2013 Two Jakes of Diamonds Aspects Red Blend, Lake County
Tasting Notes
Our vineyard on a peninsula jutting into the southeastern corner of Clear Lake is the site of the most remarkable Merlot in the State of California, resembling more a classic Pomerol’s density, depth, and masculine tannins, though imparting an unctuous feminine texture. The 2013 was harvested in early October in warm, fair weather which achieved early full ripeness.
Our volcanic soils produce solid, age-worthy tannins and lively mineral energy to the palate. Persistent sunny rays at the high altitude draw from each varietal block its unique aromatic signature, preserved by the cooling breezes of the adjacent lake. In this wine, we wanted to showcase the complex aromatic elements as a single, complex symphony of fruit with seductive undertones that can only develop with extensive age in neutral oak.
Different Cabernet Sauvignon clones will develop aromas as diverse as grenadine, cassis, raspberry, carob, Asian spice, and tar, with tannins and acidity equally varied. Of these, Clone 15 is the most complete: richest in cassis fruit and most structurally solid. Clone 4 is lighter and is characterized by bright cherry aromatics coupled with firm, broad, approachable tannins. A splash of Cabernet Franc imparts high-pitched white cherry and cinnamon notes and a steely backbone to the structure.
After 90 months in neutral French oak, considerable complexity has developed. It’s enjoyable now with a veal chop, wild mushrooms, or an exotic cheese. Well within the optimum drinking window, it should easily last another decade in a good cellar.
Our vineyards are located on the volcanic hillsides above the eastern shores of Clear Lake. Our grapes are some of the most sought-after in Lake County. Cooling lake breezes preserve berry flavors, while our soils confer a refreshing minerality.
Specs
Vintage: 2013
88.5% Merlot Clone 181
6.4% Cabernet Sauvignon Clone 4 & 15
5.1% Cabernet Franc Clone 1
Estate vineyard, Clear Lake AVA
Harvested October 10th
25.6 Brix at harvest
Rehydrated to 23.5 brix
Fermentation techniques:
Anchor NT112 yeast
7 g/L untoasted Alliers chips
Three-week maceration
Elevage details:
Three weeks of microbüllage pre ML
90 months in neutral French oak
Alcohol climbed due to dry cellar to 14.9%
pH 3.78, TA 7.0 g/L at bottling
314 Cases Produced
What’s Included
3-bottles:
3x 2013 Two Jakes of Diamonds Aspects Meritage Blend Lot 2, Lake County
Case:
12x 2013 Two Jakes of Diamonds Aspects Meritage Blend Lot 2, Lake County
My name is Jacob S. Stephens III, but everyone calls me Jake. I represent the third generation in our family to embrace the life of a farmer, following in the footsteps of my grandfather Jacob, and my father Jake II.
The Diamond Ridge Vineyards name derives from the Lake County diamonds found on the property. Diamond Ridge is located on the volcanic hillsides north of the town of Clearlake, with the eastern shores of Clear Lake just over the hill. Elevations range from 500 to 800 meters. At this elevation, there is never any fog, and the bright cool sunlight creates conditions ideal for deeply expressive Bordeaux varieties as well as Petite Sirahs of unrivaled color, grace, and aroma.
Our site allows us to grow fruit that is comparable, sometimes superior, to our downhill neighbor Napa County, at a fraction of the cost of land. Many experts contend that the quality of fruit produced in mountain vineyards rivals that of the valley floors. We agree! As one of our avid grape clients remarked, “Diamond Ridge is without question the diamond in Lake County’s crown.”
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, LA, ME, MD, MA, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NJ, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OK, 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)
2013 Two Jakes of Diamonds Aspects Red Blend - $30 = 13.63%
Greetings, my homies. It’s such a pleasure to discuss my wines with you who so well understand and appreciate the classic style I like to make: balanced, profound and ageworthy. Though I may be tilting at windmills, I just can’t live with myself making the popular style of fruit-forward, drink-now-for-tomorrow we-die wines without structural integrity.
