you use. Thanks!
@sammypedram Hello! This wine uses a synthetic cork. Just popped one and it’s looking good.
I worry those others, which were natural cork (our reserves now use Vinc corks), may have been the result of shipping temps as we didn’t notice similar issues at our tasting rooms and the wines for Casemates come directly from temp/light/humidity controlled storage. If you happen to notice an issue though please don’t hesitate to contact us at wine@gardvintners.com. Thanks!
Never met a Gard wine I didn’t like and after I grab some of this I’ll look forward to seeing one of your syrah or syrah-blends on Casemates in the future. One suggestion: Gard uses unnecessarily heavy bottles, probably because some marketing genius said it adds cachet. To me they’re just clunky. Please give the UPS guy (and me, who has to lug the cases to the basement) a break and use lighter bottles.
@wino121 You can sign up for the emails, but for the Saturday, Monday, and Wednesday offers they go out 24 hours after the offer begins, which is 12:00:01am Eastern time 4 days per week. The Friday offer is only 24 hours, so that one goes out when the sale goes live.
chipgreen has been promptly adding to the “how much are you saving” thread, so you can find that thread and subscribe to it to get those emails, which will be much closer to when each offer begins.
Most offers don’t sell out, but some do. Some that do even sell out by 12 hours after it goes live.
If you want to subscribe to the thread that klez mentioned, Case Savings vs Smaller Allotment, just click the link and then click “Subscribe” below the top post in the thread.
Woof. Almost forgot that I had to get on here and review this wine. Received this Gard Cabernet last week thinking that I had one day to review it, but of course I was off by a week! Anyways, received it on a Thursday, let it sit for about 24hrs, then opened.
Pop and pour. Nothing too surprising - some bright fruit, cherry, raspberry, licorice. Not a lot of dark fruit, no real oakiness or alcohol.
Taste started off a bit astringent. Sour cherry, not a lot of mid, grippy tannins that were hard to get past. Maybe a touch of anise at the end. Not a lot of excitement out of me, but I decided to wait a while to make up my mind.
After an hour or so open, it rounded off very nicely. Big, juicy front, but not a fruit bomb. More of the dark fruits came up, currant, maybe a touch of menthol. Still perceptible tannins, but much reduced. Not a ton of other characters - didn’t pick up any of the oak tastes that I sometimes get with cabs.
Overall it was very enjoyable. I didn’t have a chance to try it with food but it would have held up well. Tried a glass on day two of it being open and it was still good, but hadn’t developed any further. I’d drink this one over the next couple of years, and without checking I’d assume a MSRP around $40-50 and a casemates in the $15-20 range.
I got my shipment last week and just opened last night. Just had another taste now (it is afternoon somewhere). It was nice last night and even better now with some time open. Definitely one I will look for again. Only regret is I was trying to limit my buying so I only got the small package – now wishing I went for the case. (2-4 casemates buys a week was getting a bit much!)
Tasting Notes
91 Points, Wine Enthusiast
90 Points, Vinous
Vineyard/Winemaking Notes
The Vineyards
Specs
Included in the Box
Price Comparison
$467.64 a Case at Gård Vintners
About The Winery
Winery: Gård Vintners
Founded: 2006
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NJ, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY
Estimated Delivery
Friday, April 24th - Tuesday, April 28th
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: Tax & Shipping not included in savings calculations)
2016 Gård Washington Cabernet Sauvignon - $30 = 11.53%
The 2014 Gård Vintners Don Isidro Red Blend that was offered here on Casemates way back in March 2018 was really good, especially at it’s case price of $8.33/bottle! It was one of my go-to everyday wines before I ran out. This one (2016 Cabernet Sauvignon) is aged for 26 months, but more than twice the price of that one…hopefully some rats will show up.
The 2014 Gård Vintners Don Isidro Red Blend that I mentioned is here: https://casemates.com/forum/topics/grd-vintners-don-isidro-red-blend
@TimW I shared about half a case of that and I agree! It was a solid wine that beat my expectations. I understand we’re talking about a very different wine here but I’m excited to see Gård back up for sale. I’m very tempted even at 2x the price but would love to see some rattage.
