Important Update From the Founder

Fairchild Wine Tasting

St Helena California

Tasted August 10, 2017 by wineman73 with 743 views

Introduction

Our third stop for day 1 was at the Taman Ayu property. This is the property of Lawrence Fairchild of Fairchild wines. Fairchild wines is a very small production wine that is driven by the passion and vision of Lawrence Fairchild and wine maker Philippe Melka. Lawrence was a gracious host, who provided a wonderful overview of his wines. It was amazing to see the level of detail that goes into the farming, packaging, bottling, and creation of his sultry substance. Lawrence came across as an individual on a mission to create the perfect Cabernet Sauvignon wine in Napa. Lawrence is a person who appreciates the smallest of details. This is very evident in the branding, packaging and most importantly, the taste of his wines! I have been fascinated by the Fairchild wines, especially after having the 2005 Sigaro with a friend a few years back. This led me to acquire some of the Fairchild wines on the secondary market 2 years ago and most recently joined the list of their yearly offerings. Many great reviews have been written about Fairchild wines, especially the Stone 1 and Stone 2. I tend to be very disciplined aging my cabernet. I have a rule, which is not to drink until at least 10 years of age. It’s a rule that I learned from a good friend who has a great passion for wine, especially older ones. It always makes me nervous to rely on professional reviews to purchase high end cab without tasting, so I was super excited to see that Lawrence was offering a tasting of his portfolio. This included the 2014 GIII, 2014 Sigaro, 2014 Stone 1, 2014 Stone 2, and the 2015 Stone 3. The Stone 3 is a new offering made with fruit from the Tenche Vineyard. The 2015 vintage is the inaugural release for Stone 3. What a treat! All of these wines were great. The 2014 Stone 2 and 2015 Stone 3 are absolutely incredible! I could easily see a 100 point rating for the 2014 Stone 2 in the future.

Flight 1 - 2014 Fairchild Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Sigaro (1 note)

Red

2014 Fairchild Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Sigaro USA, California, Napa Valley, St. Helena

93 points

A beautiful ruby red color that had very good viscosity. The smell of the wine was wonderful with scents of dark berries. The taste was not overpowering for a young cab, which was surprising considering that the wine lacked transparency in the glass with a very pronounced nose. The acidity was on target and the mouth feel was medium to heavy. Flavors of dark fruits exploded on the palate with a nice finish of blackberry, dark cherries and chocolate. This is a very nice wine and can age another 20 years. Score 93

Comment

Flight 2 - 2014 Fairchild Estate Cabernet Sauvignon G III (1 note)

Red

2014 Fairchild Estate Cabernet Sauvignon G III USA, California, Napa Valley, St. Helena

94 points

After tasting the Sigaro, I was expecting a more masculine wine. I was pleasantly surprised by its "dandy" characteristics. It was neither masculine or feminine. After seeing, smelling and tasting, the wine seemed to take on characteristics of both, which was awesome! The color was a dark ruby red with medium viscosity. The nose was filled with scents of violets, boysenberry, blueberry and other dark fruits. The taste provided a balance of acidity and mouth feel, which was not heavy and overly extracted. The tannins were neutral. I would describe as a 3 on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being strong tannins. You were able to taste fruit in a way, which allowed you to appreciate the other characteristics of the wine. There were significant layers of rich chocolate covered cherries, graphite, and blackberry. A nice finish as well! This is a very good wine! If drinking now, I would decant for at least 3 hours. Delicious! Score 94

Comment

Flight 3 - 2014 Fairchild Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Stones No. 1 Beckstoffer Las Piedras Vineyard (1 note)

Red

2014 Fairchild Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Stones No. 1 Beckstoffer Las Piedras Vineyard USA, California, Napa Valley, St. Helena

95 points

Tasted this wine with the other Fairchild wines from 2014. This is another exceptional wine from the Fairchild line up. Awesome color and nose. Very bright red fruit flavors expressed on the nose. The color was dark red and lacked translucency. The taste was fantastic with medium tannins and nice balanced acidity. The deep rich taste provided flavors of tobacco, cherry, and cassis berry. Score 95

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Flight 4 - 2014 Fairchild Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Stones No. 2 Pritchard Hil (1 note)

Red

2014 Fairchild Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Stones No. 2 Pritchard Hill USA, California, Napa Valley

98 points

Wow, Wow, Wow! This has to be in the top 5 of all the wines I have had in my life. I would not normally be that over the top with a young cab, but this one made a lasting impression. I have had the opportunity to drink a lot of very nice “cult” cabs and prestigious first growth Bordeaux with many scoring 100 points. I recently did a double blind tasting of 10 different 95+ Napa cabs from the epic 2013 vintage. Although this one is from 2014, it was above and beyond any of those 2013 95+ Napa cabs. The wine was a dark, deep garnet red with a nose that was subtle compared to what it had to offer inside of the mouth. The taste was an explosion of flavors with nice gripping tannins. The fruit did not overwhelm like the other young cult cabs I have tried in the past. Flavors of ripe blueberries, blackberries, milk chocolate and a hint of leather tantalized the taste buds. On the nose and palate, the wine did not give the impression that it was overly extracted. The presentation of flavors seemed to be diverse and perfect! This is fruit from prestigious Pritchard Hill vines and it did not disappoint! Awesome acidity and structure that had a lasting finish. A finish that seemed like 2 minutes. This is a wine that will be amazing with 10 years of age. I would not be surprised if this is scored 100 points down the road! I can only imagine the layers of secondary flavors that will evolve from this one! Too bad we have no time machine to 2024. Nevertheless, patience will be highly rewarded. Incredible!! Score 98

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Flight 5 - 2015 Fairchild Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Stones No. 3 Tench Vineyard (1 note)

Red

2015 Fairchild Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Stones No. 3 Tench Vineyard USA, California, Napa Valley

97 points

The last wine of our tasting with Lawrence Fairchild was the 2015 Stone 3. Lawrence was very generous to let us try his newest offering from Fairchild wine. The Stone 3 is a wine that is made with fruit from the famous Tenche vineyard. This is another incredible offering from Fairchild! The nose was very pronounced with beautiful red and dark fruits. It also had very good acidity. It was not overly extracted, which allowed for an exposure to many different flavors of dark fruit and hints of leather and spice. This one is also one that will evolve wonderfully over time. These are wines that will age well compared to many other small production Napa cabs. Another great wine! Score 97

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Closing

This tasting was fantastic. All of the wines were great! The 2014 Stones 2 was just amazing!! Very excited to have this in my cellar and can't wait to age these wines and drink when they are older.