Winemaker Notes
Blend: 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc, 5% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Illusionist (there's 10% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot) spent 20 months in 65% new French oak. It offers a more classic Cabernet Sauvignon bouquet of crème de cassis, tobacco, damp earth and chocolate. As with the Archimage, it's full-bodied, rich, and concentrated, with sweet tannin, and is going to drink nicely for a decade or more.
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James Suckling
A stylishly presented nose with fine, spiced-chocolate notes, across a rich array of ripe red-to-dark berries. The palate has impressively fine tannins that carry long and even, around a core of fresh and vibrant purple berries. Plenty of appeal here. Drink or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2015 The Illusionist offers up aromas of red and black currants, cigar box and loamy soil, followed by a medium to full-bodied, textural and chewy palate that concludes with a tangy, vanilla-inflected finish. While I gravitate to the Syrah bottlings, it's a nice wine that may improve with a year or two in bottle.
Rating: 91+
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.