Michael D

8.9

First time I have had anything from Haywire. Small.production facility well hidden off the main hwy in Summerland. Interesting facility with the philosophy of letting the fermentation and the wine speaks for itself. No oak used in their cellars but concrete barrels and clay. Juicy, aromatic..unlike most pinots I have had. Worth a try and dog friendly🐶😄 — 6 years ago

Sarah Daggett

9.0

Light and refreshing on a hot summer day, drinks like a cool Riesling. Green apple and citrus. Aged in oak for 7 days then in concrete eggs to maintain its crisp flavor. — 7 years ago

David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.5

This Sauvignon Blanc spends a year in some new oak but mostly used oak and a 1/3 of it in concrete eggs. They also hold it back in bottle for another 1-1 1/2 years before they release it. On nose, great tropicals; melons, passionfruit, pineapple, banana peel, green apple, underripe Bosc pear with skin, citrus, citrus blossoms, jasmine and yellow florals. The mouthfeel is creamy & oily. It's very clean, pure, has precision and high mellow acidity. Green apple, green melon, citrus candy, peach, white peach, pineapple, guava, passion fruit, subtle light spice, delicate refined soft chalkiness with amazing body, texture and finish. Photos of their owner Ron leading the tasting. The concrete eggs used to ferment this Sauvignon Blanc. Their metal frog band adorning their grounds and those beautiful Howell Mountain vines sprung back to life. — 7 years ago

Joel Stevens

9.1

Heavy-styled sauv blanc - full bodied and citrus filled! A lot of grapefruit up front with a buttery backbone - lemon on the mid palate with concrete egg complexity where you want more - different and good! — 8 years ago

with Jennifer

Gerhard Ziemer

9.1

The 14 is layered and awesome, and 60% concrete! — 8 years ago

Scott Schaefer

9.0

A very nice unique Chardonnay. This wine features herbs, pear, white peach with a balanced minerality. The concrete worked some magic. — 8 years ago

with Jennifer

Richard Betts

Master Sommelier/Winemaker/Mezcalero Saint Glinglin, Sombra

10

Wow. This is what a concrete egg ought to do.... So good — 9 years ago

Colin Yates

Wine Buyer Macadoodles Fine Wine & Spirits

9.4

Anyone who has rated this CDP below 9.0 has most likely made a mistake. That being that they opened it too young (I also did this rating the 2011 in 2015), but more importantly, did not give it adequate breathing time when they did so. Bravay keeps the co2 level very high during aging to prevent oxidation producing a wine that not only is going to age beautifully but NEEDS time to breathe. He also prefers tannin from skin not stems and oak so it is fermented and aged in stainless and concrete vats. After proper decanting, the 2011 leads with a full bouquet of dark berries, spice and a lovely violet note that keeps my nose in the glass. Medium to full in body with an elegant balance of ripe fruit and acid. Raspberry and juicy cherry fill my mouth with just a touch of pepper on the lingering finish. Tasted several times over 4 hours. Notes taken after 3 hours. — 9 years ago

Kristin Donnelly

Senior Food Editor Food & Wine Magazine

8.9

Oak vs concrete. So cool to try the same wine made with two different aging methods. I think I'm on team concrete but I'd love to see how they both evolve. #pasowine — 9 years ago

This One Goes To Eleven... This Is Not The Account Of Spinal Tap!

10

This had this 10 years ago

Daniela Caniglia

9.8

All concrete. 900 cases. Nice acids, nice crisp, smooth. Great with seafood, 15/1 13/ BTG — 11 years ago

