Winemaker Notes
Blend: 84% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Cabernet Franc, 2% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2015 Long Haul is a Merlot-dominated cuvée that includes 8% Cabernet Franc, 6% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 2% Petit Verdot, all aged 21 months in French oak. It offers a vibrant purple/ruby color as well as classic black cherry, graphite, wet stone, and violet aromas and flavors. It's just another elegant, yet rich, powerful wine from Mike that's beautifully balanced. Drink it over the coming decade.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Offering lots of violet, spiced plum, cassis and incense aromas and flavors, the 2015 Long Haul is medium-bodied, fresh and focused on the palate, with a slightly tight, linear profile on the finish. Give it a year or two after release.
Range:88-91 -
Wine Spectator
Dark and energetic, with dark plum, tobacco and savory spice flavors that take on weight and complexity toward refined tannins. Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot. Drink now through 2023.
Over a decade later, Mark Ryan Winery has grown in size, earned acclaim from wine-lovers and critics alike, and garnered respect from the state's elite producers. The goal, however, remains the same. Make delicious wines that represent the vineyard from which they come, making every vintage better than the last.
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.
A coveted source of top quality red grapes among premier Washington producers, the Red Mountain AVA is actually the smallest appellation in the state. As its name might suggest, it is actually neither a mountain nor is it composed of red earth. Instead the appellation is an anticline of the Yakima fold belt, a series of geologic folds that define a number of viticultural regions in the surrounding area. It is on the eastern edge of Yakima Valley with slopes facing southwest towards the Yakima River, ideal for the ripening of grapes. The area’s springtime proliferation of cheatgrass, which has a reddish color, actually gives the area the name, "Red" Mountain.
Red Mountain produces some of the most mineral-driven, tannic and age-worthy red wines of Washington and there are a few reasons for this. It is just about the hottest appellation with normal growing season temperatures commonly reaching above 90F. The soil is particularly poor in nutrients and has a high pH, which results in significantly smaller berry sizes compared to varietal norms. The low juice to skin ratio in smaller berries combined with the strong, dry summer winds, leads to higher tannin levels in Red Mountain grapes.
The most common red grape varieties here are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Syrah, among others. Limited white varieties are grown, namely Sauvignon blanc.
The reds of the area tend to express dark black and blue fruit, deep concentration, complex textures, high levels of tannins and as previously noted, have good aging capabilities.