Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Up there with the incredible 2012, yet in a more focused, tight, backwards style, the inky colored 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Four Flags comes from four separate vineyards (Klipsun, Grand Ciel, Ciel du Cheval and Upchurch) and exhibits classic Red Mountain characteristics of black fruit, smoked herbs, licorice, graphite and dusty minerality on the nose. Possessing serious intensity, full-bodied richness, ripe, yet present tannin and a fabulous finish, it needs to be forgotten for 4-5 years, and it will drink beautifully through 2038.
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Wine & Spirits
Four Flags is drawn from four Red Mountain vineyards: Ciel du Cheval, Grand Ciel, Klipsun and DeLille’s own Upchurch vineyard. With those notable sources, it’s pretty big stuff, but there’s a brightness of tone piercing through the weighty blue gloaming that gives the wine its personality and charm. The blue-fruited flavors are dark and concentrated, but also tailored, round and comfortable. This needs to rest in the cellar; then decant it for a New York strip.
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Wine Spectator
Firm and chewy, with a green olive edge to the black cherry and rose petal flavors, coming together harmoniously against formidable tannins on the finish. Has presence and grace.
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Wine Enthusiast
A blend of Cabernet from Grand Ciel (31%), Ciel du Cheval (30%), Upchurch (28%) and Klipsun (11%) vineyards, wood spice aromas start out up front. The cherry flavors are light and elegant, with the tannins bringing some grip.
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.