Dry Creek Vineyard

This is a hard wine to describe in some ways, so let’s skip to the conclusion: It’s fabulous. It also represents a sea change for the winery’s high-end Cabernet, which used to be aged three years in mostly used American oak barrels. Now the elevage is two years in new French oak, with some Petite Verdot added. The vines for this program are even grown differently now, so that in a few years it won’t be necessary to cull best barrels from regular Cab blocks to make the Endeavor – the winery will simply pick the Endeavour block and get to work.

The aromas emphasize black berry, black cherry and toasted French oak, laced with cola and raw beef. The wine enters very cool and concentrated and then rapidly expands to fill the chamber. All the aromas continue as flavors. The wine is firmly yet gently undergirded with polished tannins that continue to structure your tasting experience but have eased up their grip on your palate after more than a year of bottle age. While the wine is showing well now, it’s years from its peak. 800 cases were produced, and I would bet they will not hang around for long, even at $55.

Reviewed May 23, 2007 by Thom Elkjer.