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Columbia Winery Red Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon 2015

Columbia Winery Red Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon 2015

Tasted at a recent winemaker dinner with the Columbia Winery team, the 2015 Red Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon is a new release and a new rendition of their absolutely stunning packaging. The profile is classic Red Mountain and offers up a sumptuous aromatic sensory arc of blueberry pie, blackberries, cassis, dried orange peel, sandalwood, and warm […]

Tendril Wine Cellars Child’s Play Columbia Valley Zinfandel 2015

Tendril Wine Cellars Child's Play Columbia Valley Zinfandel 2015

An offshoot label of Tendril Wine Cellars, Child’s Play Zinfandel is sourced from the Red Heaven Vineyard at the very south end of the Red Mountain AVA, and sports an amiable profile of black fruit, black cherry, plums, incense, cinnamon, sweet tobacco, and wet terra cotta. Medium-bodied, with soft, supple tannins that are nicely delineated […]

Col Solare Cabernet Sauvignon 2014

Col Solare Cabernet Sauvignon 2013 & 2014

2014 marked Col Solare’s 20th vintage, giving the winery ample reason to celebrate the enduring partnership between Chateau Ste. Michelle and Marchesi Antinori. A warmer, riper vintage than 2013, this memorable Red Mountain Cabernet is all about power and sinewy concentration, with black cherry, cassis, blackcurrant, dark chocolate shavings and espresso rippling across this wine’s […]

Col Solare Cabernet Sauvignon 2013

Col Solare Cabernet Sauvignon 2013 & 2014

An auspicious collaboration between Chateau Ste. Michelle and Marchesi Antinori, Col Solare is one of the preeminent wineries in Washington State’s Red Mountain AVA. The 2013 Cabernet is elegantly robed in layers of black cherry and blackcurrant, crushed lavender, violets, sweet tobacco, and pencil shavings. It’s sumptuous yet precise, offering acidic lift and polished, supple […]

Canvasback Red Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon 2014

Canvasback Red Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon 2014

Canvasback is Duckhorn Vineyards latest project in Washington State. The winery has partnered with legendary Washington vineyard manager Dick Boushey in sourcing some of Red Mountain’s best fruit, certainly, the results speak for themselves. Seductive aromas of blackcurrant, cassis, blueberry pie, and anise slowly unfurl. In the mouth, even distribution of fine tannins and sweet […]

DeLille Cellars Four Flags Cabernet Sauvignon 2014

DeLille Cellars Four Flags Cabernet Sauvignon 2014

The more I taste Red Mountain fruit, the more enamored I am with it. That said, DeLille Cellars’ 2014 Four Flags Cabernet Sauvignon is blended from four distinct parcels within the AVA, 42% from Grand Ciel, 31% Upchurch, 19% Ciel du Cheval, and 8% from Klipsun. As it slowly unspools, layered aromas of blackberry, black […]

Experience Oregon & Washington Wine Country Aboard a Replica Coastal Steamer

UnCruise Adventures

Join Me for a 7-Night Wine-Themed Cruise on the Columbia, Snake & Willamette Rivers Evidence of the ice age floods is easy to spot — 15,000 years later, the results are as profound as they are delicious. Lifting a glass of glinting ruby-hued wine, it’s impossible not to appreciate the lasting effects ancient geology had […]

Terra Blanca ONYX Red Mountain 2009

Terra Blanca ONYX Red Mountain 2009

Another lovely showing from a lineup of wines sampled at Terra Blanca. The 2009 Onyx is drinking beautifully—an elegant Bordeaux-style blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Malbec, all from the winery’s Red Mountain estate. Generous, layered aromas of blackberries, cassis, ripe plum, bay leaf, and cedar lead into a wine that […]

Terra Blanca Red Mountain Washington State Cabernet Sauvignon 2012

Terra Blanca Red Mountain Washington State Cabernet Sauvignon 2012

So glad to have finally visited Terra Blanca, aside from visit-worthy grounds, the wines themselves live up to the praise they’ve garnered. The 2012 Red Mountain Cabernet explodes with black cherries, cassis, sandalwood, Chinese five spice, incense and lavender. A structural backbone encased in firm tannins is at the forefront of the attack, but after […]

Quilceda Creek Galitzine Red mountain Cabernet Sauvignon 2005

Quilceda Creek Galitzine Red mountain Cabernet Sauvignon 2005

With respect to Washington producers, Quilceda Creek is in a league of it’s own. I found the Galitzine to have a slightly different profile than their flagship Columbia Valley Cabernet, which often has a unique fingerprint of soy and Asian spices. Even so, this Red Mountain Cab is exquisite and pristine. Notes of violets, graphite, […]

CHRISTINE HAVENS
McMinnville, OR

christine@christine-havens.com