Winemaker Notes
Blend: 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 13% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2016 The Classic checks in as 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 13% Petit Verdot, and the balance Cabernet Franc. This ruby/plum-colored effort offers up an awesome bouquet of blackcurrants, tobacco leaf, truffle, tapenade, and damp earth that changes and develops beautifully with time in the glass. It's elegant, seamless and light on its feet, yet also powerful and textured. It's brilliant Cabernet Sauvignon from this estate to drink over the coming 15-20+ years.
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Wine Enthusiast
One of the things so fascinating about the Rocks District is how soil trumps variety. This wine could come from no other place. The aromas intrigue, with notes of ember, black olive brine, dried tobacco and herbs. The palate brings fresh, abundant, pillowy savory flavors, with plenty of green pepper accents. A mouthwatering finish caps it off.
Editors' Choice -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot,13% Petit Verdot and 7% Cabernet Franc, the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon The Classic has a focused core of dark fruit—crème de cassis and blackberry jus—with aromas of oak spice and red flowers after rain. The minerality here is evident on the nose and palate, showing a clean, correct and focused structure across the mid-palate. The wine concludes with dense, dark fruit and a dusty mineral tension on the finish, merging to meet a fresh elegance on the aftertaste that will last for years to come. Packing a punch, the wine ends with a long, lingering finish. 342 cases produced. Rating: 91+
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Wine Spectator
Densely structured and savory, with layered blueberry and blackberry flavors accented by green olive and stony mineral notes, finishing with broad-shouldered tannins.
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.