Boyle

10

Would drink again! — 6 years ago

David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.4

I have a six-pack of this 05. I thought after 10 years in bottle, it would be interesting to check in on its evolution. While tasty, I’ll wait another 8-10 to open another. Even after 2-3 hours in the decanter, it’s still a very young adolescent. On the nose, slightly sour blackberries & dark cherries, dark currants, baked black plum, haunting blue fruits, anise, whiff of spice, steeped tea, dry stones, dry crushed rocks with dry top soil, caramel, vanilla with fresh & dry red florals. The body is thick & full. Tannins are starting to round out. It’s velvety on the palate. The fruits are; bright, fresh & ripe and really show the greatness of the 05 vintage. Dark currants, blackberries, dark cherries, baked black plum, haunting blue fruits, baked strawberries, cherries, raspberries on the long set, dark spice, clay & loamy dry top soil with crushed rocks, dry stones, cigar with ash, graphite, dry stems, slight herbaceous character, mint, used leather, clove, caramel, vanilla, fresh & dry red florals with violets. The round acidity is about perfect. The structure and length are still strong. The balance is in harmony. As for the long finish, it’s lush, ruby, rich and well polished. Photos of; Chateau Brane Cantenac, large wood vats, Henri Lurton and Estate vines. Producer notes and history...Chateau Brane Cantenac began in the early 17th century. At the time, the estate was known as Domaine Guilhem Hosten. Even that far back, wine was produced from the property. In fact, the wine was so highly regarded it was one of the more expensive wines in Bordeaux. It sold for almost as much money as Brane Mouton. This is interesting because of who went on to buy the vineyard in the 1800’s. The Baron of Brane, also known as “Napoleon of the Vineyards”, purchased the Chateau in 1833. At the time of the sale, the estate was called Chateau Gorce-Guy. To get the funds needed to purchase the Margaux vineyard, the Baron sold what is now called Mouton Rothschild, which was at the time of the sale, known as Chateau Brane-Mouton. Not such a good move with hundreds of years in hindsight! In 1838, the Baron renamed property taking his name and the name of the sector where the vineyards were located and called it Chateau Brane Cantenac. The Chateau later passed to the Roy family, who were well-known in the Margaux appellation in those days, as they owned Chateau d’issan. Moving ahead to 1920, the Societe des Grands Crus de France, a group of merchants and growers that owned several chateaux located in the Medoc including; Chateau Margaux, Chateau Giscours, and Chateau Lagrange in St. Julien, purchased Chateau Brane Cantenac. Five years later, M. Recapet and his son-in-law, François Lurton, took over Brane Cantenac along with Chateau Margaux. Lucien Lurton (the son of François Lurton) inherited Brane Cantenac in 1956. Today, the estate is still in the hands of the Lurton family. Brane Cantenac is owned and run by Henri Lurton. After being given the responsibility of managing Brane Cantenac, it was under the direction of Henri Lurton that large portions of the vineyard were replanted. Vine densities were increased, the drainage systems were improved and the plantings were also, slowly changed. The vineyard of Brane Cantenac is planted to 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, 4.5% Cabernet Franc and .5% Carmenere. Carmenere was used for the first time in the 2011 vintage. The only other Chateau I know that still uses Carmenere is Clerc Milon. The 75 hectare Left Bank vineyard of Brane Cantenac is essentially unchanged since it earned Second Growth status in the 1855 Classification. At least that is the case with the 45 hectares used to produce the Grand Vin of Brane Cantenac. Those 45 hectares are planted surrounding the Chateau. Those vines are located just in front of the Cantenac plateau and are the best terroir that Brane Cantenac owns. They have other parcels, which are further inland and much of those grapes are placed into their second wine, Le Baron de Brane. Those additional hectares can be divided into 3 main sections. Behind the Chateau, they have 15 hectares of vines on gravel and sand, 10 hectares across the road with sand, gravel and iron and a 13 hectare parcel with gravel called Notton, which is used for their second wine. The vineyard is planted to a vine density that ranges from 6,666 vines per hectare on the plateau and up to 8,000 vines per hectare for the vines located behind chateau, in their sandier soils. The higher levels of vine density are always found in the newer plantings. The terroir of Brane Cantenac consists of deep gravel, sand and clay soil. Experiments in the vineyards are currently looking at becoming more organic in their vineyard management. Today, more than 25% of Brane Cantenac is farmed using organic farming techniques. It is expected that over time, the amount of hectares farmed with organic methods will be increased. Brane Cantenac has gone through 2 relatively recent modernization’s in 1999, when they added began adding the first of their smaller vats to allow for parcel by parcel vinification and then again in 2015 when they completed a much more complete renovation of their cellars and vat rooms. While Brane Cantenac is a traditional producer, they are no stranger to technology as they were one of the first estates to embrace optical grape sorting machines. In very wet vintages, they can also use reverse osmosis. To produce the wine of Chateau Brane Cantenac, the wine is vinified in a combination of temperature controlled, traditional, 22 oak vats, 18 concrete tanks and 20 stainless steel vats that vary in size from 40 hectoliters all the way up to 200 hectoliters, which allows for parcel by parcel vinification. 40% of the fermentation takes place in the oak vats. The oldest vines are vinified in vats that are selected to allow for separate parcel by parcel vinification. The younger vines are vinified more often together in the same vats. However, the Carmenere is entirely micro-vinified, meaning that those grapes were completely vinified in barrel, using micro-vinification techniques. This can also happen because the amount of grapes produced is so small. Some vats can be co-inoculated, meaning they go through alcoholic fermentation and malolactic fermentation simultaneously. At Chateau Brane Cantenac, malolactic fermentation takes place in a combination of French oak tanks and barrels. The wine of Brane Cantenac is aged in an average of 60% new, French oak barrels for 18 months before bottling. The initial 2 months of aging is done with the wine on its lees, which adds more depth to the wine. There second wine is Le Baron de Brane. Le Baron de Brane is not new. In fact, previously, the second wine went under the name of Chateau Notton, which took its name from one of the main parcels where the grapes were planted. During the late 1950’s and into the 1960’s, having a second wine was important as the estate declassified 3 vintages, due to extremely poor, weather conditions in 1956, 1960 and 1963. Production of Chateau Brane Cantenac is about 11,000 cases per year. — 6 years ago

