Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 62

Year's Best Cabernet Sauvignon & Blends
that counterbalances the pine and eucalyptus
notes. It ends up being way more compelling
than its price would suggest. -P.J.C. §
88 | Chateau Ste. Michelle $18
2018 Columbia Valley Indian Wells Cabernet
Sauvignon (BEST BUY) ^ Dark cherry and
plum scents give way to a sweet, fully ripe
wine that's plush and velvety. There's not a
lot of structure here but plenty of flavor. For
roast beef. -P.J.C. §
87 | High Heaven
$15
2019 Columbia Valley Majestic Pines Cabernet
Sauvignon (BEST BUY) ^ Scents of jalapeño,
cassis and plum add to this wine's chocolatey
concentration, for barbecue. -P.J.C.
(2,500 cases) §
HORSE HEAVEN HILLS
90 | Alexandria Nicole
$42
2018 Horse Heaven Hills Alderdale Destiny
Ridge Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon ^
You can feel the wind in this Horse Heaven
Hills cabernet, the dark, thick-skinned power
of the fruit that lends structure to its plummy
core, the whiff of mint and cedar which help
to frame it. It retains some lively, juicy, aciddriven
lift, a good foil for pork loin. -P.J.C.
(591 cases) §
90 | Alexandria Nicole
$26
2018 Horse Heaven Hills Quarry Butte
Destiny Ridge Vineyard ^ Smelling this cabernet
blend is like walking in a pine forest:
The savory notes feel windswept and grippy,
powerfully tannic, even as the wine's blackberry
intensity keeps it on point. -P.J.C.
(1889 cases) §
88 | Good Measure
$18
2019 Horse Heaven Hills Destiny Ridge
Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon (BEST BUY) ^
Smoky and dark, with cedar scents adorning
purple plum flavors, this is a grippy red for a
mixed grill. -P.J.C. (500 cases) §
88 | Trailstone
$26
2019 Horse Heaven Hills Cabernet Sauvignon
(BEST BUY) ^ Strawberry and blackcherry
scents lead in this acid-driven, bright
cabernet from the Horse Heaven Hills, with
a nerve that hints at the windswept slopes of
the region. Decant and pour for lamb sausages.
-P.J.C. (3,996 cases) §
RED mOUNTAIN
94 | Ambassador
Wines of Washington $48
2018 Red Mountain Diplomat ^ A blend of
mostly cabernet, with syrah and malbec. The
latter varieties lead, with violets and blackplum
scents. The flavors follow with purple
plum and black fig, olive, cedar and eucalyptus.
Savory in the extreme, the middle is
fleshy and generous, followed by firm grip.
A tannic wine, but the tannins are handled
exceptionally well, sleek and medium-bodied,
quite a feat for Red Mountain. -P.J.C.
(250 cases) §
94 | Canvasback
$72
2018 Red Mountain Ciel du Cheval
Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon ^ Canvasback's
interpretation of Ciel du Cheval, Red
Mountain's second oldest vineyard, is one
sexy wine-all violets and black plum, with
cedar accents. The texture is as sensuous as a
clay bath, fine and silty, with the fineness of
powdered sugar and a raspberry lift that will
make you forget this is from Red Mountain.
-P.J.C. (144 cases) §
94 | Canvasback
$72
2018 Red Mountain Longwinds Vineyard
Cabernet Sauvignon ^ A formidable
Red Mountain red, this debut bottling from
Canvasback's estate vineyard brings together
dark silky red fruits and lavish caramel and
mocha oak elements. After two days open
those flavors coalesce into dark chocolate,
cedar resin, blackberry and black cherry in
an elegant weave. Give it time in the cellar.
-P.J.C. (210 cases) §
94 | Chateau Ste. Michelle $50
2017 Red Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon ^
For years, Ste. Michelle has ceded Red Mountain
to its sister winery Col Solare. Then, in
2017, Ste. Michelle contracted fruit from
Heart of the Hill to produce a powerful wine
that plays into its penchant for concentrated,
oak-forward reds. This leads with dark, plush
fruit, fig skin and black plum, with cedar and
toffee accents. It has tremendous depth and
power, and yet, like the best Red Mountain
wines, this one pirouettes gracefully with
fine-grained tannins. A big wine and a big
performance, for steak. -P.J.C. (3,500 cases) §
94 | Col Solare
$75
2018 Red Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon ^
Col Solare's 2018 cabernet seems like a master
class in taming the Red Mountain beast.
It's a big, powerful wine: Smelling it is like
stepping up to an edifice, but what may
62
WINE & SPIR IT S
D E c E mb ER 2021
impress you most is its savor and smoky complexity.
If you can imagine grilled blueberries,
that's the idea. The flavors are heady,
dark and concentrated, with a formidable
oak component, and yet the wine feels like
it's on tiptoe, the intensity on a small scale.
It needs years in the cellar. -P.J.C. §
94 | DeLille Cellars
$160
2016 Red Mountain Grand Ciel Cabernet
Sauvignon ^ DeLille sent two vintages
of Grand Ciel for us to taste this year. Both
were gorgeous wines, but the 2016 showed us
where these wines go...slowly. This five-yearold
was wildly dark, a deep violet color with
even darker inky shades on the rim. It smells
of violets and plums, with plenty of extracted
fruit scents, and flavors to match. The texture
though, while plainly Red Mountain-
big, is suede-like, with a dustiness that hints
at a long life in the cellar. -P.J.C. (300 cases) §
94 | Kiona
$45
Red Mountain Fortuna II ^ A multi-vintage
blend of three varieties: old-block cabernet
from 2015, carmenere from 2017, and malbec
from 2018. It was an inspired choice to
go with multiple vintages: The wine is spicy,
burnished, and exotically savory, with scents
of wood smoke, toffee and plum, cocoa, cinnamon,
anise, and mace. The carmenere
spice is tethered to cabernet fruit, the blackplummy
malbec rounded out by the older
components, all exceptionally suave and balanced.
-P.J.C. (306 cases) §
93 | Ambassador
Wines of Washington $65
2018 Red Mountain Plenipotentiary Cabernet
Sauvignon ^ This dark-purple cabernet
has plenty of Red Mountain intensity amid
violet scents, plum flavors and velvety tannins.
It's generous and fresh, more open and
broad than many of its Red Mountain compatriots,
showing both depth and restraint.
-P.J.C. (200 cases) §
93 | Canvasback
$42
2018 Red Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon ^
A dark and heady wine, all crushed berries
and dark spices, this cabernet marries sumptuous
oak spice with deep, powerful fruit. A
big and burly classic from Red Mountain, this
wine's tannins feel powerful and balanced at
once. -P.J.C. §
93 | DeLille Cellars
$160
2017 Red Mountain Grand Ciel Cabernet
Sauvignon ^ One variety, one clone, one
vineyard is how DeLille describes this wine.
A driving force of dark fruit and evergreen
savor, it leads with aromas of pint frond and
Wine & Spirits - December 2021

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