2020 Slope Life Country Road Cabernet Sauvignon, Royal Slope, Washington
Slope Life is a Gård Vintners brand inspired by our family farm and sustainably farmed vineyards in the Royal Slope AVA of Washington state. Slope Life celebrates both a place and a mindset. A community where we play as hard as we work, family is everything, and handshakes are binding. Slope Life wines are approachable and crowd-pleasing, and crafted to be shared with good friends around the kitchen table or a bonfire at the end of a long day. From our estate vineyards to your glass, we are excited to share a little bit of the Slope Life with you.
Tasting Notes
100% Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from the Royal Slope with medium body and medium acidity. The nose presents blackberry, cassis, dried figs, and mocha. Flavors of black fruit and chocolate shavings with a sweet and earthy finish and a touch of oak spice.
Specs
Varietal: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon
AVA: Royal Slope, Washington State
Winemaking: destemmed, stainless steel fermented & aged for 18 months
Alcohol: 13.5%
Cases Produced: 1060
Estate-grown
Sustainable WA-Certified
What’s Included
6-bottles:
6x - 2020 Slope Life Country Road Cabernet Sauvignon, Royal Slope, Washington
Case:
12x - 2020 Slope Life Country Road Cabernet Sauvignon, Royal Slope, Washington
Gård, meaning “farm” in many of the Scandinavian languages, is a tribute to our family’s Scandinavian heritage and farming tradition.
Our mission at Gård is to capture and bottle the unique characteristics of the land we farm. We humbly craft value-driven, award-winning wines from our sustainable estate vineyards to create lasting memories for our customers. Gård Vintners is dedicated to crafting world-class wines from its sustainably farmed estate vineyard on the Royal Slope of Washington’s Columbia Valley AVA. We produce 6,000 cases a year for our wine club, three tasting rooms and select distribution in the northwest and across the country.
Founded in 2006, Gård Vintners is a family-owned and operated estate winery in the heart of Washington’s Columbia Valley AVA, with vineyards on the Royal Slope, wine production in Walla Walla, and tasting rooms in Woodinville, Walla Walla, and Ellensburg.
The winery was founded by Josh and Lisa Lawrence, along with Josh’s dad John Lawrence and uncle Sandy Lawrence, who had farmed the Royal Slope for more than 40 years. The winery and estate vineyard is now owned and operated by Josh and his wife, Lisa, who oversees sales and marketing, while Josh oversees the vineyard and other farm and orchard operations.
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IA, KS, KY, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NV, NH, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OR, PA, SC, TN, TX, VA, WA, WI
2020 Slope Life Cabernet Sauvignon
6 bottles for $79.99 $13.33/bottle + $1.33/bottle shipping
Case of 12 for $139.99 $11.67/bottle + $1/bottle shipping
Hi y’all. Not feeling especially great this week so I’m not going to do a funny themed review (because I didn’t down the whole bottle as usual), but I did have a glass (and vacuum-sealed the rest) so I’ll be able to provide some tasting notes. This was a very “interesting” wine to me. It’s unlike most other Cavignons I’ve tried over my life.
Cork (not sure if faux or not, it was a tricky one), but no top metal seal (what are those things called again?).
Very very very dark red (almost black), both in the bottle and in the glass.
Nice and thicc legs in the usual Casemates glass.
The sniffer reports a mix of jammy blueberry, sweet tobacco/menthol, and sugar cookie. Yeah, I told you it was going to get weird. It definitely had that sort of “inside a bakery” feeling to me though that I’ve rarely gotten from wines before. Smelled a bit like rum, maybe?
Upon tasting without much rest time, considerably bitter, but a smooth and mellow sort of bitter instead of sharp and puckery. A bit of a lingering bitter/sour aftertaste.
Kinda feels like the tannins are pretty low here. But I could be way off.
It’s quite dry, but the dryness is masked by the salt, so it almost feels like there’s some sugar, but I doubt there is much in practice. Not bone-dry, though.
Finally, the most important aspect: the taste. Which was in fact very earthy. Not sour or acidic at all, and not rich and jammy. Outside of the earthiness and possibly oakiness, I didn’t get any of the blackberry/cassis/dried figs/mocha/black fruit/chocolate shaving notes in the product description. I mean, you can get “black fruit” from pretty much any red wine, but I definitely didn’t think of chocolate when I drank this. On the other hand, I perceived it to be quite briny, like from the juice of a can of olives that you’d use for a Martini. Definitely hits the back and underneath of the tongue more than the tip and front.
I’d say that it was a somewhat sophisticated taste. Probably would do better paired with a cigar than with food, but I dunno. I’ll try to have a second glass tonight or tomorrow and see how it changed after sitting for three days, and maybe grab a piece of cheese with it. No promises, but if I do, I’ll reply to this review with an update.
