Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
With a neat reductive edge to the lime and gooseberry nose, this has plenty of funk on offer. The palate has a succulent and zesty feel, good concentration and just a gently creamy edge. Fermented in concrete and demi-muid barrels. Drink in the next four years.
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Jeb Dunnuck
From the Ancient Lakes AVA and all barrel fermented, the 2017 Sauvignon Blanc Vineyard Collection is a drop-dead serious wine that has tons of reductive notes of crushed time, ozone, match stick, and white flowers. It's medium-bodied, beautifully balanced, and a killer wine. Either give it a healthy decant or at least another 6-12 months of bottle age.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Starting with a touch of reduction, the 2017 Sauvignon Blanc Sunset Vineyard has a lively core of citrus and citrus blossom on the nose. Medium-bodied on the palate, the wine is minerally and expressive, with a light and focused note of fresh-citrus peel. It ends with great precision on the lingering finish, showing good value for the money. 1,500 cases produced.
Capable of a vast array of styles, Sauvignon Blanc is a crisp, refreshing variety that equally reflects both terroir and varietal character. Though it can vary depending on where it is grown, a couple of commonalities always exist—namely, zesty acidity and intense aromatics. This variety is of French provenance. Somm Secret—Along with Cabernet Franc, Sauvignon Blanc is a proud parent of Cabernet Sauvignon. That green bell pepper aroma that all three varieties share is no coincidence—it comes from a high concentration of pyrazines (herbaceous aromatic compounds) inherent to each member of the family.
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.