2011 Estate Cuvée

Stephan Asseo describes 2013 as a vintage that was very hot from the beginning of the year. The harvest took just one month from start to finish, as opposed to a more typical time frame of two and half months. Thick skins and concentrated juice resulted in powerful, intense wines. The 2013s, which I tasted in final blends, are all hugely promising. Unfortunately the 2012s had been bottled just before my visit and Asseo preferred to give the wines a bit more time in bottle. I did have a chance to taste the 2011s, which are gorgeous. The 2011s are the result of a very difficult growing season in which the spring frost and shatter during flowering decimated 50% of the crop. It was also a very cool vintage. For example in 2011, the Syrahs were brought in around 24 brix rather than the most customary 28 or so.

Stephan Asseo describes 2013 as a vintage that was very hot from the beginning of the year. The harvest took just one month from start to finish, as opposed to a more typical time frame of two and half months. Thick skins and concentrated juice resulted in powerful, intense wines. The 2013s, which I tasted in final blends, are all hugely promising. Unfortunately the 2012s had been bottled just before my visit and Asseo preferred to give the wines a bit more time in bottle. I did have a chance to taste the 2011s, which are gorgeous. The 2011s are the result of a very difficult growing season in which the spring frost and shatter during flowering decimated 50% of the crop. It was also a very cool vintage. For example in 2011, the Syrahs were brought in around 24 brix rather than the most customary 28 or so.

Stephan Asseo told me that he has been making a conscious effort to scale back the brute force of his wines, "which isn't easy to do with the climate here." But he also made it clear that he was "in no way trying to imitate Europe by making faux Bordeaux." Asseo has become especially obsessive about the toast levels of his barrels, demanding the lightest possible char, which has made him "the nightmare of the cooper," he joked. Asseo said that it's his experience that "growers in California scare easily, so even in a year like 2011, which required you to wait to pick, too many people panicked and brought in fruit that wasn't ready, which means lots of corrections in the winery. But you have to make the wine of your place and of the vintage, otherwise you're doing square hole/round peg and the wine won't ever really be harmonious." He went on: "The biggest mistake a winemaker can make is trying to extract too much from a vintage like 2011. The material to take heavy extraction isn't there and the wine will always be out of balance."