Winemaker Notes
Blend: 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The dense purple 2007 Perigee Seven Hills Vineyard Estate is a blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, and 10% Cabernet Franc aged for 22 months in 40% new French oak. It presents a nose of pain grille, pencil lead, mineral, violets, black currant, and blackberry leading to a wine with superb volume and concentration, impeccable balance and loads of savory black fruits. It will easily evolve for 5-7 years and provide prime drinking from 2015 to 2027.
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Wine Enthusiast
Tart and leafy, this is still resolving into a fully integrated wine. It already shows balance and depth, with a mix of plum, fig, black cherry and cassis fruit, a streak of sweet chocolate and hints of baking spice. From a great vintage, this has the balance and stuffing to age, but if you can’t keep your hands off it, decant.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
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.