Estate grown, produced and bottled, Lancaster Estate's 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon has lush ripeness, with deep black cherry and cassis characters, accented by anise, cacao, vanilla and bittersweet chocolate. Supportive tannins and layers of complexity extend over the long finish. Aged 22 months in French oak barrels, the wine was bottled unfiltered to retain purity of expression.
Budbreak began early with warm temperatures in March, followed by rains in spring and early summer. A long, consistent growing season with temperatures warming in October led to clusters that were full and plump, with excellent flavor development and complexity. Yields were larger than average, showing excellent structure, with dense, full flavors.
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"Smoky, with charred oak wrapped around a tight core of dried currant, anise, sage and tar, giving this a complex range of flavors. Full-bodied, this is supple midpalate, firming up on the finish. Drink now through 2015. 4,100 cases made. –JL" -Rated 88, Wine Spectator
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"Slightly superior is the outstanding 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate, which offers up scents of fruitcake, soil undertones, forest floor, and copious quantities of black cherries and black currants as well as soft tannins in its dense, medium to full-bodied personality. It is ideal for drinking over the next decade." -Rated 90, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
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"A massive wine that absolutely demands time in the cellar, Lancaster’s ’05 is nearly all Cabernet, with tiny amounts of the other four Bordeaux varieties. It stuns with the power and authenticity of its hilly Cabernet origins, offering vast black currant, orange rind, anise and smoky oak flavors that implode on the palate. But the tannins are hard. It should blossom and fully come into its own after 2010. — S.H. (10/1/2008)" -Rated 95, Wine Enthusiast
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" Full ruby-red. Aromas of plum, currant, tobacco and dark chocolate show a bit more lift than the 2006 bottling. Supple but juicy, with a light touch to the nicely concentrated flavors of dark fruits, graphite and brown spices. Finishes with good length and clarity, and finer tannins than the '06." -Rated 91, Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar
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"5% Cabernet Franc; 2% Malbec; 2% Merlot; 1% Petit Verdot. A bit brooding and closed at present, this substantial young wine delivers plenty of depth and fruit extract from the start. It slowly unfolds to show plenty of dense, curranty fruit aligned with lots of sweet, slightly vanillin oak, and its incisive varietal flavors stay the course even as ample tannins come into play. A successful and serious effort in need of time in the cellar, it will not reach its best until a decade has passed." -Rated 91, Connoisseur's Guide to California Wines
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