Yes, the $175 East Block is entirely from the old vine East Block (planted in 1949).
The regular CF bottling is a blend of the old vine East Block and the more recently planted West Block (replanted in 2015).
And the Cab Sauv is a blend of the West Block and the South Block (planted in 1997).
The East Block CF is a massive, but structured wine. It needs a LONG time to be tamed.
I much prefer the regular CF and CS. As others (and Galloni) have said, you’d be hard pressed to identify the CF in a blind tasting. But it sure is good. As is the CS.
I’m a big fan of the Lieu Dit wines. Eric Railsback is Justin’s partner in that project. Eric’s brother, Lyle, works for Kermit-Lynch. The brothers have a project that focuses on rose that is solid. All that to say, I think they are trying to produce a cab franc that a Francophile would enjoy.
This may have been posted elsewhere by others in the past. In December of 2014 I visited with Tom Garrett at the Detert Vineyard and we discussed all three blocks om video. Looking back at what I shot nearly 7 years ago at the cusp of the premiere of East Block is a special memory for me. I was one of first retail accounts for Detert at Dean & Deluca two decades ago and that relationship led me to meeting Graeme and Alex and writing the first review on MacDonald. I think this answers a lot of WB questions behind the brand and what it means to have such a piece of history under family control in such a legendary piece of dirt. I’m so happy I asked intelligent questions! An Afternoon at Detert Family Vineyards with Tom Garrett - worth noting - pdwr | purely domestic wine report
Their cab franc tastes like cabernet sauvignon, sure, but even my French friend who introduced me to Clos Rougeard loves Detert – knowing that it doesn’t even remotely taste like the Loire varietals. It’s just good juice. Detert is one of the very few producers I will buy from every year, and their 2002 Horton Block is maybe the best California cabernet sauvignon I’ve had. I have a bottle of 1977 Detert Cabernet Franc on deck. Every bottle I’ve had needs about three hours of air before it comes around, so I’m curious what will happen with this 44 year old.
The East Block was replanted in 1979 using the 1949 material which was an unknown clone, now known as ‘Detert Clone’. The reason to replace it was the miniscule 1.5 tons/acre. In the video I posted , Tom mentions that at 35 years (in 2014) the yields were similar.
After not getting a CS alocation in 16 and passing, then passing again in 17, I got 3 of each for 18. In and hope to get up in next month to taste with them
It says this 2018 is the first year of adding the 2015 planted West Block into the mix. I think that means the '16 and '17 Oakville Cab Franc was made entirely from the East Block old vines?
F&%$ing Wine Beserkers…
Got on Detert’s mailing list after reading all the glowing reports here a few weeks ago. My idea of steely resolve was to order just 2 Cab Francs instead of 3. In the end I folded- got 3 CS and 3 CF coming.
Got the email around 11:50 AM Eastern. Bought my full allocation of 3 CF and 3 CS. That’s pretty much the same as I’m allocated every year, except last year when there was a limited quantity of the Cab Sauv and my allocation was cut back to 2 bottles.