Received offer from Eisele for 2018 Altagracia and 2019 Eisele Sauv Blanc. They stated the 2018 vintage is the “new” Altagracia from the Eastern blocks of the Eisele vineyard.
Does anyone know how this differs from the “old” Altagracia in terms of quality, QPR, taste profile?
The 2019 Sauv Blanc is $90/btl. Seems steep for a Sauv Blanc. They also use 70% Sauv Blanc musque grapes. Any opinions from the brain trust?
I’ve already tried to do a search on this “new” wine.
Thank you,
The new Altagracia is simply the fact that they don’t source grapes like the Arajous did for their Altagracia. Also their Blanc is the best I’ve ever had.
I can’t help with the “old” vs “new” Altagracia, but in my experience (from the Araujo days) the Sauvignon Blanc has always contained a substantial amount of the Musque clone. To me, this gives the Sauv Blanc more of a creamy, melony flavor and less of a grassy, citrusy flavor. We find this a plus and have really enjoyed the Sauv Blancs we’ve opened. Unfortunately, the price has always been strong and we stopped buying a few years ago.
When they say new they are just making the altagracia in a different style. Picking earlier so the wine isn’t as jammy/ fruit bomb etc.
Believe the distinction is that it’s now 100% estate fruit. I did buy Altagracia … I love that vineyard. Not only that, but hoping to get a larger allocation of 2018 grand vin as well. I buy pretty much all the Eisele I can get my mitts on.
Zachary- I am not sure I agree with that comment- the Altagracia is not a fruit bomb in style or structure. I believe it’s more about taking previous Eisele Vineyard grapes and using those for Altagracia to reduce buying outsourced grapes (in theory much higher end grapes). This came about as they moved their main wine, Eisele Estate and Syrah to the better parcels to increase quality - which is evident in the most recent vintages.
My comment above says that it is because it is all estate grapes and not outsourced. Also in their recent zoom interview with Suckling, they said they picked earlier to reduce the probability of having a more jammy wine.
100% believe that is true, just pointing out I would never refer to this wine as a typical Napa jammy wine IMO anyway.
I totally agree. Definitely never jammy. Definitely one of the best wines in Napa at its price point
Last I had the Altagracia it was a pleasant surprise. I would advise to buy but the price of it as well as the Eisele Estate are too high IMO. Although, I still buy the Sauvignon Blanc. The price may seem getting up there but it is a wonderful SB.