Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Another wine that’s possibly the best vintage to date, the 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Mays Discovery is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon that spent 18 months in 35% new oak. Inky colored, full-bodied, concentrated and layered, with impressive black raspberry, plum, licorice, wild herbs and spring flower-like aromas and flavors, it has enough texture and fruit to shine now, yet will be better with short-term cellaring, and have two decade of overall longevity.
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Wine Spectator
Crinkly tannins underlie fresh, vibrant, floral-accented blackberry flavors, set on a medium frame that extends into the long and expressive finish. Best from 2017 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.