Lady Hill Cabernet Sauvignon Columbia Valley is made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon.
Intense hues range from wine purple to sangria showcasing Cabernet Sauvignon’s genetic predisposition to tiny berries packed with color making molecules called anthocyanidins. Chocolate covered cherry and subtle blackberry liqueur combine New World fruit flavors with savory olive tapenade, dried herb de provence and a tinge of minerality found in ancient volcanic soils. The subtle wood impact of 10% new and once filled barrels keeps the focus on fruit and spice, while maintaining the characteristic dusty tannins and lingering finish that Cabernet Sauvignon has become famous for.
Pair with pan roasted veal chops, grilled veggie pizza or a can of Cougar Gold Cheddar.
100% single block Cabernet Sauvignon. Aged 20 months in 100% new French oak.
Place
This beautiful block sits on the lower section of the Red Mountain side of the vineyard. Featuring a perfect southwest aspect, it gets the maximum sun exposure for depth and concentration. The land itself is wind-blown loess covering an alluvial floodplain, dotted with indigenous sage.
Winemaker's Notes
Explosively and exotically nuanced aromas of crème de cassis, Himalayan blackberry, black roses, dried violets, pencil shavings, crushed volcanic rock, and liquefied river minerals. While extremely dense and concentrated, this wine has a lot of grace and poise on the palate. The finish of inky deep black fruits, richly refined oak tones, and exotic floral notes, is utterly bewitching. Leave it for 5-7 years if you can or decant well before drinking. This is a 30-year wine in the making.
Review:
Lastly, and a wine that stopped me in my tracks, the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Block 47 might be the wine of the vintage. Revealing a dense purple hue as well as incredible aromatics of caramelized red and blue fruits, classy oak, lead pencil shavings, and a Latour-like sense of minerality, it hits the palate with full-bodied richness, building tannins, a stacked mid-palate, and a great, great finish. I love its balance and purity, but I suspect it’s going to demand bottle age.
-Jeb Dunnuck 97-99 Points
Lokoya Spring Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon is made from Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.
Review:
The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Spring Mountain District is a monster of a mountain Cabernet that has a primordial bouquet of blackcurrants, smoked earth, chocolate, and graphite. While Spring Mountain wines tend to be more aromatic and complex right out of the gate, that’s not the case here, and this is going to need bottle age to round into form. Full-bodied on the palate, with a rich, concentrated mouthfeel, it has serious tannins, notable purity of fruit, and a great finish. With air, it picks up more and more classic Spring Mountain floral and exotic notes, and it’s flawlessly balanced, with gorgeous tannins and a great, great finish. This is a brilliant wine in the lineup and unquestionably one of the true gems from Spring Mountain in 2018. Give bottles 4-5 years and enjoy over the following 2-3 decades.
-Jeb Dunnuck 98 Points
Long Shadows Feather Cabernet Sauvignon is made from 100 percent Washington State Cabernet.
Acclaimed Napa Valley vintner Randy Dunn has a reputation for producing world-class Cabernet Sauvignon. He brings more than four decades of winemaking experience to the Columbia Valley to produce Feather, his only wine made outside of California.
Tasting Notes: Deep crimson colored with pure and expressive Cabernet Sauvignon character. Generous aromas and flavors of dark fruits, violets, coffee and toasted herbs combine with a textured mid-palate to deliver a big, yet focused, wine with polished tannins and persistent finish.
Winemaking: Grapes were hand-harvested at the peak of ripeness, then lightly crushed and fermented in small stainless steel tanks. Once fermentation was underway, the cap was pumped over aggressively to extract color and structure. As fermentation neared completion, pump overs were handled more gently to further extract color and flavors without imparting harsh tannins. The finished wine was aged 22 months in 90% new Vicard French oak barrels (Randy's cooper of choice at Dunn Vineyards as well).
Alcohol: 14.4%
pH: 3.86
TA: 0.58 grams / 100ml
Review:
All Cabernet Sauvignon and a blend put together by Randy Dunn, the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Feather is inky purple-hued and offers a brilliant nose of cassis, new leather, graphite, and truffly earth. This rich, spicy, full-bodied Cabernet Sauvignon has terrific purity, a deep, layered mid-palate, and a broad, layered, expansive mouthfeel that keeps you coming back to the glass. Drink this remarkable Washington State Cabernet Sauvignon over the coming two decades.
-Jeb Dunnuck 97 Points
Morlet Family Vineyards La Proportion Doree is made from made from Sémillon (65%), Sauvignon Blanc (33%) and Muscadelle (2%).
A harmonious blend of the three classic white Bordeaux varietals grown in the Golden State’s Sonoma County, this unique cuvée was handcrafted using classical winemaking techniques inspired from Pessac-Léognan. As in architectural arts, it is ‘The Golden Ratio’ or ‘La Proportion Dorée.’ Bright yellow. Intense bouquet of candied lemon, muscat, and honeysuckle flavors intermixed with sweet notes of ripened apricot and fresh quince. Full-bodied, seamless, refined and complex.
