Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: Looks like we California wine cognoscenti have to add the Horse Heaven AVA to our Cabernet Sauvignon hit list. While I have enjoyed these wines over the past decade or so, I now realize that I did not give the area as much attention as I should have. The 2015 Double Canyon certainly has caught my eye (or palate). TASTING NOTES: This is a bright and lively wine. Its aromas and flavors of perky red fruit and savory oak accents should pair it nicely with Porchetta. (Tasted: July 25, 2018, San Francisco, CA)
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James Suckling
Ripe mulberries and plums with a fresh earthy thread leading to a palate that has a very succulent, even and juicy mouthfeel. Mocha oak chimes in amid a wood-grained finish. Drink or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The keenly priced 2015 Horse Heaven Hills Cabernet Sauvignon burst from the glass with a dramatic bouquet of ripe cherries, sweet berry liqueur and loamy soil. On the palate, it's medium-bodied and generous, with an ample core of ripe fruit, good balancing acids and ripe but youthfully chewy tannins. Open-knit and built for near-term consumption (it's bottled under Diam 10), it's a demonstrative Cabernet Sauvignon-based blend which seems sure to be a commercial hit.
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.
"Surely this is Horse Heaven!”
Its wide prairies and rolling expanses led an early pioneer to proclaim that the region looked like “horse heaven,” and as a result, the area was appropriately named. Horse Heaven Hills is in south central Washington state, geographically bound on its northern border by the Yakima River and in the south, by the larger Columbia River.
Its proximity to the Columbia River contributes to a variety of climactic factors that dramatically affect its grapes. In particular, an increase in wind from changes in pressure along the river, which flows from the cool and wet Pacific Ocean, inland to Washington’s hot and arid plains, creates 30% more wind than there would be otherwise. These winds moderate temperatures, protect against mold and rot, reduce the risk of early and late season frosts, diminish canopy size and toughen grape skins.
The vineyards bordering the river are on steep, south-facing, well-exposed slopes, with well-drained, sandy-loam soils. But the soils of the appellation are diverse throughout, ranging from wind-blown sand and loess, Missoula Flood sediment, and rocky basalt. Horse Heaven Hills has an arid continental climate with elevations ranging from 200 to 1,800 feet.
The first vines of the appellation were planted in 1972 in an optimal spot now referred to as the Champoux Vineyard. Today it remains the source of some of Washington’s most desirable and expensive Cabernet Sauvignons. In fact, the appellation as a whole boasts many of Washington’s top scoring wines. Its primary grape varieties are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Chardonnay and Riesling.