Winemaker Notes
The 2021 Saggi is a wine with profound depth and vibrant character. Its rich red hues draw you in, while ripe black currant and wild red cherry flavors tantalize the palate. Enhanced by subtle hints of sweet spice, this wine offers a lively mouthfeel, with silky tannins and balanced acidity creating a beautifully elegant and lengthy finish.
Blend: 62% Sangiovese, 26% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Syrah
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Beautiful red fruits, cedary spices, dried flowers, tobacco, and a kiss of leather all emerge from the 2021 Saggi Red Wine, a seamless red based on 62% Sangiovese, 26% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 12% Syrah. With medium-bodied richness, it has plenty of mid-palate depth, ripe, polished tannins, and a great finish. This is one sensational Sangiovese from Washington that readers will love. It should keep for a decade.
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James Suckling
This super-Tuscan style wine began at Long Shadows in partnership with the Folonari family of Italy. It is a seamless, harmonious blend of 65% sangiovese, 24% cabernet sauvignon and 11% syrah. Black cherries, blueberries, suave oak spices and a hint of pepper. Drinkable now, but best from 2027.
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Vinous
Dusty rose and leather tones give way to dried black cherries as the 2021 SAGGI comes to life in the glass. It's soothingly round and pure in style, with ripe wild berry fruits and mineral tones that cascade throughout. Edgy and long, the 2021 leaves a spicy, tannic sensation on the finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2021 Saggi is a blend of 62% Sangiovese, 26% Cabernet Sauvignon and 12% Syrah matured for 18 months in 55% new French oak. It has layered aromas of wild berries, woodsmoke, savory herbs and floral perfume. The full-bodied palate offers concentrated, earth-laced flavors. It’s structured by sandy tannins and bright acidity and has a long, spicy finish.
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Wine Enthusiast
The Saggi is a Sangiovese-driven blend that opens with aromas of a field of wildflowers and loamy soil. That earthy meadow funk is followed by ripe blackcap raspberries and violets. Saggi's dark chocolate-covered cherry flavor is challenged by oak spices and chewy tannins for palate supremacy. A touch more acidity would have been welcomed with open arms. I'd love to try this wine with my grandmother's pork chop Milanese.
Long Shadows Vintners is a collection of seven ultra-premium wines, each built on the unique expertise of some of the world's most highly-regarded winemakers to showcase the viticultural quality and caliber of Washington State's Columbia Valley.
Founded by Washington wine visionary Allen Shoup in 2002, Long Shadows is the continuation of Allen's ongoing ambition to bring international recognition to the Columbia Valley. His idea for Long Shadows was as simple as it was complex. Recruit seven internationally acclaimed winemakers; give each access to Washington State's best grapes; and outfit a winery to the vintner’s exacting cellar specifications. The result, in effect, is seven stand-alone wineries, under one roof.
Since the beginning, Long Shadows' director of winemaking and viticulture Gilles Nicault, has overseen the operations of the winery and worked closely with the vintners to bring each winemaker's vision to completion. Internationally renowned winemakers Randy Dunn (Feather Cabernet Sauvignon); John Duval (Sequel Syrah); Philippe Melka (Pirouette Red Wine); and Michel Rolland (Pedestal Merlot) are active partners in their respective wines. Gilles now crafts Poet’s Leap Riesling and Saggi (Sangiovese/Cabernet Sauvignon) in styles that remain true to their original winemakers, Armin Diel and Giovanni Folonari respectively. Gilles crafts Chester-Kidder, a Cabernet Sauvignon/Syrah blend, independently.
Gilles works closely with the state's top growers to execute a diverse winemaking protocol at Long Shadows' state-of-the-art facility in Walla Walla to produce wines of exceptional quality, true to the Columbia Valley's terroir.
With hundreds of red grape varieties to choose from, winemakers have the freedom to create a virtually endless assortment of blended red wines. In many European regions, strict laws are in place determining the set of varieties that may be used, but in the New World, experimentation is permitted and encouraged resulting in a wide variety of red wine styles. Blending can be utilized to enhance balance or create complexity, lending different layers of flavors and aromas. For example, a red wine blend variety that creates a fruity and full-bodied wine would do well combined with one that is naturally high in acidity and tannins. Sometimes small amounts of a particular variety are added to boost color or aromatics. Blending can take place before or after fermentation, with the latter, more popular option giving more control to the winemaker over the final qualities of the wine.
How to Serve Red Wine
A common piece of advice is to serve red wine at “room temperature,” but this suggestion is imprecise. After all, room temperature in January is likely to be quite different than in August, even considering the possible effect of central heating and air conditioning systems. The proper temperature to aim for is 55° F to 60° F for lighter-bodied reds and 60° F to 65° F for fuller-bodied wines.
How Long Does Red Wine Last?
Once opened and re-corked, a bottle stored in a cool, dark environment (like your fridge) will stay fresh and nicely drinkable for a day or two. There are products available that can extend that period by a couple of days. As for unopened bottles, optimal storage means keeping them on their sides in a moderately humid environment at about 57° F. Red wines stored in this manner will stay good – and possibly improve – for anywhere from one year to multiple decades. Assessing how long to hold on to a bottle is a complicated science. If you are planning long-term storage of your reds, seek the advice of a wine professional.
A large and geographically diverse AVA capable of producing a wide variety of wine styles, the Columbia Valley AVA is home to 99% of Washington state’s total vineyard area. A small section of the AVA even extends into northern Oregon!
Because of its size, it is necessarily divided into several distinctive sub-AVAs, including Walla Walla Valley and Yakima Valley—which are both further split into smaller, noteworthy appellations. A region this size will of course have varied microclimates, but on the whole it experiences extreme winters and long, hot, dry summers. Frost is a common risk during winter and spring. The towering Cascade mountain range creates a rain shadow, keeping the valley relatively rain-free throughout the entire year, necessitating irrigation from the Columbia River. The lack of humidity combined with sandy soils allows for vines to be grown on their own rootstock, as phylloxera is not a serious concern.
Red wines make up the majority of production in the Columbia Valley. Cabernet Sauvignon is the dominant variety here, where it produces wines with a pleasant balance of dark fruit and herbs. Wines made from Merlot are typically supple, with sweet red fruit and sometimes a hint of chocolate or mint. Syrah tends to be savory and Old-World-leaning, with a wide range of possible fruit flavors and plenty of spice. The most planted white varieties are Chardonnay and Riesling. These range in style from citrus and green apple dominant in cooler sites, to riper, fleshier wines with stone fruit flavors coming from the warmer vineyards.