My hat is off to Jake Stephens, owner of Diamond Ridge Vineyards, who has trusted me since 2007 to make classic Eurocentric wines that show off the virtues of his unique terroir, and the Two Jakes of Diamonds project is largely supported by the Casemates community.
So thank you.
That being said, we have here a wine that is impossible for anyone not to love. This is because we have aged it in neutral French oak to the point that it is absolutely delicious right now - loaded with complex red and blue fruit aromas, well resolved supportive tannins and a long, long finish of unrivaled complexity.
Not that it will be going over the hill any time soon. Your biggest problem will be that it is so delicious now that you will be challenged to restrain yourself drinking it all up.
My advice? At this price, how could you not buy a case for current drinking and another to explore its ageing potential.
@winesmith As chance would have it, I’d opened a bottle of this for supper (chicken shepherd’s pie with a potato/cheese/garlic topping) tonight. Not an ideal choice for the wine, but it went well. And now, a few hours later, I’m finishing the bottle and it’s very pleasant. There’s an array of fruit flavors when I sip it. Things like blackberries, plums, dark cherries, and (I find it hard to believe) maybe a little hint, ever so small, of red grapefruit. It’s a fascinating wine to drink. After a long finish, it leaves a good taste in the mouth. Well done, Clark.
Hey Clark!
We just opened a bottle of the 2007 Pinot Noir. One of my friends described it as “it feels like I’m drinking an old weathered leather notebook.” And she meant that as a good thing, of course! I haven’t had this in several years and the truffle and funk have increased in intensity. Nice stuff!
That wine is a great emotional connection for me. After the movie Sideways, the idiot multitudes learned that Pinot Noir, and particularly Fiddlestix Vineyards, were the ultimately cool wines. But they didn’t understand that Pinot Noir is not a muscle wine. They were used to Merlot’s body and richness, which great Pinot Noir never approximates. They ruined California Pinot by only buying wines that were like Merlot.
In this environment, Kathy Joseph, proprietor of Fiddlestix vineyard, was selling her fabulous Santa Rita Hills pinot to around a dozen wineries, all making it in tis new muscle-wine fruit, picking fruit way overripe.
I decided to make a wine that would showcase Kathy’s fruit in a classic Burgundian style. I am very proud of this wine, a one-time project. We released it after eight years to show what Burgundy is all about and California’s potential to emulate it in an interesting way.
The parallel with Aspects is clear. The wine on offer is also a properly aged, delicious defense of the classic style I am interested in making.
@klezman Yes, I’m describing the 2005 Second Fiddle. The 2007 Russian River is a similar experiment from the Quail Ridge Vineyard owned by Lynmar. This too is a feminine, Eurocentric experiment. It is aromatically typical of the black cherry notes rather than the hybiscus floral nose of Fiddlestix.
@a5meiser We can ship to Michigan and several other unlisted States direct from the winery. Just contact Sandra at 707-332-0056 M-F 9AM-4PM Pacific time.
Ahoy Casemateys! We were delighted when we learned that we would be ratting this wine. The bottle arrived Friday afternoon, and given the unusually frigid DC weather it actually showed up at a reasonable temperature. We popped the bottle after a brief chill in the fridge. On initial observation: beautifully crystal clear garnet, almost like a very concentrated pinot. Despite being still fairly closed, the intensity of fruits on the nose was apparent, and a touch of cigar perhaps. Initial taste was very bright, with soft, round tannins. With about 30 minutes, the fruits developed a whole lot, especially bright cherry and berry flavors. Despite the age so far, the fruits tasted fresh rather than the dried/stewed flavor we get with other aged wines. There was also an element of “nighttime grass,” which I don’t know how to describe other than the refreshing feeling from taking a walk over a grassy field at night after it has rained (in our case to set up a telescope for the kids to see planets).
We then tasted over the course of the weekend, pairing with a variety of foods. We generally agree with the several other reviews of this wine on Casemates (looking over them after our own tastings—for science!), so these are just a few additional notes beyond those.
