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Country: | United States |
Regions: | Washington Washington (Columbia Valley) |
Winery: | Passing Time |
Grape Type: | Cabernet Sauvignon |
Vintage: | 2018 |
Bottle Size: | 750 ml |
Passing Time Cabernet Sauvignon Horse Heaven is made from 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc,
The Horse Heaven Hills produces some of the most uniquely complex Cabernet Sauvignons in Washington State. Using fruit from two top Cabernet Sauvignon vineyards - Champoux and Discovery - balanced with just the right amount of Merlot and Cabernet Franc, this wine expresses all the concentration, finesse, and Cabernet Sauvignon essence that define this appellation.
This wine has come to embody the style and purpose of Passing Time, featuring classic Cabernet notes of crème de cassis, blackberry, bittersweet chocolate, crushed herbs and graphite. Texture has always been a hallmark of the Horse Heaven Hills Cabernet, and the 2018 vintage shows this beautifully. While approachable in its youth, this wine will reward some patience in the cellar, and age for many years to come.
Review:
"Lots of black plum, smoked earth, chocolate, and tobacco notes emerge from the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Horse Heaven Hills. It’s another 2018 that has terrific purity and freshness as well as plenty of mid-palate depth, ripe tannins, and a great finish."
- Jeb Dunnuck (April 2020), 94-96 pts
Former Dolphin QB Damon Huard had to travel 3000 miles away from home to learn about the fine wines coming from his home state of Washington. It was teammate and NFL Hall of Famer, Dan Marino, who went into his personal cellar to introduce Damon to Washington State wines during the 1997 season. Over the next decade, the formers QB’s conversation about wine evolved into a discussion about owning and operating their own winery upon Huard’s retirement and return to Washington State. Damon’s family has deep roots in the heart of Washington wine country, helping pioneer the valley into the agricultural powerhouse that it is today. “The vision of making a truly great Washington wine is one that Damon and I have shared for a long time,” said Marino, one of the most decorated quarterbacks in NFL history and a member of the NFL’s Hall of Fame. “Although there are more than 900 wineries in Washington State, we believe the industry is still in its adolescence and we want to be part of it as it grows into the world’s next great wine region.” Passing Time was launched with the 2012 vintage of cabernet and released in the spring of 2015 to rave reviews from wine critics and customers alike.
Passing Time may seem like an obvious name for a wine brand that includes two former NFL quarterbacks as partners, but it wasn’t that easy, Marino said. “There’s the subtle football reference. When it’s fourth down in the red zone and you’re down by six with seconds left, it’s ‘Passing Time.’ And when you’re enjoying a bottle of great wine with good friends, it’s just Passing Time. We think it’s the perfect metaphor for the wine, and we can’t wait to share it with wine lovers who share our passion for great wine.”
- Dan Marino, Doug Donnelly, Kevin Hughes, Damon Huard
Winemaker :
We are proud to have Chris Peterson as our consulting winemaker. After spending eight years as Assistant and Production Winemaker at DeLille Cellars, he co-founded Avennia in 2010. Peterson’s wines have found considerable acclaim from critics locally and nationally. He was recently named the 2017 "Winemaker of the Year" by Seattle Magazine.
Before his Woodinville career, Chris was the first graduate of Walla Walla’s highly regarded School of Enology and Viticulture, where he also taught a Wines of the World class. His travels to and study of Old World wine regions have informed his desire to make unique and compelling wines using traditional techniques. His years in the Washington wine industry and the quality of his work have allowed us to partner with premier sites to fulfill the Passing Time vision.
Passing Time Cabernet Sauvignon Red Mountain 97% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3% Cabernet Franc.
Red Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon reflects the essence of this famous appellation. It is broad-shouldered and deeply fruited, with classic Red Mountain structure promising a long life in the cellar.
Red Mountain Cabernet is renowned for its firm structure, ageability, and distinctive fruit profile. The 2018 Red Mountain Cabernet accentuates this character using older vines from two iconic vineyards, dating 25-35 years old. The result is a wine of profound depth and complexity featuring dark cherry and currant fruit, as well as crushed herbs and a hint of minerality. Red Mountain wines are known for their ability to cellar for years, and the 2018 vintage should ensure that this wine will be enjoyable for decades to come.
