Winemaker Notes
Raspberry preserves, dried savory herb, and mocha on the nose with hints of licorice, clove, and vanilla. Expansive on the fore palate, building to a dense and rich mid-palate with strong notes of ripe fruit and baking spices. Long, lingering finish, with hints of toasty oak and vanilla.
Blend: 56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot, 7% Petit Verdot, 3% Malbec, 2% Cabernet Franc
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2018 Red Blend Red Mountain checks in as 56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot, 7% Petit Verdot, and the rest Malbec and Cabernet Franc. It's another head-turning wine with a terrific sense or purity and precision along with loads of red and black currant fruits and notes of camphor, lead pencil shavings, and chalky minerality. Medium to full-bodied, balanced, textured, and seamless, it has a solid decade of longevity ahead of it.
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Wine Enthusiast
Plum, black currant and barrel spice aromas are followed by broad dark fruit and spice flavors that show plenty of concentration and intensity. It brings a real sense a depth from start to finish.
Editors' Choice -
James Suckling
A soft, medium-tannined red with currant, chocolate and vanilla aromas and flavors. Juicy and delicious with generous fruit and a succulent finish. Drink or hold.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2018 10,000 Hours Red Mountain Red Blend is beautiful and well-packed. TASTING NOTES: This wine comes full force onto the palate with focused black fruit and lightly toasted barrels flavors. (Tasted: April 14, 2021, San Francisco, CA)
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
A coveted source of top quality red grapes among premier Washington producers, the Red Mountain AVA is actually the smallest appellation in the state. As its name might suggest, it is actually neither a mountain nor is it composed of red earth. Instead the appellation is an anticline of the Yakima fold belt, a series of geologic folds that define a number of viticultural regions in the surrounding area. It is on the eastern edge of Yakima Valley with slopes facing southwest towards the Yakima River, ideal for the ripening of grapes. The area’s springtime proliferation of cheatgrass, which has a reddish color, actually gives the area the name, "Red" Mountain.
Red Mountain produces some of the most mineral-driven, tannic and age-worthy red wines of Washington and there are a few reasons for this. It is just about the hottest appellation with normal growing season temperatures commonly reaching above 90F. The soil is particularly poor in nutrients and has a high pH, which results in significantly smaller berry sizes compared to varietal norms. The low juice to skin ratio in smaller berries combined with the strong, dry summer winds, leads to higher tannin levels in Red Mountain grapes.
The most common red grape varieties here are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Syrah, among others. Limited white varieties are grown, namely Sauvignon blanc.
The reds of the area tend to express dark black and blue fruit, deep concentration, complex textures, high levels of tannins and as previously noted, have good aging capabilities.