2016 Walla Walla Cabernet Sauvignon
This wine is showing great already, with blueberry, blackberry, red currants, mountain flowers, and pencil shavings on the nose. The palate is a mix of dark blue fruits front the Pepper Bridge, with the more delicate red fruits from Seven Hills, with floral notes, pipe tobacco, and a hint of bee pollen. Harmonious through the long finish, with a firm backbone that will aid in aging for 8-12 years.
Blend: 96% Cabernet Sauvignon 4% Merlot
56% Seven Hills Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Pepper Bridge Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Figgins Family Estate Merlot
Aging: Aged 20 months in 60% new French oak
96 Points Jeb Dunnuck
"Moving to the three single appellation cuvées just bottled, the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Walla Walla Valley is a blend of 96% Cabernet Sauvignon and 4% Merlot raised in 60% new barrels. It offers a powerful bouquet of blackcurrants, plums, chocolate, leafy herbs, and damp earth that grows in intensity and stature with time in the glass. Deep, full-bodied, beautifully polished, and plush, it has remarkable purity of fruit as well as building underlying tannins. It's a rock star of a Washington Cabernet Sauvignon that has the class to drink beautifully today yet the class and balance to keep for two decades or more."
92+ Points Vinous (Stephen Tanzer)
"Made mostly from 1996 planting in Pepperbridge Vineyard; 60% New oak. Bright Ruby Red aromas of cassis, blueberry, black cherry, licorice, mocha, tobacco leaves and herbs. Plush, dense and deep, showing serious medicinal reserve but also alluring sweetness to its fine-grained yet powerful flavors of dark fruits, licorice and herbs. A distinct note of chocolatey Merlot ( purchased from Figgins Estate Vineyard) adds another element. Still youthfully bound up on the finish but the substantial broad tannins are well distributed. Tasted October 2018."
