Winemaker Notes
Blend: 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Malbec, 8% Merlot, 7% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Looking at the two Cabernet Sauvignon releases from Doubleback, the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon is 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Malbec, and the rest Merlot and Petit Verdot (from the McQueen, Lefore, and Schafer vineyards) that was brought up in 74% new French oak, with 6% in concrete. Its deep purple hue is followed by a terrific perfume of ripe plums, cassis, spicy oak, and lead pencil shaving-like notes, and it picks up some floral and violet notes with time in the glass. Medium to full-bodied, nicely balanced, and textured, with ample tannins, it's going to benefit from just 3-4 years of bottle age and, I suspect, have two decades of overall longevity.
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Vinous
The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon blends the power and intensity of the vintage with DoubleBack's style of undeniable elegance. It wafts up with an enticingly classic bouquet of crushed violets and plums complemented by hints of graphite, stone dust and lavender. It's silky smooth, seamless and supple, with depths of ripe red and black fruits that swirl across a radiant stream of cooling acidity. The 2021 finishes with fantastic length. Structured through the perfumed finale, it boasts sweet tannins and a tinge of licorice that lingers on and on. This is beautifully executed and built for the cellar.
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Wine Enthusiast
The ride begins with blueberry and black olive aromas graced by anise and thyme notes. Grippy tannins and a full-bodied mouthfeel accompany the wine's red raspberry, pomegranate and cedar flavors. There's also a wee spice note that's difficult to pin down. Enjoy with steak and portobello mushrooms from 2024–2038.
Cellar Selection -
James Suckling
This is a rich yet bright and mineral cabernet showing olives, iodine, dried flowers and fresh black fruit on the nose. It’s full-bodied with supple, ripe tannins.
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Wine Spectator
This is a rich yet bright and mineral cabernet showing olives, iodine, dried flowers and fresh black fruit on the nose. It’s full-bodied with supple, ripe tannins. Lovely silky texture. Drink or hold.
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.