Our neighbor occasionally gives us venison steaks, so we had one with this wine. It was absolutely fantastic. The wine brought out the earthy, nutty flavors of the meat in the best way, and the meat enhanced ripe berries and smoky mineral elements in the wine. By comparison to a half-opened bottle of pinot we happened to have on hand, the Aspects had a synergy with the venison that I don’t think I’ve experienced with any other pairing in the past. This is perhaps in line with Clark’s suggestion that this wine would go well with stinky cheeses; the funkiness in the game meat was definitely a positive for this combination.
We reserved a glass for Sunday night, 48 hours and change from popping the bottle during which we just refrigerated the wine in a Mason jar. It was still great by then, but starting to develop some harsher notes on the finish (my wife described it as bell pepper; I didn’t quite get that). My guess is that the sweet spot right now is about a day and a half of aeration, perhaps more with better storage.
As per usual, we had the kids take a sniff. The younger one is on a copycat phase so didn’t say much of interest, but the 8-year-old gave the descriptors blackberries, charcoal, and band-aids. The first two make complete sense in view of the wine’s fruit and minerality, but the last one is interesting. I don’t think he’s identifying a Brett contamination, but rather is using it to refer to a combination of earthy, grassy, and herbal elements. Since band-aid is also a common description of peated scotch, I had him compare against a small-batch Kilchoman (an excellent bottle), which he agreed had similarities. (Again for science, I opened a band-aid to smell, and we’re all good.)
All in all, a fascinating and delicious wine. If you have a source of venison, go for this one; if not, go for it also and also find some venison. If anyone in the DMV area is interested in a split, I’m in for a case. Many thanks to @WineDavid, Alice, and @winesmith for this fantastic offer and inviting us to labrat!
@cduan Just responding to a casemates robo-email-- I’d be up for splitting/sharing a case if anyone else in the area still interested! I’m in Damascus, MD but commute to DC fairly often
@bunnymasseuse@cduan ooof-- just logged in and was gonna pull the trigger and there’s no more cases of 12 left. I picked up 3 bottles w/ VMP shipping. Oh well, maybe another time!
@caffeineguy@cduan I have relocated to county life, and outside the hustle of Downtown B’more, so if you really need more let me know! Asking me for the 2 Jakes Roman Reserve CabFranc I have stashed might be fight club words tho!
I hit the Casemate Rat jackpot this week when Alice sent me a bottle of 2013 Two Jakes of Diamonds Aspects meritage. I’m a huge Two Jakes fan, and was super excited to try the 2013 Aspects meritage. This meritage is 88.5% Merlot, 6.4% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 5.1% Cabernet Franc. TLDR: It totally lives up to its reputation!
I received the bottle on Friday afternoon and let it rest on my kitchen counter for a day. I popped the cork on Saturday afternoon and poured the first glass.
Appearance: Red brick color, very slight brown hue from the age. Fat, viscous legs. No cloudiness.
Nose: Right from the bottle the nose was impressive. I got notes of black plums, blackberries, leather and tobacco with a hint of earth. No alcohol burn, even though it is 14.9%.
Palate: No waiting, straight from the bottle the wine was juicy on the front and dry on the end. Well balanced with fruit and acidity. I tasted black plums, blackberries, dark cherries, minerality, tobacco, and rosemary. It’s very complex, but an easy drinker. Even without waiting for it to properly aerate, there was no alcohol burn.
I’m already in love with this wine, but I’ll let a glass aerate and update:
I let the wine sit in the glass for half an hour and then enjoyed it with a mushroom and beef stroganoff. It was an excellent pairing. The richness of the meal was well complimented by the wine. I think the nose fell off a little over time, and I got more of the minerality and terroir with the meal than the black fruit. There’s just a splash of wine in the glass after the meal. It’s been in the glass for over an hour now. I swear the nose is giving me black licorice. So weird! I like black licorice, so it’s fun for me, but not what I expected. I think it might be a melding of the herb-scents and the black fruit. Still tastes great. I’ll update again tomorrow after the wine has been open for 24 hours.
Saturday update: I enjoyed the wine with some goat cheese and crackers. It has held up very well 24 hours after being open. I didn’t add any preservative to the bottle. The nose is still black fruits, tobacco, rosemary/resin, hint of chocolate. The flavor holds up well against the goat cheese. Seems slightly more acidic, but I think that’s the influence of the cheese. The complexity has held up well. It may be slightly less juicy on the front, but I still get the black fruit notes, the tobacco, the minerality, and the rosemary notes.
