Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Another elegant, beautifully balanced 2013 from Chris, the 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Mays Discovery is 100% varietal and spent 18 months in 35% new French oak. From the slightly cooler Horse Heaven Hills AVA, it offers plenty of crushed rock, smoked herbs, licorice and Bing cherry characteristics in a medium to full-bodied, nicely textured, lengthy package. It still has some oak to integrate, but should round into form with short-term cellaring and have an easy two decades of overall longevity.
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Wine Enthusiast
Brooding aromas of earth, herb, dried leaf, black currant, blue fruit and barrel spice are followed by focused blue and black-fruit flavors. Lightly crunchy tannins back it all up.
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.