Review:
If the Horse Heaven Hills releases is Graves-like, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Red Mountain is the Pauillac in the lineup and has a more concentrated, austere style that needs lots of air to show at its best. Gorgeous cassis and black raspberry fruits as well as notes of graphite and lead pencil along with a terrific sense of chalky minerality give way to a full-bodied, powerful yet still elegant Red Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon. Delivering building tannins and good acidity, it will need 7-8 years of bottle age to hit maturity and should see its 30th birthday in fine form. This wine is 97% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3% Merlot, brought up in 75% new French oak, and the vineyard sources are Klipsun and Red Mountain Vineyard.
-Jeb Dunnuck 97+ Points
Passing Time Cabernet Sauvignon Walla Walla is made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon.
Of all the Passing Time wines, the Walla Walla Cabernet has tended to feature Cabernet exclusively. In the classic 2018, this wine features a deep blue and black fruit character, with hints of blackberry leaf, baker’s chocolate, and crushed herbs. Featuring fruit from Seven Hills and Pepper Bridge vineyards—two locales with very different characters—this wine balances the power and structure of the Pepper Bridge site, with the beautiful elegance and bouquet of the Seven Hills vineyard. The resulting blend features the tell-tale balance of Passing Time’s style while also expressing the profound depth and balance of the incredible 2018 vintage.
Review:
All Cabernet Sauvignon and mostly from the Seven Hills Vineyard (there’s 38% from Pepper Bridge), the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Walla Walla Valley offers up a medium to full-bodied, fresh, nicely focused style that carries terrific cassis and black cherry fruits as well as lots of spice and violet notes. With good acidity and ripe, polished tannins, give bottles 3-4 years of bottle age and enjoy over the following two decades.
- Jeb Dunnuck 93-95+ Points
Passing Time Cabernet Sauvignon Red Mountain 97% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3% Cabernet Franc.
Red Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon reflects the essence of this famous appellation. It is broad-shouldered and deeply fruited, with classic Red Mountain structure promising a long life in the cellar.
Red Mountain Cabernet is renowned for its firm structure, ageability, and distinctive fruit profile. The 2018 Red Mountain Cabernet accentuates this character using older vines from two iconic vineyards, dating 25-35 years old. The result is a wine of profound depth and complexity featuring dark cherry and currant fruit, as well as crushed herbs and a hint of minerality. Red Mountain wines are known for their ability to cellar for years, and the 2018 vintage should ensure that this wine will be enjoyable for decades to come.
Review:
If the Horse Heaven Hills releases is Graves-like, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Red Mountain is the Pauillac in the lineup and has a more concentrated, austere style that needs lots of air to show at its best. Gorgeous cassis and black raspberry fruits as well as notes of graphite and lead pencil along with a terrific sense of chalky minerality give way to a full-bodied, powerful yet still elegant Red Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon. Delivering building tannins and good acidity, it will need 7-8 years of bottle age to hit maturity and should see its 30th birthday in fine form. This wine is 97% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3% Merlot, brought up in 75% new French oak, and the vineyard sources are Klipsun and Red Mountain Vineyard.
-Jeb Dunnuck 97+ Points
Passing Time Cabernet Sauvignon Walla Walla is made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon.
Of all the Passing Time wines, the Walla Walla Cabernet has tended to feature Cabernet exclusively. In the classic 2018, this wine features a deep blue and black fruit character, with hints of blackberry leaf, baker’s chocolate, and crushed herbs. Featuring fruit from Seven Hills and Pepper Bridge vineyards—two locales with very different characters—this wine balances the power and structure of the Pepper Bridge site, with the beautiful elegance and bouquet of the Seven Hills vineyard. The resulting blend features the tell-tale balance of Passing Time’s style while also expressing the profound depth and balance of the incredible 2018 vintage.
