WTN: Balsamic Vinegar???

Tried a Cabernet yesterday, Cartlidge and Brown "Snows Lake Vineyard" Lake County Red Hills. There was a distinct note of balsamic vinegar in this wine...is that the volcanic soil "talking" or something else going on?

VA? Oxidation? A combination?

I'd say it's volatile acidity talking. A major fault.

-Paul W.

Without tasting the wine (and even then it would still be an amateur judgement) I'd also suspect VA.

However unlike Paul, I'll accept and even enjoy it in moderate concentration. Some wines can get away with it, others can't. To some people, it (like Brett) is an out and out fault, to others it adds complexity on occasions.