Cabernet Sauvignon Eisele Vineyard, Araujo Estate 2004

The 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon Eisele Vineyard shows surprisingly more tannin than the 2005. Perhaps it is at the stage where it has been in the bottle for about a year and is beginning to shut down ever so slightly. A blend of 94% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, the wine has a dense ruby/purple color and some sweet and spicy notes intermixed with white chocolate, black currant, crushed rock, and some underbrush and floral scents. It is medium to full-bodied, firmly structured, and reminiscent of a top first- or second-growth Bordeaux because of the tannin structure and austerity. It is an interesting, almost atypical wine for this vintage in Napa, but the Eisele Vineyard is a world unto its own, so I am not actually surprised. Remarkably, the 2005, which usually comes across as a more Bordeaux-styled vintage, is actually softer than this 2004, at least for now.