NEWBIE! L'Envolée Wines - Special Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Offer

BerserkerDay Archive (BerserkerDays 1-14) BerserkerDay 14 - January 27, 2023
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Hi Berserkers! Newbies here. We’re Caitlin and Quentin Lhommeau, the owners and winemaking duo behind the scenes of L’Envolée Wines. We’re excited to join you all this year and introduce our 2019 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon to the Berserker community.

ABOUT THE WINE: The 2019 L’Envolée Cabernet Sauvignon is an elegant, fruit-driven wine made up of 95% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Merlot all from a single vineyard site in the heart of the Napa Valley. This wine features a vibrant acidity anchored by round tannins that provide depth and power while highlighting notes of wild strawberries, vanilla, and spice. This is a micro-production; only 59 cases and a few magnums were produced. 14.5% ABV. Find more technical information here.

Jeb Dunnuck gave it 98 points and called it a “stunning wine any way you look at it.” Your fellow Berserkers like it too! @Sharad_S called it “incredible” and @ray_ormand even called it “wine of the year”.

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ABOUT US: We each have day jobs working for top Napa producers including 100-point winemakers Russell Bevan, Julien Fayard, Philippe Melka, and Mike Smith. L’Envolée is our personal side project, our opportunity for full creative freedom in crafting a premium Napa wine of our own. L’Envolée has a yearly production of just 2 barrels(~60 cases) showcasing Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. We’re truly a 2-person show around here: we personally do all of the hands-on winework, manage e-commerce and business operations, as well as pack and ship out each wine order. Find out more about us at L’Envolée Wines

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HOW TO PURCHASE: Sign up on our website here and select your “offering”.

SHIPPING:
-Unfortunately we cannot ship to the following states: AK, AL, AR, CT, DE, HI, MI, MS, MT, NJ, RI, SD, UT
-We offer complimentary delivery or pick-up in the Napa Valley. Please choose this option at checkout.
-All orders will be shipped the week of February 6, weather permitting. If this does not work for you, please indicate so in the notes of your order or email us at hello@lenvoleewines.com

CONTACT US: Email hello@lenvoleewines.com or call us at 707-812-1599.

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2019 L’Envolee Cabernet Sauvignon

Posting this note as a Monople Member and received this wine gratis from the winery.

Preamble: We stood this up in the cellar for two weeks prior to opening. Opened at 55 degrees, room temperature 65 degrees. Opened at 5 pm, exactly. Tasted with my wife.

Off the top, wonderful color, no bricking, nice translucent appearance. It is alluring to gaze upon.

The nose was killer. Some blackberry/dark berry, no oxidized notes. I served this to my wife blind, and she said, “Straight up cab, baby!” It had great typicity. (I don’t mention this to be flippant. It comes across as what you are about to enjoy.)

We tasted before and then with food.

There was great tartness, with firm structure and backbone. Some ‘fig skin’ notes, rather than fig flesh. My wife noted a hint of cacao and after she said this, I agree. She mostly noticed this on her posterior palate, and there was a creaminess to it she found much to her liking. Velvety texture on the tongue. Really great mouth feel.

Ripe (just right) flavors predominate, and the pleasures of California cabernet are here!

As a comparison, my wife mentioned the Pott cabernets (single vineyards) and also a touch of Tres Perlas’ Desde Luisa cabernet (I would rate the L’Envolee ahead of the Desde Luisa.).

The first third of the bottle simply vanished. No kidding around, you probably know that feeling.

The wine improved with a little more evolution toward room temperature. It also went well with dinner. We tasted with saffron rice and a beef/bean cassoulet type dish we made and the wine shined with dinner. (Saffron seems to enhance the impression of tannins, and this appeared, but in a finely textured and well composed way.) I mention this because I think saffron is a tough match, and the L’Envolee handled it with aplomb.

With more time open, more and more classic Cali cabs notes rose up, it rewarded breathing time. My wife said the chocolate coffee note (just a note, nothing distracting, also remained on the finish, back on the back of her tongue.) She also mentioned that she thought the wine would stand up to most well spiced dishes, it seemed versatile. More head nodding from me.

There was a faint/miniscule touch of dried grape somewhere near the fig note when we first opened the wine, but this sensation went away as we progressed through the evening.

With food, the wine fit in a similar niche to Rafanelli’s Reserve cabernet – a really fine proud cab that enjoys hanging out and enjoying food. (There is a bit less wood and a very slight hint of lactic acid ‘roundness’ compared to the Rafanelli. Also, more depth, I think, than the Rafanelli, this wine was slightly better at ‘layers.’)

What else to mention:

The wine has a characteristic I especially like, and that is a ‘cool’ mouthfeel.’ No overt alcohol hotness. To be a pretentious wine nerd: it’s more of a ‘yin’ wine in this regard…it really leaves the palate clean feeling with an upper front and lateral back of top palate finish that lingers pleasantly. The wine is enjoyable on the back end of the taste, as well. I’d call the finish medium long.

By 7 pm we were using terms big, even kind of epic. It enraptured us. Sour cherry became present in the background…still staying in the dark/red fruit category.