Edmond Bordelon

9.2

Oh so very nicely done! — 8 years ago

with Katherine

Roy Piper

9.2

The best of all 10 Wind Gap wines I tried today. And one of the cheapest. 13.75% alc and it shows. Love the Jolly Rancher strawberry flavor. Gum coating tannins. Wish more of their wines had this slight added layer of ripeness. From 85 year old vines grown on pure sand in Alexander Valley. Made in a concrete egg. A huge surprise. — 9 years ago

Justin Timsit, MS

Wine Director, The Rittenhouse

9.7

Mind blowing chard. Unfiltered, concrete ferment, 12.2abv, reminds me of aged Ganevat. Nutty, lemony and cheesy — 9 years ago

George Leon

9.0

Native yeast unfiltered concrete and neutral oak fermented. Good integration and structure great mouth feel Kudos — 10 years ago

with Chris

Todd Ziegenmeyer

9.7

A great Sauvignon Blanc from a boutique winery out of Santa Maria (Presqu'ile). Partly Presqu'ile and Riverbench vineyards this wine shows it's uniqueness with intriguing hints of jalapeño. Seven months in neutral oak, stainless steel and concrete egg. — 10 years ago

Al Shikoh

9.0

Light peach color. Aromas of strawberries. Crisp acidity finishing with a hint of phenolic bitterness. Made from Grenache sourced from Armada Vineyard and vinified with 100% whole clusters in concrete eggs and stainless steel. 12.7% alcohol. — 6 years ago

Delectable Wine

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9.3

The 2015 Syrah Charles Heintz Vineyard is an outrageously beautiful, vivid wine. A rush of blue and purplish fruit, lavender, licorice and dark spice make a strong opening statement. Today, the tannins are a bit overpowering, but time in bottle will do the trick. The 2015 was fermented in concrete, with 10% whole clusters, and aged in a combination of concrete and oak. Readers who can find the wine should not hesitate. Heintz is one of the top vineyards in California. Getting a glimpse of the site through the lens of Syrah it makes for a deeply fascinating experience. (Antonio Galloni, Vinous, Mar 2017) — 7 years ago

Max Reichwage

9.1

Dry Chenin, tart, mineral, neutral, concrete edge, oily, spicy, quite nice — 7 years ago

Clarke Gasper

9.1

Nice balance that is carried by a fuller texture from extended skin contact and concrete fermention #chardonnayallday — 7 years ago

Yianni Stone

9.2

Fermented in barrel, concrete, and ceramic. Citrus and weight. — 8 years ago

with Haley

EatSommThings (Jimmy)

8.9

High elevation Sangiovese with whole cluster maceration. Aged in concrete and only 12.5 ABV — 8 years ago

with Diana

Perry Riddle

9.2

Concrete. Buoyant with some pleasant oxidation — 8 years ago

Christine Havens

9.1

A lovely, spirited Soave Classico from the Pieropan, utterly fresh and bright with notes of Meyer lemon zest, white flowers, dried honey, and almond extract. Aged on fine lees in concrete, the effect of which is largely textural, lending minerally undertones of wet pomace, and slight autolytic character. A nice lingering finish. Clean and delicious, and I might add, great QPR. — 8 years ago

Kat Gaffney

9.4

100% concrete egg fermented, surprisingly creamy and rich. — 9 years ago

John B. Lonas

9.2

Buttery & Nice! — 9 years ago

Andis Wines

10

The 2011 Andis Meritage is a blend of 60% Merlot and 40% Cabernet Sauvignon. Aged in concrete tanks and finished with a nice compliment of French oak, the wine expresses aromas and flavors of cedar, strawberry, black cherry and coffee. Delicious paired with grilled meats, rich cheese and savory stews. #Andis #Meritage #ConcreteTanks — 9 years ago

Wineshout 💀

9.4

Coolshanagh 2012 Chardonnay (Okanagan Valley) - raised in oak, steel and concrete, there's fruit and finesse. #bcwine — 10 years ago