Winemaker Notes
Blend: 80% Cabernet sauvignon, 12% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
A deep-pile, plush carpet of a Cabernet, from Washington, this is smooth and velvety, with layer upon layer of juicy blackberry, prune, plum, spice and vanilla flavors that linger beautifully and get richer with each sip.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The bright ruby-colored 1994 Cabernet Sauvignon has beguiling aromas of cassis jam and vanilla cream. This beautifully ripe wine is explosive, chewy, medium-to-full-bodied, and hedonistic. Its flavor profile, filled with candied black raspberries, cherries, coconut, and caramel, represents liquid decadence. More decadent than intellectual, it will take tasters to levels of pleasure rarely attained.
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.