Gård Washington Cabernet Sauvignon
3 bottles for $64.99 $21.66/bottle + $2.67/bottle shipping
Case of 12 for $229.99 $19.17/bottle + $1/bottle shipping
2016 Gård Washington Cabernet Sauvignon
A ray of sunshine in these trying times; I am a lab rat! I was very excited to see a bottle from Gård, because I really enjoyed their Don Isidro blend. My first impression out of the box was that it has an understated, but classy, label with texture when you touch. The back provides no information about descriptors that one should expect from this particular wine, but does list the blend percentages: 88% Cabernet, 7% Franc, 5% Merlot. 14% alcohol has me excited that it has some elegance and not just a jammy bomb, and 685 cases produced is notably something you will not find at your big box store. Here we go…
Pulled the synthetic cork with virtually no staining, but I am no expert on how much they do, especially on a “younger” wine. I like their farmhouse logo that is present on both ends.
Color is deep ruby. It is intensely deep and almost looks like black/purple from afar, but when you catch it in the right light you find a brilliant ruby. Thick viscous legs cling to the side of the glass, and after 2 minutes still hadn’t made their way back to the wine.
First sniffs were a menthol-like astringency and alcohol. The wine is very closed and not offering up much. This is difficult as pop and pour, and I suspect in a few hours it will be completely different. I am getting no fruit, but rather rosemary, eucalyptus, and camphor.
It has been in the glass for 15 minutes now and there are some very hidden fruits emerging: plum? Getting some muted cedar. Time to go in for some sips.
It had a surprisingly light mouth feel that took me by surprise. It just doesn’t look like it would taste like that, and that is a good thing. This is not a sweet wine but finally I got some red fruit and apparent sweetness to complement all the herbal notes (I wouldn’t want to drink a glass of bay leaves). The finish lingers for quite some time with a juicy mouth-watering acidity. It is going down really easy.
It presents itself as a well made wine, and a thoughtful blend. I think this drinks well on its own, but I suspect it plays better with food. Let’s see what I can dig up in our quarantine kitchen.
(This glass was poured 50 min ago) Trying it with some raw walnuts, the wine does a good job of cutting through the fatty coating they tend to leave on your tongue. I finally detect some oak/vanilla and the red fruits are really singing. On to some SarVecchio Parmesan and the wine really brings out the caramel and nuttiness of the aged cheese. (Or maybe thats the walnuts. Who knows? I won’t quit my day job.) The cheesemaker—blessed they are—recommends lighter wines with this cheese, but this elegant Cabernet also does it justice.
Muhumarra dip is a nutty, spicy, sweet, and peppery Syrian dip. This wasn’t as successful of a pairing. It wasn’t OJ and toothpaste clashing, but everything kind of fights and gets lost. The acidity does help with the spicy heat and cleanses the palate, but I would not recommend the pairing.
The wine has been open for an hour now, and it is a bit more generous with the fruit aromas, but still pretty closed and herbal. As fun as it is to play wine reviewer trying hard to give you all a decent honest assessment, it can be exhausting. Wine is pleasurable after all, so I am pouring a small glass to be enjoyed outside without overthinking.
6 hours after opening bottle I poured another small glass; the bottle had sat uncorked at room temp. None of the pop and pour alcohol and astringency are present. There is a much more delicate herbal note, with an aroma that now reminds me more of a fancy crepe filling: vanilla, macerated red berries, mascarpone and caramelized sugar in some strange way. Again, even though I am picking up sweet descriptors, this is a dry wine.
When the better half arrived home after a long day at work, it had been 8 hours of the bottle being opened in same conditions. She found it to still have a somewhat alcoholic and menthol nose, but also detected plum, cherry, cedar, and mushroom?!?
As always, thank you to WD, Ariana, WCCWineGirl, and Gård for giving this amateur a chance to review. It is a pleasure (and not really tiring…) to be forced to drink and appreciate wine differently than most of the bottles I pop. I hope all of you Casemates out there stay safe and healthy during this pandemic!
TL;DR It is a really well made Cabernet (Bordeaux Blend) that has nice fruit, abundant herb/woodsy notes, and a charming vanilla/crème brûlée component. (What a fun review it has been for ASCII character codes.) Smooth and balanced with juicy acidity and a lighter—yet not thin or watery—mouth feel. I like this wine very, just give it some time to open up.
@KNmeh7 great review!
@KNmeh7 @TimW
Agree, very nice review and the notes from 6 hours in make it tempting but I am hung up on the synthetic cork. Me no likey.
Hello! Lisa with Gård Vintners here. I’ll be checking in today while doing my best to maintain sanity here in Washington with our “stay at home” order from the governor. At least we’ve got wine, right?! Cheers, all!
@gardwine Thanks for checking in! Hope you all are hanging in there. These are certainly difficult times.