Honestly, this is one of my favorite wines I’ve ratted. I think it’s perfect. Goes well with food, but also easy enough a drinker on its own. As a 2013 vintage, it may have reached its peak, but I’m not buying as an investment. It’s ready to drink now, and that’s good enough for me. I’m in for a case.
I purchased this wine back in 2019 when I believe it was first released. Knew all about the age worthiness but had to try a bottle “for scientific purposes” and felt it needed at least 2 years. We had a bottle last weekend and it is drinking nice right now but I still think it has years of potential aging ahead of it. Looking forward to the taste evolution. Luckily (?) because of Casemates and its “predecessor” I have plenty of wine options between “Jakes”.
Bottom line, you are getting a very good aged red - I’m confident their aging QC is much better than most of us - for a great price that has a bright future ahead of it.
@forlich I agree with your review. Just by chance I opened the 2019 offering last night. I really enjoy this wine. Now to decide, to buy again or not to buy.
Thanks for these excellent descriptions! This is a terroir-driven wine if ever there was one. The string of fruit descriptors (“fresh bright cherry;” “black plums, blackberries, dark cherries”) derives from the mix of varieties and aspects (lays of the land) that we wanted to show off. The freshness and palate energy are a result of the volcanic soil. We refer to this as minerality, and although we don’t know what it is, it does give our wines a very flat ageing trajectory - they take a long time to open up (hence the 8+ years in neutral French oak) and promise further ageworthiness. The rosemary and “night grass” (I love that description) are “air-oir,” aromatic lelements of the surrounding vegetation, mostly droughty herbs like rosemary, bay laurel and sage.
This wine was not sterile filtered. The beginnings of leather and tobacco that lead to true greatness are microbial in origin and develop in the bottle only if the complex microbiome in our cellar is allowed to flourish. The tannins in this wine are fully resolved, so that isn’t the reason to cellar it further. You need to decide how you feel about the tradeoff between freshness and profundity over the next 5-10 years.
@j_lantz Irvine is kinda difficult. One potential around WLA, LAX area and here in SD, so we’re all really spread out and I’m very tight on any kind of short or long term storage currently.
I’ve purchased a case+ of the “lesser aged” Aspects and been very happy. I have little doubt that I will regret ordering this.
/giphy brilliant-prissy-class
@winesmith Thanks Clark. I’m drinking the 2nd one, this one, and it’s phenomenal! Paired with a ‘melange’ of carnitas style pork/kielbasa/jalapeno popper…(leftovers).
This is another excellent WineSmith red that pairs very well with steak (totally expected) AND spicy Chinese “typhoon shelter” style lobster (rather unexpected); so glad my wife convinced me not to have steak two days in a row (for my health). The wine has a slight brown tinge upon opening but somehow seems to become redder (yes, technical term) after about 90 minutes of aeration. I would buy another case but I still have half a case left from the 9/2021 offer, which was $10 more! Is inflation not a thing up north? So this offer is a no brainer for those of you who had not bought some last time.
I really like this, have 11 left from the last case, and I’m hoping for a replay of the mixed reds deal that I missed to fill the pretty minimal storage space I have left. I highly recommend this one.
@Springbank We still have most of the wines in the mixed red offer, so let’s work out a winery-direct deal for the same price with a substitution or two.
@winesmith I think you ran out of the Malbec in that deal. I’d go for the PV, the Cab Franc, and something else. Aspects would work. You can reach me direct at kbeswick@charter.net.
I can’t tell you why, but the WineSmith '13 Meritage somehow acquired a tobacco bouquet I haven’t seen in any other DRV wine. Must be a microbial peculiarity. I adore it. There are hints of that element in this wine, but nowhere as intense. Other than that, the wines are similar. This has benefitted from a couple extra years in neutral wood, so it’s rounder and more drinkable.
Hello, anyone having an issue with this wine? I think mine is bad? Definitely more on the brown side than red. Tastes more like port than wine…is it bad?
