Winemaker Notes
Blend: 94% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc, 1% Malbec
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Lots of flashy wood to the rich and juicy fruit here. Full body, round and soft tannins and a polished finish. Needs two or three years for the wood to melt in. Try in 2020.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Stone Cairn reveals rich aromas of crushed cassis, plums, licorice and creamy new oak, followed by a medium-bodied, nicely balanced palate with fine-grained structuring tannins, a juicy core of fruit and a youthfully chewy finish. It's not quite as concentrated or dramatic as the Lady Hawk bottling from Horse Heaven Hills, but this offering from Red Mountain might well be better balanced. It's a blend of 94% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Merlot and 2% Cabernet Franc.
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Wine Enthusiast
The aromas bring notes of black raspberry, cocoa, cherry, vanilla, anise and exotic barrel spice. Supple, reserved fruit flavors with firm tannins follow.
A noble variety bestowed with both power and concentration, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys success all over the globe, its best examples showing potential to age beautifully for decades. Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in Bordeaux's Medoc where it is often blended with Merlot and smaller amounts of some combination of Cabernet Franc, Malbecand Petit Verdot. In the Napa Valley, ‘Cab’ is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious, age-worthy and sought-after “cult” wines. Somm Secret—DNA profiling in 1997 revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon was born from a spontaneous crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc in 17th century southwest France.
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.