TN: 2011 Congruence Cabernet Sauvignon

Never had Steve’s wines before, but I got a case due to the liquidation sale. Boy this is a really good wine with lots of dark fruit. Plush, but deoes not feel heavy. Rich, without being overextracted. Highly enjoyable, and with the discount that Steve is offering, a fantastic QPR.

All the Congruence wines are great and good value, especially at the sale price.

I’ve had ‘08, ’09, ’11 and ‘14’s and they are all great.

Thanks, Otto (and Michael and Lee). Sorry I managed to impress you so late in the game. Only another 17 days for Congruence. [cheers.gif]

Just grabbed 3 of these and 3 of the reserve. Hoping I don’t kick myself for not ordering more. Time will tell.

The wine we drank most in 2018!!! All are excellent and at the blow out pricing makes them the best QPR ever for me. We purchased several cases. In fact, a few more cases are on the way. Thank you Steve and best wishes!

What’s your decanting advice on these?

We have mostly had the 08’s and 09’s. We have generally decanted for 45 min to 1 hr and drank over 2 to 4 hours. I would recommend an hour decant and follow it over 3 to 4 hours. The 11’s to us have been good to go with an hour. I believe Steve recommends a longer decant for the 11’s maybe he can chime in.

He said a few hours if I recall. Was curious why your experience had been. Multiple data points.

For my taste, I like a 6-8 hour decant on the 11 Napa bottling. It really gains a lot of depth and complexity with the air time. The 2011 Coombsville Reserve doesn’t need as much air, I think. Albert’s suggestion is pretty spot on.

Anyone try the 2011 Grist Zinfandel?

There are CellarTracker notes. I will say we popped a sixpack of them at our recent 45th reunion for my 1973 college football team a couple of weekends ago and I was very happy with how they showed and went over.

Speaking broadly, 2011 is my favorite zin vintage ever. I love the high acids and brambly red fruits the vintage produced.

As usual, picked on the early side. I used neutral French oak barrels for aging.

I was almost too late to this party, but pulled the trigger and got a case (massive thanks, Steve). As recommended, I gave it a decant (about 3 hrs).
The short tasting note: insane value. Classic Napa Cabernet, with much more up-front fruit than the vintage’s spotty reputation would lead you to expect.
The decant is almost essential, as it is somewhat shy on first opening. Once it opens up, though, it is both generous and stylish. I personally really like some pyrazine notes in my Cabernet, and this one has a pleasantly moderate amount. Lots of plum and dark fruit, but in great balance with the acid and fine tannins. Finish is long and pleasing, a bit of chocolate and raspberry on the tail end. This will almost certainly age very well. I’m not at all happy to see a good winery cease operations, but I’m very happy to have gotten this wine for my collection.

09 is absolutely stelllar right now.

Thanks. It’s funny, because when all the hand-wringing about 2011 was going on, I was absolutely perplexed. I was very happy with what I turned out.

2011 Congruence Cabernet Sauvignon - USA, California, Napa Valley (3/7/2019)
– popped and poured –
– tasted non-blind over approximately one hour –

NOSE: “dark”; bell pepper/jalapeno; bread & butter pickles.

BODY: medium-full bodied.

TASTE: “dark”; jalapeno; light creamy oak note; hint of chocolate; a bit “bigger” than I remember from the previous bottle; this presents more as Napa Cab than Cab Franc — previous bottle came across more like a Cab Franc, due to pyrazines.

Sounds like the Pyzanine may be going down some? Was a bit overpowering on the first bottle I tried.

Hard to tell. Last bottle was just in Oct., so I wouldn’t have expected an appreciable difference, given that this is not a recently-bottled wine.