2013 Two Jakes of Diamonds Aspects Red Blend, Lake County
Tasting Notes
Specs
Fermentation techniques:
Elevage details:
What’s Included
3-bottles:
Case:
Price Comparison
Not for sale online, $360/case MSRP
About The Winery
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, LA, ME, MD, MA, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NJ, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY
Estimated Delivery
Monday, May 2 - Thursday, May 5
2013 Two Jakes of Diamonds Aspects Red Blend
3 bottles for $54.99 $18.33/bottle + $2.67/bottle shipping
Case of 12 for $189.99 $15.83/bottle + $1/bottle shipping
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: Tax & Shipping not included in savings calculations)
2013 Two Jakes of Diamonds Aspects Red Blend - $30 = 13.63%
Greetings, my homies. It’s such a pleasure to discuss my wines with you who so well understand and appreciate the classic style I like to make: balanced, profound and ageworthy. Though I may be tilting at windmills, I just can’t live with myself making the popular style of fruit-forward, drink-now-for-tomorrow we-die wines without structural integrity.
My hat is off to Jake Stephens, owner of Diamond Ridge Vineyards, who has trusted me since 2007 to make classic Eurocentric wines that show off the virtues of his unique terroir, and the Two Jakes of Diamonds project is largely supported by the Casemates community.
So thank you.
That being said, we have here a wine that is impossible for anyone not to love. This is because we have aged it in neutral French oak to the point that it is absolutely delicious right now - loaded with complex red and blue fruit aromas, well resolved supportive tannins and a long, long finish of unrivaled complexity.
Not that it will be going over the hill any time soon. Your biggest problem will be that it is so delicious now that you will be challenged to restrain yourself drinking it all up.
My advice? At this price, how could you not buy a case for current drinking and another to explore its ageing potential.
@winesmith As chance would have it, I’d opened a bottle of this for supper (chicken shepherd’s pie with a potato/cheese/garlic topping) tonight. Not an ideal choice for the wine, but it went well. And now, a few hours later, I’m finishing the bottle and it’s very pleasant. There’s an array of fruit flavors when I sip it. Things like blackberries, plums, dark cherries, and (I find it hard to believe) maybe a little hint, ever so small, of red grapefruit. It’s a fascinating wine to drink. After a long finish, it leaves a good taste in the mouth. Well done, Clark.
No love for Michigan? We’ve been able to purchase offerings from Two Jakes before.
Hey Clark!
We just opened a bottle of the 2007 Pinot Noir. One of my friends described it as “it feels like I’m drinking an old weathered leather notebook.” And she meant that as a good thing, of course! I haven’t had this in several years and the truffle and funk have increased in intensity. Nice stuff!
That wine is a great emotional connection for me. After the movie Sideways, the idiot multitudes learned that Pinot Noir, and particularly Fiddlestix Vineyards, were the ultimately cool wines. But they didn’t understand that Pinot Noir is not a muscle wine. They were used to Merlot’s body and richness, which great Pinot Noir never approximates. They ruined California Pinot by only buying wines that were like Merlot.
In this environment, Kathy Joseph, proprietor of Fiddlestix vineyard, was selling her fabulous Santa Rita Hills pinot to around a dozen wineries, all making it in tis new muscle-wine fruit, picking fruit way overripe.
I decided to make a wine that would showcase Kathy’s fruit in a classic Burgundian style. I am very proud of this wine, a one-time project. We released it after eight years to show what Burgundy is all about and California’s potential to emulate it in an interesting way.
The parallel with Aspects is clear. The wine on offer is also a properly aged, delicious defense of the classic style I am interested in making.
@winesmith that sounds like the 2005. This is the 2007 from the RRV. Which vineyard? It’s not labelled on the bottle.
@klezman Yes, I’m describing the 2005 Second Fiddle. The 2007 Russian River is a similar experiment from the Quail Ridge Vineyard owned by Lynmar. This too is a feminine, Eurocentric experiment. It is aromatically typical of the black cherry notes rather than the hybiscus floral nose of Fiddlestix.
I too just happened to open a bottle of this last night and it as absolutely wonderful. I have to get more.