Review:
Luc Morlet has 100 Muscadelle vines, planted in 1953, which he co-ferments with the Sauvignon Blanc to produce this Semillon-based wine. Composed of 69% Semillon, 30% Sauvignon Blanc, and 1% Muscadelle, the 2020 Proportion Doree is a tad closed - it was only bottled in March this year. It soon reveals notes of ripe peaches, gooseberries, and white currants, with hints of white pepper, coriander seed, and oyster shell. Full-bodied, the palate is wonderfully viscous and racy with intense citrus and apple flavors, finishing long and chalky. 800 cases were made.
-Wine Independent 98 Points
Neyers Cabernet Sauvignon Neyers Ranch is made from 100 percent Cabernet Sauvignon.
"We harvested the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon crop from our Conn Valley Ranch in the first week of October, a week later than we picked the same vineyard the prior year. The size of the crop was about 20% smaller in 2017 as well, mostly due to the cold, wet weather we experienced in spring during flowering. Grapevines are self-pollinating, and cold, windy or damp weather interferes with this process, a problem known the French call coulure. Ironically, the harsh spring weather of 2017 had a huge impact on the size of our crop. Still, this smaller crop ripened fully and evenly, and at harvest time we picked beautiful, dark-colored clusters under near-perfect conditions. The finished wine was immediately remarkable for its flavor and complexity, and the wine looks to be one that will improve for many years. During my career in the Napa Valley wine business, I’ve learned to expect the best wines from cold years like 2017. These are vintages that are viewed initially with lowered expectations, but my experience has been just the opposite. Going back to my first Napa Valley harvest in 1971, these ‘colder years’ invariably result in wines with brighter, more attractive flavors, and the wines age longer and more gracefully.
Following harvest, the wine was fermented using wild, native yeast in an temperature-controlled stainless steel tank. After 45 days or so, the tank was drained and the pomace pressed, and the wine transferred to 60-gallon French oak barrels, 25% of them new. During the first year, we racked the wine off of the yeast lees three times, and by May 2019 it had been sufficiently clarified to bottle without fining or filtration. I am especially impressed by its bright ruby hue, a color so commanding it reminded me of the 1995 red Bordeaux wines I tasted from barrel during my trip to France in the Spring of 1996. It’s loaded with flavors that range from wild cherry to chocolate, enhanced by the lovely hint of tobacco leaf and mint. Each aromatic component has its own individual fascination, but all of them together provide a remarkable experience. Here’s a complete Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon that we expect it to improve for 20 years. It's a from a very small crop that will provide decades of pleasure." - Bruce Neyers
Review:
Attractive aromas of blueberries and lavender follow through to a medium body, firm and silky tannins and a slightly chewy finish. Needs a couple of years to soften. Better after 2022.
-James Suckling 93 Points
TYPE: DOCG
GRAPE VARIETY: 100% Sangiovese harvested from the oldest vineyards.
VINIFICATION: Alcoholic fermentation with maceration of the skins (25-30 days) at a controlled temperature and spontaneous malolactic fermentation, both in truncated cone-shaped Slavonian oak vats.
REFINEMENT: In Slavonian oak barrels from 10 to 32 hl for approx. 34-38 months; followed by bottle refinement of at least 6 months.
ON SALE BY:January of the 5th year after the harvest.
NOTE:
Color: intense ruby with garnet reflections.
Perfume: ethereal, of red fruit and vanilla, persistent.
Taste: harmonious, with excellent tannins and structure, very persistent.
Food pairings: roasted red meats, game, mature cheeses.
Review:
A jeweled ruby color, the 2019 Brunello Di Montalcino is forward with licorice spice on the nose and opens to notes of fresh black cherries, pine, and toasted rosemary. Medium to full-bodied, it offers wonderful energy from the start, with balanced, angular structure, ripe tannins, crunchy fresh acidity, and a long finish. Avery well styled Brunello, it will be in its prime in the coming 10-15 years.
-Jeb Dunnuck 95 Points
Aromas of redcurrants and red flowers, followed by a touch of pie crust and sandalwood. Full-bodied with steely and sturdy tannins and vivid acidity. Dried-herb character at the end. Masculine and structured. Hold until 2027.
-James Suckling 95 Points
Thierry Mortet Gevrey Chambertin Vigne Belle is made from 100 percent Pinot Noir.
The wine is produced from 20 different parcels (3 hectares total). The soils are a mix of clay and silt.
The age of wines varies between 15 to 60 years.
Yield: 45 hl/ha
Production: 15,000 bottles on average.
Manual harvest with a selection of the grapes; sorting table; 100% destemming; maceration for 15 days, cold stabilization for 4-5 days; M-L.; racking twice a day. Fermentation in stainless steel tanks for 4 months. Aging in oak barrels for 12 months (new and 1 or 2 year old barrels). Kieselguhr filtration before bottling.
The wine offers a subtle and complex nose. It displays a sweet and delicate mouthfeel. Very nice wine with black fruit aromas. Dense, good concentration. Good length and well integrated oak.