@ShotgunX please help me out here;
I don’t understand, when tasting, and hopefully reporting changes over a day or few, why is it that we frequently see a vacuum-seal, or in some other manner used, that will tend to preserve it in it’s current state, rather than see where it goes after some exposure to air.
Otoh, if it’s in a sweet spot, by all means do whatever is appropriate to keep it there, (vacuum, cork/fridge, Ar, Coravin) if the bottle won’t be drained that first day. Keep that 25 year old Cab singing for additional enjoyment.
@rjquillin@ShotgunX letting it oxygenate for an hour or 2 is quite different from 24 hours, so by vacuum sealing and preventing from additional oxygen contact it should slow the change, no?
@rjquillin Vacuum seals don’t eliminate all of the air from the bottle; they just slow down the process. After vacuum-sealing for a week (which is what I usually do with half a bottle), the wine will be as if you decanted it for many hours in open air. If you seal a wine and leave it for a month or two, it’s still going to end up tasting like vinegar. Inert gas replacement mechanisms like the Coravin are the only way to stop the process (almost) entirely instead of merely slowing it down.
I previously ordered the mix Gård Cab and grand klasse cab back in 2024. Even 2 years later it is definitely very tight when first opened and takes a few hours in the decanter to open up, yet still has that dark cherry, earthy, loamy, tobacco taste and mouth feel to it. Quite satisfying to me versus the seeming popular fruit forward cab. Not that this is the same, but sounds similar. https://casemates.com/forum/topics/gard-vintners-cabernet-sauvignon-mix
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: tax and shipping are not included in savings calculations.)
2020 Slope Life Cabernet Sauvignon - $20 = 12.50%
2020 Slope Life Country Road Cabernet Sauvignon, Royal Slope, Washington
Tasting Notes
Specs
What’s Included
6-bottles:
Case:
Price Comparison
$270.00/Case for 12x 2020 Slope Life Country Road Cabernet Sauvignon, Royal Slope, Washington at Gård Estate Wines
About The Winery
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IA, KS, KY, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NV, NH, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OR, PA, SC, TN, TX, VA, WA, WI
Estimated Delivery
Monday, Apr 6 - Tuesday, Apr 7
2020 Slope Life Cabernet Sauvignon
6 bottles for $79.99 $13.33/bottle + $1.33/bottle shipping
Case of 12 for $139.99 $11.67/bottle + $1/bottle shipping
Hi y’all. Not feeling especially great this week so I’m not going to do a funny themed review (because I didn’t down the whole bottle as usual), but I did have a glass (and vacuum-sealed the rest) so I’ll be able to provide some tasting notes. This was a very “interesting” wine to me. It’s unlike most other Cavignons I’ve tried over my life.
I’d say that it was a somewhat sophisticated taste. Probably would do better paired with a cigar than with food, but I dunno. I’ll try to have a second glass tonight or tomorrow and see how it changed after sitting for three days, and maybe grab a piece of cheese with it. No promises, but if I do, I’ll reply to this review with an update.
@ShotgunX please help me out here;
I don’t understand, when tasting, and hopefully reporting changes over a day or few, why is it that we frequently see a vacuum-seal, or in some other manner used, that will tend to preserve it in it’s current state, rather than see where it goes after some exposure to air.
Otoh, if it’s in a sweet spot, by all means do whatever is appropriate to keep it there, (vacuum, cork/fridge, Ar, Coravin) if the bottle won’t be drained that first day. Keep that 25 year old Cab singing for additional enjoyment.
@ShotgunX
By no means was that screed meant to be personal in any way.
I’m just bewildered that that practice seems so common.
@rjquillin @ShotgunX letting it oxygenate for an hour or 2 is quite different from 24 hours, so by vacuum sealing and preventing from additional oxygen contact it should slow the change, no?
@rjquillin Vacuum seals don’t eliminate all of the air from the bottle; they just slow down the process. After vacuum-sealing for a week (which is what I usually do with half a bottle), the wine will be as if you decanted it for many hours in open air. If you seal a wine and leave it for a month or two, it’s still going to end up tasting like vinegar. Inert gas replacement mechanisms like the Coravin are the only way to stop the process (almost) entirely instead of merely slowing it down.
I previously ordered the mix Gård Cab and grand klasse cab back in 2024. Even 2 years later it is definitely very tight when first opened and takes a few hours in the decanter to open up, yet still has that dark cherry, earthy, loamy, tobacco taste and mouth feel to it. Quite satisfying to me versus the seeming popular fruit forward cab. Not that this is the same, but sounds similar.
https://casemates.com/forum/topics/gard-vintners-cabernet-sauvignon-mix
Apparently I should have read more thoroughly, this doesnt sound the same at all.
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: tax and shipping are not included in savings calculations.)
2020 Slope Life Cabernet Sauvignon - $20 = 12.50%
A video tasting of the Slope Life line, including, I believe, this offering (toward the end):