Oh no don’t tell me Michigan has lost @winesmith deliveries! I don’t need any right now but super bummed for future offers.
@a5meiser We can ship to Michigan and several other unlisted States direct from the winery. Just contact Sandra at 707-332-0056 M-F 9AM-4PM Pacific time.
2013 Two Jakes of Diamonds Aspects Red Blend
Ahoy Casemateys! We were delighted when we learned that we would be ratting this wine. The bottle arrived Friday afternoon, and given the unusually frigid DC weather it actually showed up at a reasonable temperature. We popped the bottle after a brief chill in the fridge. On initial observation: beautifully crystal clear garnet, almost like a very concentrated pinot. Despite being still fairly closed, the intensity of fruits on the nose was apparent, and a touch of cigar perhaps. Initial taste was very bright, with soft, round tannins. With about 30 minutes, the fruits developed a whole lot, especially bright cherry and berry flavors. Despite the age so far, the fruits tasted fresh rather than the dried/stewed flavor we get with other aged wines. There was also an element of “nighttime grass,” which I don’t know how to describe other than the refreshing feeling from taking a walk over a grassy field at night after it has rained (in our case to set up a telescope for the kids to see planets).
We then tasted over the course of the weekend, pairing with a variety of foods. We generally agree with the several other reviews of this wine on Casemates (looking over them after our own tastings—for science!), so these are just a few additional notes beyond those.
Our neighbor occasionally gives us venison steaks, so we had one with this wine. It was absolutely fantastic. The wine brought out the earthy, nutty flavors of the meat in the best way, and the meat enhanced ripe berries and smoky mineral elements in the wine. By comparison to a half-opened bottle of pinot we happened to have on hand, the Aspects had a synergy with the venison that I don’t think I’ve experienced with any other pairing in the past. This is perhaps in line with Clark’s suggestion that this wine would go well with stinky cheeses; the funkiness in the game meat was definitely a positive for this combination.
We reserved a glass for Sunday night, 48 hours and change from popping the bottle during which we just refrigerated the wine in a Mason jar. It was still great by then, but starting to develop some harsher notes on the finish (my wife described it as bell pepper; I didn’t quite get that). My guess is that the sweet spot right now is about a day and a half of aeration, perhaps more with better storage.
As per usual, we had the kids take a sniff. The younger one is on a copycat phase so didn’t say much of interest, but the 8-year-old gave the descriptors blackberries, charcoal, and band-aids. The first two make complete sense in view of the wine’s fruit and minerality, but the last one is interesting. I don’t think he’s identifying a Brett contamination, but rather is using it to refer to a combination of earthy, grassy, and herbal elements. Since band-aid is also a common description of peated scotch, I had him compare against a small-batch Kilchoman (an excellent bottle), which he agreed had similarities. (Again for science, I opened a band-aid to smell, and we’re all good.)
All in all, a fascinating and delicious wine. If you have a source of venison, go for this one; if not, go for it also and also find some venison. If anyone in the DMV area is interested in a split, I’m in for a case. Many thanks to @WineDavid, Alice, and @winesmith for this fantastic offer and inviting us to labrat!
Ordered!
/giphy muscular-cardiac-sphinx
@cduan thank for for the great review
@cduan willing to split, at this point we may have a good 2case exchange when we meet! May also pick some up too… or both….
@cduan Make that both, still willing to split with you
/giphy joyful-sopping-mango
Good to see you back on here @winesmith !
@bunnymasseuse That looks like a refreshing cocktail!
@cduan looks like you’ve already found your splitter, so a quick thanks for the Rat report!
@cduan Just responding to a casemates robo-email-- I’d be up for splitting/sharing a case if anyone else in the area still interested! I’m in Damascus, MD but commute to DC fairly often
@bunnymasseuse @InFrom
@caffeineguy @cduan I could be convinced to cough up a few
@bunnymasseuse @cduan ooof-- just logged in and was gonna pull the trigger and there’s no more cases of 12 left. I picked up 3 bottles w/ VMP shipping. Oh well, maybe another time!
