I just received this e mail from Steve…
Hi, all! I’m reporting on my most recent trip to California. The main purpose of the trip was to finalize the blend on the 2014 Six Acres Vineyard cabernet sauvignon. Going in, I knew I’d be accessing two blends. Both had .5% of cabernet franc. One had 2% petit verdot and 2.5% malbec (first vintage malbec was available for blending) and the other 2.5% petit verdot and 2% malbec. After repeated tastings and much thought, I decided to not decide. I’ll be doing two bottlings from the vintage – most likely named after our two deceased family dogs.
I hope it will be an interesting experience for you – seeing how small differences in the blending grapes make differences in the final wine. I can tell you the wines are significantly different but I can’t say I like one better. So why banish one to never being tasted?
A further note – the 2014 Six Acres cab will be my last commercial bottling under the Congruence label. During this past trip, I mulled over the future of Congruence. For a large variety of reasons, I have made this decision. The reasons cover a wide terrain, but almost all of them pointed to calling it a day with this venture. I intend to keep making wine, but will be doing it on a hobby basis in the future. I have a barrel of 2015 Six Acres picked out and will be working on it for the next year. I will doing an organized dissolution of the company, including its inventory, over the remainder of 2016. What I don’t sell will go into my cellar, and I won’t be complaining. J
I want to thank all of you for supporting Congruence Wines over the past almost 10 years. I’ve been able to make many, many wines of which I am very proud. They continue to make very strong showings in the tasting notes on www.cellartracker.com. We will be enjoying all of these wines for many years and I will relish that. It’s pretty incredible to me that I’ve been able to do what I’ve done with Congruence and, at the end of the day, I am truly blessed to have had the opportunity.
The biggest thank you has to go to Sue. She supported my idea and really made it possible to do. When Crushpad went under and we had to put together a large sum of money to finish the 14 barrels of wine in production or walk away from them, she agreed with me that we should finish those wines. The demise of Crushpad was a crushing blow and it wasn’t an easy decision to pony up that money, but I am so happy we did that. So, again, thanks so much for all you did, Sue.
Now, it’s 4/20, so the first blowout of Congruence wines – the 2011 Grist Vineyard Zinfandel. Here are the Cellartracker notes:
We had a couple of bottles over dinner two Sundays ago. I think the wine has turned into what I had hoped to make – a true claret-style zinfandel that is just beginning to come into its own. We had rack of lamb and the wine absolutely shone, elegant and well-balanced.
For the next three weeks (until May 11), the 2011 Grist will available for ½ price - $20 per bottle. Discount code is “420” (for $20). Case orders will have shipping included. Buy for yourself, buy for friends, tell your friends. If you live in a state (e.g. New Jersey and Pennsylvania) for which you can’t place an order through the website (www.congruencewines.com), I will have to place your order. Shoot me an email and we’ll put it together.
The cabs will begin to be sold after the zinfandel. I anticipate making an offer on the 2008 Napa cab sometime around mid-May and then take a break until September. The only ones that won’t be blown out are the 2010 Napa cab and the 2013 Six Acres cab because there is just too little of them to do that. So please load up on the zinfandel now and earmark some funds for the 2008, 2009 and 2011 Napa cabs and the 2010 and 2011 Coombsville Reserve cabs.
Again, thank you so much for all your support over these years and a special thanks to Sue. Cheers! Steve