Winemaker Notes
This wine was pumped over and punched down three to four times per day in small stainless steel tanks. Average brix was over 24 degrees with harvest running into the middle of October 1997. Fermentation ranged from nine to fourteen days. After pressing and racking, the various lots were moved to new French chateau barrels for aging and maturation. In early August 1999, this wine was racked from barrel and was bottled unfined and unfiltered later that same month.
This 1997 "old vines" cabernet sauvignon is a powerful successor to the 1995 "old vines". We did not produce an "old vines" in 1996 due to winter damage. The 1997 vintage gave grapes of full physiological maturity offering a wine of incredible structure, concentration, and richness of fruit! Flavors of ripe raspberry and blackberry married with spicy, toasted oak and vanilla explode in the mouth, and the color is deeply purple! This wine will benefit greatly from additional cellaring and, with proper cellaring, should last twenty years! Cheers!
Professional Ratings
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.