Substance Cabernet Sauvignon 2021
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Suckling
James -
Dunnuck
Jeb -
Parker
Robert
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Cabernet Sauvignon elixir. Blackberry, currant, pencil lead, cedar. Layered and deep, resting in the glass, inviting you to sip and sip. Rich, complex, and just plain delicious – the best vintage to date.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This has notes of blackcurrants, black olives, graphite and rosemary. It’s firm, delicious and so balanced, with firm tannins and yet such a juicy fruit profile. Fantastic value. Drink or hold.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Cs is going to be another terrific value from this team. Cassis, blackberries, sage, tobacco, and leafy herb notes all define the aromatics, and it’s medium-bodied, balanced, and elegant on the palate. It’s going to shine right out of the gate.
Range: 90-92 -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Opening to classic Cabernet notes on the nose, with a fresh frame of blackberry, dark cherry and dusty plum, the 2021 Cs Cabernet Sauvignon is juicy and floral with hints of savory herbs and brown baking spices. Medium to full-bodied, it is firm, focused and fresh on the palate, with elegance, focus, grace and a balanced structures. This is quite impressive for the price and number of bottles produced. Over 2.4 million bottles were made after the wine rested for about a year on the lees, and it boasts a soft shine from aging in 25% new French oak. Bravo!
Other Vintages
2019-
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Parker
Robert
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Parker
Robert
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Wine
The original thought was to be a one wine brand, with a single minded vision to produce the best value-priced Cabernet Sauvignon in America. How do you go about this? Traditional winemaking. Natural fermentations. Barrel-aging. Plus, bottling unfiltered and unfined. In essence, making the wines in small batch winemaking integrity, but doing so on a larger scale. The wine is black. The label definitively says, "This is Cabernet Sauvignon." With the CS, you know who made this wine: Charles Smith. There is also the single vineyard, single expression, Bordeaux varietals (ex: Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot) produced in very limited quantities. Let's not to forget, the single vineyard Loire-style Substance Sauvignon Blanc. Wines of Substance illustrates Charles’ philosophy of producing exceptional wines to be enjoyed by everyone around the globe.
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.