@caffeineguy @cduan I have relocated to county life, and outside the hustle of Downtown B’more, so if you really need more let me know! Asking me for the 2 Jakes Roman Reserve CabFranc I have stashed might be fight club words tho!
I hit the Casemate Rat jackpot this week when Alice sent me a bottle of 2013 Two Jakes of Diamonds Aspects meritage. I’m a huge Two Jakes fan, and was super excited to try the 2013 Aspects meritage. This meritage is 88.5% Merlot, 6.4% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 5.1% Cabernet Franc. TLDR: It totally lives up to its reputation!
I received the bottle on Friday afternoon and let it rest on my kitchen counter for a day. I popped the cork on Saturday afternoon and poured the first glass.
Appearance: Red brick color, very slight brown hue from the age. Fat, viscous legs. No cloudiness.
Nose: Right from the bottle the nose was impressive. I got notes of black plums, blackberries, leather and tobacco with a hint of earth. No alcohol burn, even though it is 14.9%.
Palate: No waiting, straight from the bottle the wine was juicy on the front and dry on the end. Well balanced with fruit and acidity. I tasted black plums, blackberries, dark cherries, minerality, tobacco, and rosemary. It’s very complex, but an easy drinker. Even without waiting for it to properly aerate, there was no alcohol burn.
I’m already in love with this wine, but I’ll let a glass aerate and update:
I let the wine sit in the glass for half an hour and then enjoyed it with a mushroom and beef stroganoff. It was an excellent pairing. The richness of the meal was well complimented by the wine. I think the nose fell off a little over time, and I got more of the minerality and terroir with the meal than the black fruit. There’s just a splash of wine in the glass after the meal. It’s been in the glass for over an hour now. I swear the nose is giving me black licorice. So weird! I like black licorice, so it’s fun for me, but not what I expected. I think it might be a melding of the herb-scents and the black fruit. Still tastes great. I’ll update again tomorrow after the wine has been open for 24 hours.
Saturday update: I enjoyed the wine with some goat cheese and crackers. It has held up very well 24 hours after being open. I didn’t add any preservative to the bottle. The nose is still black fruits, tobacco, rosemary/resin, hint of chocolate. The flavor holds up well against the goat cheese. Seems slightly more acidic, but I think that’s the influence of the cheese. The complexity has held up well. It may be slightly less juicy on the front, but I still get the black fruit notes, the tobacco, the minerality, and the rosemary notes.
Honestly, this is one of my favorite wines I’ve ratted. I think it’s perfect. Goes well with food, but also easy enough a drinker on its own. As a 2013 vintage, it may have reached its peak, but I’m not buying as an investment. It’s ready to drink now, and that’s good enough for me. I’m in for a case.
Made my purchase!
/giphy blurry-kissable-art
I purchased this wine back in 2019 when I believe it was first released. Knew all about the age worthiness but had to try a bottle “for scientific purposes” and felt it needed at least 2 years. We had a bottle last weekend and it is drinking nice right now but I still think it has years of potential aging ahead of it. Looking forward to the taste evolution. Luckily (?) because of Casemates and its “predecessor” I have plenty of wine options between “Jakes”.
Bottom line, you are getting a very good aged red - I’m confident their aging QC is much better than most of us - for a great price that has a bright future ahead of it.
@forlich I agree with your review. Just by chance I opened the 2019 offering last night. I really enjoy this wine. Now to decide, to buy again or not to buy.
Thanks for these excellent descriptions! This is a terroir-driven wine if ever there was one. The string of fruit descriptors (“fresh bright cherry;” “black plums, blackberries, dark cherries”) derives from the mix of varieties and aspects (lays of the land) that we wanted to show off. The freshness and palate energy are a result of the volcanic soil. We refer to this as minerality, and although we don’t know what it is, it does give our wines a very flat ageing trajectory - they take a long time to open up (hence the 8+ years in neutral French oak) and promise further ageworthiness. The rosemary and “night grass” (I love that description) are “air-oir,” aromatic lelements of the surrounding vegetation, mostly droughty herbs like rosemary, bay laurel and sage.
