Winemaker Notes
The wine is velvet smooth and long as a summer day. It continues with black raspberry, spring flowers, fresh pine needles, crushed black slate and orange peel. It is something to be discovered, grace and contentment.
Blend: 70% Mourvedre, 25% Grenache, 5% Syrah
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2019 Gratitude Blend checks in as 70% Mourvèdre, 25% Grenache, and the rest Syrah, all from the Olsen Brother's vineyard in the Yakima Valley. Brought up in neutral barrels, it's a smoking good wine from Leighton offering medium to full-bodied aromas and flavors of ripe red and black fruits, peppery herbs, iron, and loamy earth. With the fresher, focused, elegant style of the vintage, it brings ripe tannins, has a great mouthfeel, and beautiful length on the finish. Count me impressed. This is one thrilling expression of Mourvèdre that will keep for a decade. Best After 2022
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James Suckling
Aromas of ripe red cherry, rose and ripe raspberry. Medium-bodied with bright acidity. Velvety tannins. Strawberry chocolate with an underlying floral note. Peppery too, with bright acidity. Delightful. 70% mourvedre, 25% grenache and 5% syrah.
With bold fruit flavors and accents of sweet spice, Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre form the base of the classic Rhône Red Blend, while Carignan, Cinsault and Counoise often come in to play. Though they originated from France’s southern Rhône Valley, with some creative interpretation, Rhône blends have also become popular in other countries. Somm Secret—Putting their own local spin on the Rhône Red Blend, those from Priorat often include Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. In California, it is not uncommon to see Petite Sirah make an appearance.
As the first recognized wine-growing region in the Pacific Northwest, Yakima Valley is centrally located within Washington’s vast Columbia Valley. The region also includes Washington’s oldest Cabernet Sauvignon vines, Otis Vineyard, planted in 1957, and Harrison Hill Vineyard, planted in 1963. Yakima Valley contains three smaller sub-regions: Rattlesnake Hills, Red Mountain, and Snipes Mountain and is ideal for both red and white wine production. In fact, Yakima Valley is Washington’s most diverse region, boasting more than 40 different grape varieties over about one hundred miles.
The cooler parts of the valley are home to almost half of the Chardonnay and Riesling produced in the state! Both are made in a wide range of styles depending on the conditions of the vineyard site.
But its warmer locations yield a large proportion of Washington’s best Merlot, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon. The finest Yakima Valley reds are jam-packed full of red cherry, currant, raspberry or blackberry fruit, as well as cocoa, herb, spice and savory notes, and exhibit a supple texture, great body, focus and length.