Review:
All Cabernet Sauvignon and mostly from the Seven Hills Vineyard (there’s 38% from Pepper Bridge), the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Walla Walla Valley offers up a medium to full-bodied, fresh, nicely focused style that carries terrific cassis and black cherry fruits as well as lots of spice and violet notes. With good acidity and ripe, polished tannins, give bottles 3-4 years of bottle age and enjoy over the following two decades.
- Jeb Dunnuck 93-95+ Points
Passing Time Cabernet Sauvignon Walla Walla is made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon.
Of all the Passing Time wines, the Walla Walla Cabernet has tended to feature Cabernet exclusively. In the classic 2018, this wine features a deep blue and black fruit character, with hints of blackberry leaf, baker’s chocolate, and crushed herbs. Featuring fruit from Seven Hills and Pepper Bridge vineyards—two locales with very different characters—this wine balances the power and structure of the Pepper Bridge site, with the beautiful elegance and bouquet of the Seven Hills vineyard. The resulting blend features the tell-tale balance of Passing Time’s style while also expressing the profound depth and balance of the incredible 2018 vintage.
Review:
Coming from a mix of the Seven Hills and Pepper Bridge vineyards, the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Walla Walla Valley reveals a deep purple hue as well as beautiful floral, lavender, and spice-driven aromas and flavors. With medium to full-bodied richness, ripe, silky tannins, and just terrific balance, it's another gorgeous wine from this team that can be drunk today or cellared for 15 years or more.
-Jeb Dunnuck 94 Points
It is hard to imagine with the Lithology range receiving 298 points out of 300 for the three single-vineyard wines, that there could possibly be a wine above them. But there is, and it is our Estate wine. Blended several times very intently by masters of their craft Philippe Melka and Michel Rolland, this is the ultimate expression of our house’s work. Positive, full-bodied, and quite powerful, there’s the expected crème de cassis and blackberry from St. Helena Cabernets, with mineral, herb, subtle tobacco and vanilla, plum skins, and pie crust, purple flowers, forest-conifer notes, and very fine tannic structure. It is a magnificent, and magnificently elegant expression of this house, and when asked recently, Monsieur Rolland stated plainly to me, “oh yes indeed – this is the best one, the best yet…”
Review:
The flagship 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Alejandro Bulgheroni comes from a selection made by winemakers Philippe Melka and Michel Rolland, mostly from Rutherford and Oakville fruit. Aged 20 months in 78% new French oak, it has incredible aromatics of black and blue fruits, spring flowers, and graphite to go with a massive, full-bodied, concentrated style on the palate that somehow stays graceful, weightless, and elegant. This tour de force in Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is guaranteed to put a smile on your face over the coming 20-25+ years.
-Jeb Dunnuck 99 Points
Alejandro Bulgheroni Lithology Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 99% Cabernet Sauvignon, 1% Cabernet Franc.
Here the Cabernet comes to us typically flawless, and the wines are as such. There is blue fruit, blueberries, black plums, blackberries, and cassis to the aromas, as well as stones, mineral, chocolate, fresh tobacco, and subtle herbs. It is incredibly full-bodied, but at the same time effortlessly drinkable, with ultra-smooth tannins and a positive, long, upturned finish. 70-75% new French oak is the norm for us with Dr. Crane, and those flavors are absorbed to become a vanillin complexity, sweetness, and length. An unbelievable wine.
Review:
Possibly the wine of the vintage, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Lithology Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard is another incredible wine from this estate that has everything: stunning complexity, full-bodied richness, flawless balance, and incredible length. Revealing a dense purple color as well as Graves-like notes of blackcurrants, cold fireplace, graphite, chocolate, and smoked tobacco, it hits the palate with full-bodied richness, flawless balance, and ultra-fine tannins. Based on 99% Cabernet Sauvignon and 1% Cabernet Franc that was brought up 20 months in 70% new French oak, this thrilling 2018 offers pleasure today yet will evolve for 30-40+ years. Hats off to the team at Alejandro Bulgheroni!
-Jeb Dunnuck 100 Points
Anakota Wines Helena Dakota Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon is made from 100 percent Cabernet Sauvignon.
