Wine & Spirits - December 2020 - 79

YEAR'S BEST US CABERNETS & BLENDS
91 | Cadence

$45

2017 Red Mountain Tapteil Vineyard (Best
Buy) ^ Not quite half cabernet sauvignon, with
cabernet franc and merlot rounding it out,
this blend has an old- vine tension propelling
turf, plum, plum skin and earth in its initial
scents. It's fairly immense and concentrated,
frontloaded with tannins and a bit jittery at
present. Cellar. -P.J.C. §
521926

92 | Mark Ryan

$60

2017 Red Mountain Water Witch ^ About
two-thirds cabernet sauvignon and one-third
merlot, this wine comes from the dedicated
Mark Ryan blocks at Quintessence Vineyard.
It's a massive wine, with heady scents and
a broad plummy core, the merlot providing
a red-fruited lift. It needs fat to really sing;
pour it for pork shoulder. -P.J.C. §
521343

91 | Col Solare

521918

92 | Prospice

$80

2017 Red Mountain Reserve Quintessence
Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon ^ Prospice's
Reserve is a massive red, leading with savory
scents of turf and cedar, the savor softened
by a concentrated fruit essence, like roasted
cherries. Despite the fruit's weight, the wine
has a trickle of acidity that gives it life and lift,
the whole package tailor-made for braised
meats, like stout-braised beef stew. -P.J.C. §
521958

92 | Waterbrook

$25

2017 Red Mountain AVA Series Cabernet
Sauvignon (Best Buy) ^ It's hard to believe
this wine is three years old; it feels youthful
and rippling with energy. The black-plum
flavors are delivered with power and poise,
massive yet self-contained, with a dusting of
windblown soil flavor. It's a lot of wine for the
price. Cellar. -P.J.C. §
521980

91 | Andrew Januik

$75

2017 Red Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon ^
Col Solare's flagship red, this has a demonstrative cedar scent and flavors of blueberry
and black cherry. It's a powerful wine, dense
and tannic, with a furry, suedelike texture
that stops just short of excess. It needs time
in the cellar before uncorking it for lamb.
-P.J.C. (W&S 10/20) §
518825

91 | Double Canyon

$55

2017 Red Mountain Ciel du Cheval Vineyard ^ A blend of six varieties, mostly cabernet
sauvignon and merlot, this is intense, with
scents of candied blueberries, rosemary and
cedar fronds. It's spicy and chewy at once,
that core of dark blue fruit hemmed in by
fierce tannins. If you pour it now, decant it
for roast beef; better yet, tuck it into the cellar. -P.J.C. (W&S 2/20; 790 cases) §

91 | Mark Ryan

$60

91 | Waterbrook

$39

89 | Browne

$20

2017 Red Mountain Dead Horse Cabernet Sauvignon ^ Mark Ryan's Dead Horse is
a blend from three Red Mountain vineyards:
Ciel du Cheval, Klipsun and a custom-planting at Quintessence Vineyard. The 2017 is
all coffee and smoke at the outset, adorning deep plum and black-fig flavors. It goes
without saying that it's a big wine-it's Mark
Ryan after all-but the wine has a clove-andespresso background that keeps it interesting, and fine-grain tannins for pork. -P.J.C. §
521963
2017 Red Mountain Icon Cabernet Sauvignon (Best Buy) ^ Waterbrook's Icon series is
all about rustic power. Mostly drawn from
Shaw Vineyards, this 2017 is framed by oak,
which surrounds the dark plum fruit with
aromas of olive and woodsmoke. The tannins
are robust and impressive in their breadth,
buoying the wine's structure. -P.J.C. §
521953
2017 Red Mountain Skull & Chain Cabernet Sauvignon (Best Buy) ^ All black plum
and violet candy when first poured, this wine
offers a fair amount of complexity for the
price. It's sleek and medium bodied. -P.J.C. §

S N I P E S M O U N TA I N
521353

94 | DeLille Cellars

$98

2017 Snipes Mountain Harrison Hill ^
From an old-vine north-facing site on Snipes
Mountain, in the heart of the Yakima Valley,
this blend of mostly cabernet and merlot is
grainy and herbaceous when first poured,
lighter than many cab-based blends from
Washington. The fruit is limpid and pure,
weightless, lasting with a clarity of line and
starburst acidity for days. -P.J.C. (W&S
10/20; 283 cases) §

WAHLUKE SLOPE
521985

93 | Januik

$40

2017 Red Mountain Stone Cairn Cabernet Sauvignon (Best Buy) ^ Blended from
top vineyards, including Quintessence, Ciel
du Cheval and Obelisco, this wine starts out
savory and lithe, with aromas of conifer tips,
plum and tobacco. It gets juicier with air, the
lush fruit tightly framed in cedary oak, with
savory tobacco-scented tannins and the persistence for roast beef. -P.J.C. §
522005

Williams has propped up the old-vine fruit
with plenty of sumptuous oak, giving this the
stuffing to cellar. -P.J.C. §
521923

521950

91 | Kiona

$75

2016 Red Mountain Old Block Cabernet
Sauvignon ^ An estate blend that includes
blocks from Kiona's first 1976 planting, this
2016 bottling has scents of cedar, vine bark,
tobacco and black plum. Winemaker Tyler

$40

2017 Wahluke Slope Weinbau Vineyard
Cabernet Sauvignon ^ From one of the
Wahluke Slope's most venerable vineyards,
this cabernet captures all the warmth of the
Wahluke Slope and none of the heaviness
that typically accompanies its fruit. The wine
leads with a sunny display of plum and cherry
flavor, the oak impressive but not oppressive.
Succulent and almost rich, the fruit is buoyed

WINE & SPIRITS

DECEMBER 2020

https://www.markryanwinery.com/wines/index.php?name=2017-Water+Witch&id=12 https://www.colsolare.com/slr/wine-shop/all-wines/2017-col-solare-cabernet-sauvignon/5637182844.p https://prospice.orderport.net/product-details/0034/2017-Quintessence-Vineyard-Cabernet-Sauvignon-Reserve https://www.kionawine.com

Wine & Spirits - December 2020

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