We bought this at the tasting room last summer and were lucky enough that Larry happened to come by while we were there. Aberration is a light-ish wine, with color and aroma more like a Pinot Nour, and has lots of balanced fruit going for it. At first I was concerned that it wasn’t going to stand up to our filet mignon and roast Italian squash, but it was just fine. We don’t normally finish a full bottle with dinner but we did with this one. I’m not a real aficionado, but it’s an unusual blend, done in stainless, and was a revelation. THANK YOU LARRY SCHAEFFER!!!
One of my favorite wines from Larry.
Thanks for the nice note, my friend. I still have about a dozen cases and I’m really curious to see where this one goes.
My 2016 aberration will be something completely different - 100% whole cluster cab franc, 100% stainless steel aged…
Wonderful wine. Really interesting. I wish I’d have bought more.
But larry keeps cranking out really good wines that hit my brain’s pleasure center, so not surprised.
Yup, Chris…agree. And at very fair prices. I think this latest release are his best wines yet. TN’s to follow in a few days.
Tom
Interesting! Larry, you use Camp 4 fruit? Is Tara Gomez still tending to the Camp 4 vineyard, or is she just the winemaker using fruit from there? I know the Chumash have supported her efforts
I just tried a 2001 Kalawashaq Unity red blend from her pre-Camp 4 days. Nice but at the end of it’s development.
Cool factoid:
In 2010, the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians purchased a large piece of land called Camp 4 Vineyard. Camp 4 Vineyard, named so as it was the fourth stop when traveling by stagecoach from Santa Barbara up the El Camino, is 1,400 acres, of which 256 acres are planted with vines.
The 19 varietals planted in the vineyard were planted by Fess Parker in 1999. Surrounded by oak trees, Camp 4 Vineyard is a spiritual place. There is a mesa that sits above the vineyard with a special rock that represents the Chumash Tribe.
With more than a decade of experience at the time, Gomez was hired by her tribe to make their wine, making her the first recognized Native American winemaker in the U.S
I really want to try one of larry’s full-on mourvedres! I enjoyed your White Hawk Syrah.
Barry,
I worked on the winemaking team at Fess Parker for seven vintages so I know that Camp 4 Vyd well. Tara is making good wine from there, and the Chumash do own it, buthe they continue to sell fruit to other winemakers like myself, and the vineyard is cared for by Coastal Vineyard Management, who also farms many of the top notch vineyards throughout SB County.
This is a fantastic site for warmer climate varieties, and this past harvest, I pulled Mourvedre, Cinsault, Carignane, Grenache Blanc, Roussanne and Marsanne from the site.
Cheers!
Thanks my friend - and I still do have more of the aberration left 
When might this be released?
Cool! Ruben at CVM is great, working on Stolpman stuff and I think some vineyards whose fruit makes it into SQN, Jonata etc.
I feel like that whole area is just unparallelled in California for producing Rhone varietals.
I will be bottling this up next month and plan on releasing it in early April. Tom tried a barrel sample a few weeks ago and perhaps he’ll chime in here 
100% whole cluster cab franc sounds fantastic. I haven’t found a good cali 100% c.f. other than paradigm.
looking forward to this one larry. where in Los Angeles will it be available?
Too early to know . . . but you can always order directly from me
Not to steal Larry’s thunder but Broc made a killer whole cluster Santa Barbara Cab Franc (assumed to be oak aged) that was REALLY good.
Good idea!
I’m sure Tom has more copious notes, but I also was lucky to try a barrel sample around the same time. Still light and fresh as the previous aberration but brings along the slight hint of greenness I attribute to Cab Franc. I enjoyed the sample and look forward to trying it once bottled.
How was the nose? (Or did you drink it straight from the thief, somehow?)
Larry,
Do you have a prospective release date for the Tercero Carignan? Is it 100% Camp 4 Vineyard fruit?
I looked back at what I wrote Larry later that evening and I didn’t mention anything about the nose. What I do remember was the nose was compelling enough to ask my wife for her thoughts even though she wasn’t going to do any tasting that day. I wrote was that I was looking forward to seeing how the color developed as it was an almost electric purple a couple weeks ago. And that light, fresh and slightly spicy green quality would lend this to pairing with more delicate meals.