Nose
The aromatics of this wine are a beautiful mixture of red fruits, balsam and cedar, chocolate, and a hint of freshly picked herbs like sage and lavender.
Palate
The wine has a Bordeaux-Claret-like refreshing coolness on the palate that gives way to a smooth finish of firmly packed tannins and excellent length. This is classic Walla Walla Valley Cabernet Sauvignon that will drink well for the next 15-20 years.
Growing Conditions
The 2004 vintage was made challenging by the previous January’s deep freeze that damaged many vineyards throughout the Walla Walla Valley. Our extensive investment over the last 10 years in new vineyard sites allowed us to escape with only minor damage and produce one of the few Cabernets to come only from Walla Walla Valley fruit. We harvested a slightly smaller yet very high-quality crop in a growing season itself was quite wonderful – as an early bud-break and slightly cooler season led to an extended harvest. This wine represents one of our finest viticultural achievements. We’re proud that this wine even exists, yet alone is of high quality. We made two and half times our already intense number of hand passes through the vineyard to eliminate suckers, late-blooming clusters, and imperfections caused by the freeze.
The hard work by our vineyard crew and manager Jason Magnaghi paid off.
