Winemaker Notes
Blend: 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Malbec, 12% Petit Verdot, 1% Cabernet Franc
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
In an effort to further differentiate the Foreshadow Merlot from the Foreshadow Cabernet, winemaker John Bookwalter has kept each out of the other’s blend. This is a riveting, complex, supersized wine, with alcohol over 15% and plenty of intriguing barrel flavors. The black cherry-berry fruit is swathed in spice, chocolate, cedar and coffee, complex and well-crafted.
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Wine Spectator
Ripe and round, with a sprinkle of gritty tannins around a generous core of cherry, rhubarb, orange peel and spice flavors. Shows polish and density that carries everything into the long finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2008 Foreshadow Cabernet Sauvignon (75%) contains 12% Malbec, 12% Petit Verdot, and 1% Cabernet Franc in its makeup. Aromas of sandalwood, incense, Asian spices, lilacs, and assorted black fruits inform the nose of a velvety-textured, incipiently complex, layered wine with excellent balance and length. Give it 2-3 years to fully blossom and drink it from 2013 to 2023.
Washington produces so many exciting wines, and that definitely includes Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. With over 10,000 acres under vine, Cabernet Sauvignon is now the most widely-grown varietal in the state. Terrific examples hail from sub-appellations like Red Mountain, Wahluke Slope, Horse Heaven Hills and Walla Walla Valley. One of the fascinations of these Columbia Valley Cabs is that they so often seem to have one foot in the New World and one in the Old. Representing the former are characteristics like the ripe, forward fruit that results from long sunny days during the growing season (up to two hours longer than in much of California). Old World similarities include an undeniable brightness from acidity, as well as notes of herbs, graphite and a dusty, sometimes gravelly minerality.
Whether you’re looking for a budget bottle for everyday enjoyment, or a stellar, world-class wine with tremendous aging potential, Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon wines can deliver the goods! Among the many fine options are bottles from Columbia Crest, Chateau Ste. Michelle, L’ecole #41, Quilceda Creek and Leonetti.