Winemaker Notes
Pairs well with a rack of lamb or lamb chops, grill them with a little black pepper and red wine. Linguica stuffed smoked pork loin with black beans pair amazingly with this wine also. The easy go-to meal is a grilled free range beef patty or portabello mushroom with a bit of blue cheese on great bread.
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Enthusiast
This wine is pulled from vineyards across the Columbia Valley, including Heather Hill, Bacchus, Dionysus, Ciel du Cheval and Destiny Ridge. A nuanced wine, it shows winemaker John Abbott in top form with its rich, layered fruit flavors, dazzling sense of texture and lengthy finish. It's drinking beautifully but promises to have a long life in front of it in the cellar.Editors' Choice
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2012 Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is brilliant. A blend of 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Merlot and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, aged 23 months in 60% new French oak, it boasts classic Cabernet notes of dark currants, crushed rock, bouquet garni and earth. This is followed by a medium to full-bodied wine that has good concentration, nicely integrated acidity and tons of character. Like a lot of 2012s, there’s enough texture and fruit here to keep it enjoyable, but it will also age beautifully. Drink 2017-2032
-
Wine Spectator
Broad and open-textured, with nubby tannins around a focused core of black cherry, roasted meat and sage flavors, picking up a chocolate note as the finish lingers. Drink now through 2020.
Washington produces so many exciting wines, and that definitely includes Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. With over 10,000 acres under vine, Cabernet Sauvignon is now the most widely-grown varietal in the state. Terrific examples hail from sub-appellations like Red Mountain, Wahluke Slope, Horse Heaven Hills and Walla Walla Valley. One of the fascinations of these Columbia Valley Cabs is that they so often seem to have one foot in the New World and one in the Old. Representing the former are characteristics like the ripe, forward fruit that results from long sunny days during the growing season (up to two hours longer than in much of California). Old World similarities include an undeniable brightness from acidity, as well as notes of herbs, graphite and a dusty, sometimes gravelly minerality.
Whether you’re looking for a budget bottle for everyday enjoyment, or a stellar, world-class wine with tremendous aging potential, Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon wines can deliver the goods! Among the many fine options are bottles from Columbia Crest, Chateau Ste. Michelle, L’ecole #41, Quilceda Creek and Leonetti.