Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A classic Washington State Cabernet, the 2013 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon is a medium to full-bodied, elegant and vibrant effort that offers lots of violets, cassis, and spring flower-like aromas and flavors. It shows more classic lead pencil aromas and flavors with time in the glass, has a polished, streamlined profile, building tannin, and will keep for two decades.
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Wine Enthusiast
Cabernet's signature herb aromas are on full display, riding high above notes of mineral, licorice, barrel spices and dark fruit. The black-fruit flavors are tart, layered and velvety in feel, surrounded by firm tannins that need time in the cellar to unwind. It has the legs to go the distance. Best after 2022. Cellar Selection
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Wine Spectator
Broad and expressive, with cherry, herb, cocoa and spice flavors that play against well-buffed tannins, gliding into a long finish. Drink now through 2023.
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.