Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Old Vines is the 25th anniversary of this wine. The gentleman on the label is A.P. Woodward after whom this parcel of real estate takes its name and it will remain as the permanent label in future vintages. The wine is 97% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3% Petit Verdot with the Cabernet sourced from Sagemoor and Champoux Vineyards planted in the early 1970s, about as old as you will find in Washington. It was aged for 22 months in new French oak. A saturated purple color, it offers up a super-fragrant perfume of wood smoke, spice box, incense, espresso, black currant, and blackberry. Burly, muscular, and full-bodied on the palate, the wine has superb density, incipient complexity, and layers of savory fruit. There is enough structure to support a decade of cellaring and it should be at its best from 2017 to 2036.
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.