Winemaker Notes
Perigee epitomizes this Estate vineyard’s distinctive cedar and dark fruit, framed by a structured elegance. It explodes with aromas of spiced blackberry and boysenberry, tobacco and licorice, lifted by floral notes of violets and Provençal herbs. Velvety on the palate, it concludes with a complex and silky finish.
Blend: 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Merlot, 16% Cabernet Franc, 9% Petit Verdot, 9% Malbec
Professional Ratings
-
Jeb Dunnuck
The 2018 Perigee Estate Seven Hills Vineyard reveals a Cabernet-driven style offering beautiful cassis fruits as well as tobacco leaf, wet stone, spring flowers, and freshly sharpened pencils. These all carry over to the palate, where the wine is medium to full-bodied and has a focused, concentrated, elegant texture, lots of ripe tannins, and a great finish. Young and unevolved at this stage (not unexpected), it will benefit from 4-5 years of bottle age and have 20+ years of prime drinking. It's a beautiful, classic Bordeaux blend from Washington that does everything right. The blend is 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% each of Merlot and Cabernet Franc, and the balance Petit Verdot and Malbec, all brought up in 40% new French oak.
Rating: 95+ -
James Suckling
Notes of blackberries and dark plums with cedar and earthy undertones. It’s full-bodied with firm tannins. Full and juicy with structure and good balance. Long, supple finish.
-
Wine & Spirits
Working on the first vintages of Perigree, Marty Clubb and his winemaking team learned to craft a winery statement through the lens of a single vineyard, and, for me, the wine has become iconic, a definitive expression of Walla Walla’s terroir. In 2018, it doesn’t disappoint: The first three words in my notes are tobacco, sundried tomato and plum, words which describe great wines of Seven Hills, and a great many Walla Walla reds, the coolness of herb bathed in dark red fruit, warm, dense, tannic, powerful, classic, winking at France, glancing at California, wholly its own self.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 Perigee Seven Hills Vineyard Estate is a blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Merlot, 16% Cabernet Franc, 9% Petit Verdot and 9% Malbec. The nose is instantly impressive with elements of French oak and baking spices that waft with dusty and juicy dark fruit tones. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is silky, displaying fine-grained tannins with a juicy essence of black raspberry, dark cherry and bitter dark chocolate before showcasing flavors of vanilla bean and blackberry skin. It ends with a long-lingering finish that continues to evolve with persistence in the mouth. It's an absolutely delightful wine that delivers well for the price. It was fermented in small French barrels, 40% new, and allowed to rest for 22 months before bottling.
-
Wine Spectator
Appealing for its focus and structure, this blend offers handsome blackberry, lead pencil and black tea flavors that build tension toward medium-grained tannins. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec.
-
Wine Enthusiast
Reserved aromas of licorice, plum, chocolate, cherry and spice are followed by enveloping dark-fruit flavors. It brings a lot of midpalate density that ups the appeal.
-
Decanter
Ripe nose of red fruit, dark plum, with baking spices and menthol notes. Deep, concentrated palate with luscious taste. Some luxury here. Blend : 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Merlot, 16% Cabernet Franc
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.