Can you tell me about the cork for this wine? I have purchased the Gård Grand Klasse Syrah, the Malbec, and the 2014 Grand Klasse reserve Cabernet from this site.
I enjoyed all three very much but my case of the reserve Cabernet had many corked bottles. Almost all had leakage despite appropriate temperature storage and laying on the side. So while I am tempted to jump on this offer I would appreciate to know if you have heard anything similar and if you all have changed anything regarding the cork you use. Thanks!
@sammypedram Hello! This wine uses a synthetic cork. Just popped one and it’s looking good.
I worry those others, which were natural cork (our reserves now use Vinc corks), may have been the result of shipping temps as we didn’t notice similar issues at our tasting rooms and the wines for Casemates come directly from temp/light/humidity controlled storage. If you happen to notice an issue though please don’t hesitate to contact us at wine@gardvintners.com. Thanks!
@gardwine Thanks so much for the information!
Never met a Gard wine I didn’t like and after I grab some of this I’ll look forward to seeing one of your syrah or syrah-blends on Casemates in the future. One suggestion: Gard uses unnecessarily heavy bottles, probably because some marketing genius said it adds cachet. To me they’re just clunky. Please give the UPS guy (and me, who has to lug the cases to the basement) a break and use lighter bottles.
@DanNC On that topic: http://www.vinography.com/archives/2020/03/ending_the_aesthetic_fallacy_o.html “Ending the Aesthetic Fallacy of Heavy Bottles”
@disstone8 Thanks! I’m not used to having someone agree with me.
New to casemates,
Do these deals get emailed out or do you have to check the site to see what’s going on.
Thx
Tk
@wino121 You can sign up for the emails, but for the Saturday, Monday, and Wednesday offers they go out 24 hours after the offer begins, which is 12:00:01am Eastern time 4 days per week. The Friday offer is only 24 hours, so that one goes out when the sale goes live.
chipgreen has been promptly adding to the “how much are you saving” thread, so you can find that thread and subscribe to it to get those emails, which will be much closer to when each offer begins.
Most offers don’t sell out, but some do. Some that do even sell out by 12 hours after it goes live.
@klezman @wino121
Welcome wino121!
If you want to subscribe to the thread that klez mentioned, Case Savings vs Smaller Allotment, just click the link and then click “Subscribe” below the top post in the thread.
Done,
Thx
@wino121 Curious…
So you ‘found’ us via CT?
And regarding offers, really is best to just check in.
we’ve seen offers sell out before either email or chip posts.
What part of the country you in?
May be others close by.
@rjquillin yes,
CTr,
I live in NE
Woof. Almost forgot that I had to get on here and review this wine. Received this Gard Cabernet last week thinking that I had one day to review it, but of course I was off by a week! Anyways, received it on a Thursday, let it sit for about 24hrs, then opened.
Pop and pour. Nothing too surprising - some bright fruit, cherry, raspberry, licorice. Not a lot of dark fruit, no real oakiness or alcohol.
Taste started off a bit astringent. Sour cherry, not a lot of mid, grippy tannins that were hard to get past. Maybe a touch of anise at the end. Not a lot of excitement out of me, but I decided to wait a while to make up my mind.
After an hour or so open, it rounded off very nicely. Big, juicy front, but not a fruit bomb. More of the dark fruits came up, currant, maybe a touch of menthol. Still perceptible tannins, but much reduced. Not a ton of other characters - didn’t pick up any of the oak tastes that I sometimes get with cabs.
Overall it was very enjoyable. I didn’t have a chance to try it with food but it would have held up well. Tried a glass on day two of it being open and it was still good, but hadn’t developed any further. I’d drink this one over the next couple of years, and without checking I’d assume a MSRP around $40-50 and a casemates in the $15-20 range.
Thanks as always Casemates & Gard!
I got my shipment last week and just opened last night. Just had another taste now (it is afternoon somewhere). It was nice last night and even better now with some time open. Definitely one I will look for again. Only regret is I was trying to limit my buying so I only got the small package – now wishing I went for the case. (2-4 casemates buys a week was getting a bit much!)
Also not sure if this was posted earlier; link to vineyard page:
http://www.gardvintners.com/vineyard.html
@pmarin yea, I’m trying to get more offers from Gard. I’m a fan.
@pmarin @Winedavid49 who’s got two thumbs and thinks Gard is awesome? This guy!
POKER! JOKER! NOT MEDIOCRE! AWESOME!