Doubleback Cabernet Sauvignon 2017
-
Jeb
Dunnuck - Decanter
-
James
Suckling -
Robert
Parker
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
This new vintage is turning out to be a stunner. Leading with graphite, pencil shavings, tobacco leaf and dark cherry. We started harvest on September 29th with our estate Malbec from Bob Healy Vineyard and ended on October 24th with Petit Verdot from our estate McQueen Vineyard. The 2017 has fine grained mid palate richness with an uber long finish. Across the board, the vintage has an incredible freshness to the wines as well. I would give this wine two more years in the bottle before opening or decant and watch it develop in the glass for an awesome experience. Drink 2022–2042.
Blend: 87% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Merlot, 6% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
-
Jeb Dunnuck
There are two Cabernet Sauvignon releases from this estate. Looking at the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon first, it checks I as 87% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Merlot, and 6% Petit Verdot that was aged 23 months in new and once-used French oak. This gorgeous, full-bodied effort has a wonderful sense of purity and balance as well as classic notes of cassis, blueberries, graphite, charcoal, chocolate, and lead pencil shavings. It's one of the top wines in the vintage and will keep for 20-25 years or more. It's a wine that builds slowly with time in the glass, so give it a solid decant if drinking anytime soon.
-
Decanter
An impressive quality of aromatic intrigue and finesse - fresh dark berry fruits mingling with violets, spice and oak - follows from nose to palate. Splendid.
-
James Suckling
A big, chewy cabernet blend with lots of extracted tannins that frame the rich, intense fruit. It’s a little old-school with all the concentration, yet it remains fresh and agile at the same time. 87% cabernet sauvignon, 7% merlot and 6% petit verdot. Needs two or three years to soften. Try after 2022.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A blend of 87% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7 % Merlot and 6% Petit Verdot, the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon opens to a dense and chewy core with a firm dark fruit presence, offering aromas of black raspberry, blackberry and dark currant with a firm stony minerality and a generous helping of oak. Full-bodied, the wine is tight and rigid with a tannic structure before giving way to a tight frame of black fruit that will need some time to mellow. Concluding with a long, lingering finish, a mineral tension and tannic edge remain persistent on the palate with residual flavors of cedar and blackberry skin. Do let this rest in the wine cellar for a few years before opening.
Other Vintages
2020-
Jeb
Dunnuck -
James
Suckling -
Robert
Parker - Decanter
-
Jeb
Dunnuck -
Robert
Parker -
James
Suckling
-
Jeb
Dunnuck -
Wine &
Spirits -
Wine
Spectator -
James
Suckling -
Robert
Parker
-
Jeb
Dunnuck - Decanter
-
Wine
Spectator -
James
Suckling -
Robert
Parker -
Wine
Enthusiast
-
Jeb
Dunnuck -
James
Suckling -
Wine
Spectator -
Wine
Enthusiast
-
Robert
Parker -
Wine
Enthusiast
-
Robert
Parker -
Wine
Enthusiast
-
Robert
Parker -
Wine
Spectator -
Wine
Enthusiast
-
Robert
Parker -
Wine
Enthusiast -
Wine
Spectator
-
Wine
Enthusiast -
Robert
Parker -
Wine
Spectator
-
Wine
Spectator -
Wine
Enthusiast -
Robert
Parker
-
Wine
Spectator -
Wine
Enthusiast -
Robert
Parker
-
Wine
Spectator -
Robert
Parker -
Wine
Enthusiast
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.
Responsible for some of Washington’s most highly acclaimed wines, the Walla Walla Valley has experienced a surge in popularity in recent years and is home to both historic wineries and younger, up-and-coming producers.
The Walla Walla Valley, a Native American name meaning “many waters,” is located in southeastern Washington; part of the appellation actually extends into Oregon. Soils here are well-drained, sandy loess over Missoula Flood deposits and fractured basalt.
It is a region perfectly suited to Rhône-inspired Syrahs, distinguished by savory notes of red berry, black olive, smoke and fresh earth. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot create a range of styles from smooth and supple to robust and well-structured. White varieties are rare but some producers blend Sauvignon Blanc with Sémillon, resulting in a rich and round style, and plantings of Viognier, while minimal, are often quite successful.
Of note within Walla Walla, is one new and very peculiar appellation, called the Rocks District of Milton-Freewater. This is the only AVA in the U.S. whose boundaries are totally defined by the soil type. Soils here look a bit like those in the acclaimed Rhône region of Chateauneuf-du-Pape, but are large, ancient, basalt cobblestones. These stones work in the same way as they do in Chateauneuf, absorbing and then radiating the sun's heat up to enhance the ripening of grape clusters. The Rocks District is within the part of Walla Walla that spills over into Oregon and naturally excels in the production of Rhône varieties like Syrah, as well as the Bordeaux varieties.