Helena Dakota is defined by its power, structure and sophistication. It is an intricate Cabernet Sauvignon that reflects both the terroir of the site and the influence of the surrounding Knights Valley AVA. It possesses layers of plums, anise, cassis, leather, bay leaf and cedar. Galvanized by a streak of minerals and bold tannins. Helena Dakota is a solidly-built wine that stands the test of time.
This sloping, 12-acre vineyard runs southwest to northeast at roughly 750 feet above sea level. It features soft, reddish brown, gravelly, silt loam soils speckled with rocks. Prevailing westerly winds blow over a large pond and continue uphill parallel to the rows of vines. These cooling breezes slow the ripening process creating wines that are both powerful and balanced with red fruit flavors, notable minerality and graceful tannins. Pierre says the Cabernet from Helena Dakota remind him of Pauillac or Saint-Estèphe.
Review:
Made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Helena Dakota Vineyard was aged for 12 months in 100% new French oak. Deep garnet-purple in color, it has a profound yet slightly broody nose to begin, slowly unfurling to reveal wonderfully fragrant notes of wild blueberries, black cherries, dark chocolate and warm cassis, followed by nuances of garrigue, violets, tar and licorice plus a touch of wet stones. Medium to full-bodied, the palate has gorgeous velvety tannins and finely knit freshness supporting generous black and blue fruits, finishing very long and achingly fragrant. Wow. 1,000 cases were made.
-Wine Advocate 99 Points
Opus One 2014 is made from 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Cabernet Franc, 6% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot and 2% Malbec.
Of the great European wine families, the Rothschilds are perhaps the best known. And Baron Philippe de Rothschild is perhaps the best known of this great family. At the age of 20, Baron Philippe took on the management of Château Mouton Rothschild from his father Baron Henri. Philippe’s vision changed the world of wine: he invented Château bottling, commissioned great artists to illustrate his wine labels – and, in partnership with Robert Mondavi in 1979, created Opus One.In the 1980s, after her father’s death, Baroness Philippine de Rothschild left a stage career that included the Comédie Française and the Renault-Barrault Theatre Company, bringing her own exquisite style and creativity to the design, construction, and operation of Opus One.Among great New World wine pioneers, Robert Mondavi is an international icon. Bringing a passion for excellence to everything he did, Robert Mondavi led a renaissance in California fine wine for over six decades. Among other accomplishments, he introduced temperature-controlled fermentation, French oak barrel aging, and high-density viticulture to a fledgling American wine industry. But life was not only wine for Robert Mondavi: he broadened the American cultural palate by marrying fine wine to food, music, and the arts. One of few Americans to have received the French medal of the Legion of Honor, Robert Mondavi showed extraordinary vision as co-founder of Opus One.
Reviews:
The 2014 Opus One is not as showy or obvious as some of the other surrounding vintages, but it will have its day. Stylistically, the 2014 is bright and also a touch linear, with a construction built more on focus rather than opulence. Readers should plan on giving the 2014 another few years in bottle at a minimum. The mid-weight style is a bit Old World-leaning in this striking, super-classic Opus One. -- Antonio Galloni 96 Points Blended of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Cabernet Franc, 6% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot and 2% Malbec, the Opus One 2014 Proprietary Red Wine sports an inky purple color and nose of crushed black and red currants, black cherries and mulberries with touches of underbrush, sautéed herbs and pencil shavings plus a waft of spice box. Medium-bodied, finely crafted and with an energetic line lifting the red and black fruits, it has a bold frame of grainy tannins and a very long, earth and spice-layered finish. -Robert Parker 96 Points |
Paul Hobbs Chardonnay Russian River Valley is made from 100 percent Chardonnay.
A vibrant blend derived from our revered vineyards that are defined by the region's cooling fog and warm afternoon sunshine reveals a pale straw color in the glass and aromas of white florals, ground ginger, and Mandarin orange. Golden Delicious apple and Meyer lemon give way to complex flavors of baking spice and piecrust that add a round texture to accompany its bright acidity, framing the long finish.