Not as overtly oaky as many California cabs, but you could find some – maybe that faint feeling I mentioned of a lactic acid note was more like a skooch of vanilla, but this is way down in the mix. The wine is clearly well made enough to allow me sit and ponder and be found right or wrong on this! The oak here is to accompany the wine, not to over-power it. I really like the balance it created.

Best compliment of the night: At 10 pm, my wife said, “Hey! The wine is gone!” So, no notes for day number 2! In general, we almost never drink an entire bottle in a night when it’s just the two of us….and we both still wanted to keep going with this wine.

Bottom line: tasted over a 5 hour period and the wine was a great drink and it had a very friendly evolution as it sat out; and we will drink it again. I’m going to be a buyer today.

Feel free to PM me if there is anything I can add.

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I was fortunate enough to be matched by Todd with L’Envolee as a free taster for Berserker Day. Here was my experience:

Drank after dinner on New Year’s eve with my wife, my parents, and my brother in an effort to get the wisdom of the crowd. As recommended by Caitlin, we had a very nice Camembert to see how it pairs. Here is what we came up with:

Nice Legs, Deep Garnet color.

Nose: Earthy, saddle leather, walnut, a little dark cherry, currants, brambles and blackberry, plus a little heat that blew off after a few minutes. As it opened up the berry / cherry notes come more to the fore.

On the Palette: A reasonably big wine as you would expect from a Napa Cabernet, but not overpowering. Fresh acidity, Dark / Blue berries on entry, with some spice (cloves? Nutmeg?) notes. Soft tannins in the finish, really nicely integrated - surprisingly evolved as I’ve been told is a hallmark of the 2019 vintage across the West Coast. The tannins are there to suggest this wine has staying power, but it is nicely approachable already. Will only get better with time, however!

With Camembert: red fruits and berries come to the fore, with the cheese cutting through the tannins

We discussed further and two of us said we would give it a 94 rating. My father, on hearing it got a 98 from Jeb Dunnuck said - maybe it could get there over time, but wouldn’t rate it there right now. He compared it to an ~$80 Atlas Peak Cab that he had had recently, and thought the Atlas Peak was a little rounder and more integrated at this stage of its life.

So the big question? Would I buy this wine at the Retail Price of $125? Frankly, that’s a little rich of a price point for my cellar - my cellar is mostly $50-$80 wines, so I’m a bit out of my depth on what represents QPR at $125. With the BD14 discount I think its a pretty good buy. All I can say is that I thoroughly enjoyed this wine, it has nice complexity and flavor, goes really well with what you would expect it to - cheese, red meat, etc. and I think it will get better and better with time. If that sounds like your profile, you won’t go wrong here.

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I’ve been interested in trying this after seeing the great review by Jeb. Thanks for participating!

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Not a newbie taster, but I’m a fan of what Caitlin is doing with these Cabernets!

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Thank you for the kind words @L_Harris

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Thank you so much @Anton_D !! I’m glad that you and your wife enjoyed our wine :slight_smile:

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I’m glad to hear it! We’re happy to be participating in our first BD. Thanks to you and the rest of the WB community for having us!

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Hi Michael, thanks for your support! I really appreciate it.

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I’ve not met Caitlin though I had to wait for her to move a forklift when leaving a tasting with Margaret Tench last Spring, so she clearly knows her way around a winery! We’ve traded some emails after I bought a few bottles of her wine on the recommendation of my brother Chris, and wow, they simply floored me! They are that good! She’s assisted and learned from some of the best in the winemaking biz, and as I’ve said before she can play with the big boys! Just an awesome wine and yes I’ll be stocking up some more tomorrow!

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Also a Berserker who was fortunate enough to stumble onto Caitlin’s list back a few years (under the name (subsequently retired) of Resolution).

What Anton wrote is true for me&mrs as well, “In general, we almost never drink an entire bottle in a night when it’s just the two of us….and we both still wanted to keep going with this wine.”

Engagingly complicated, restrained, delicious wines. Give them air and time, and they happily disappear.

I’ll be a buyer too :blush:

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Thanks for your kind words, Mark. I appreciate your support and I’m glad you’ve been enjoying the wines! I do actually spend a lot of time on a forklift… I’m an organizer by nature and the forklift just takes that to the next level :smile:

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Thanks Ezra! I’m so glad you enjoy the wine so much that it disappears. That’s a huge compliment :slight_smile:

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Well said Ezra. I tasted with Caitlin in March. We sat in the backyard of her mom’s house overlooking To Kalon. While the 2019 was my wine of the year, the 2018 and 2020 were also terrific. A winemaker to watch, a wine to buy in every vintage. Considering the vineyard source, the price is a relative bargain.

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I think I missed the vineyard source. Can you share, or is it hush hush?

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Last crush…

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Thanks for the kind words and support!

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Unfortunately I cannot advertise the vineyard source but I can assure you that it’s from good dirt :slight_smile:

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lol OSHA would not be pleased with this idea (but honestly a little impressive)

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