This wine was not sterile filtered. The beginnings of leather and tobacco that lead to true greatness are microbial in origin and develop in the bottle only if the complex microbiome in our cellar is allowed to flourish. The tannins in this wine are fully resolved, so that isn’t the reason to cellar it further. You need to decide how you feel about the tradeoff between freshness and profundity over the next 5-10 years.
Any SoCal (SD) interest in a 2~3 way split?
@rjquillin thinking about it
@rjquillin I’d be interested if you still want to do a split (I’m in the Irvine are, but am amenable to heading down to p/u)!
@rjquillin, normally I would, but unfortunately or fortunately I am full.
@j_lantz Irvine is kinda difficult. One potential around WLA, LAX area and here in SD, so we’re all really spread out and I’m very tight on any kind of short or long term storage currently.
I’ve purchased a case+ of the “lesser aged” Aspects and been very happy. I have little doubt that I will regret ordering this.
/giphy brilliant-prissy-class
/giphy premium-textured-possum
So…I’ve bought Aspects at least twice.
How can I distinguish the “Early Bottled Aspects”
from the “Late Bottled Aspects”?
@FritzCat Whichever one I just opened is very nice.
@FritzCat The first lot says 13.5% ABV. This one is 14.9%.
@winesmith Thanks Clark. I’m drinking the 2nd one, this one, and it’s phenomenal! Paired with a ‘melange’ of carnitas style pork/kielbasa/jalapeno popper…(leftovers).
Jumping in
/giphy fuchsia-ugly-pencil
I do want to warn y’all that the quantity on this is pretty limited and the way it’s going, I’m fairly sure it will sell out.
Can never have enough Two Jakes or WineSmith.
In for a case…
flustered-wide-toad
This is another excellent WineSmith red that pairs very well with steak (totally expected) AND spicy Chinese “typhoon shelter” style lobster (rather unexpected); so glad my wife convinced me not to have steak two days in a row (for my health). The wine has a slight brown tinge upon opening but somehow seems to become redder (yes, technical term) after about 90 minutes of aeration. I would buy another case but I still have half a case left from the 9/2021 offer, which was $10 more! Is inflation not a thing up north? So this offer is a no brainer for those of you who had not bought some last time.
@SoSmellyAir Yes, Winedavid convinced us to sweeten the deal by ten bucks to incentivize even those of you who bought last year.
@SoSmellyAir @winesmith BOOM! i still got it!
@SoSmellyAir @Winedavid49 @winesmith
So the new prices are…?
Do we need a main offer page edit?
@rjquillin @SoSmellyAir @Winedavid49 @winesmith The current offer is $10/case less than the previous offer.
@Mark_L @SoSmellyAir @Winedavid49 @winesmith
Looks like a winner.
I couldn’t help myself…
/giphy snotty-extravagant-druid
Hey Clark - Help a loyal Michigander out …
@woopdedoo Call Sandra at 707-332-5552. Problem on this one is that there probably won’t be any left for winery-ditect shipping.
I really like this, have 11 left from the last case, and I’m hoping for a replay of the mixed reds deal that I missed to fill the pretty minimal storage space I have left. I highly recommend this one.
@Springbank We still have most of the wines in the mixed red offer, so let’s work out a winery-direct deal for the same price with a substitution or two.
@winesmith I think you ran out of the Malbec in that deal. I’d go for the PV, the Cab Franc, and something else. Aspects would work. You can reach me direct at kbeswick@charter.net.
Too late. Wanted to buy a case but no more cases.
Clark, any thoughts on how this compares to the 2013 WS Meritage. Same grapes iirc. Merlot 81%,CF 19%, so a different blend.
I can’t tell you why, but the WineSmith '13 Meritage somehow acquired a tobacco bouquet I haven’t seen in any other DRV wine. Must be a microbial peculiarity. I adore it. There are hints of that element in this wine, but nowhere as intense. Other than that, the wines are similar. This has benefitted from a couple extra years in neutral wood, so it’s rounder and more drinkable.
/giphy treacherous-selfish-dress
Hello, anyone having an issue with this wine? I think mine is bad? Definitely more on the brown side than red. Tastes more like port than wine…is it bad?