Col Solare Cabernet Sauvignon 2017
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Dunnuck
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Suckling
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Red Mountain is all varietal and spent 22 months in new French oak. Coming from a mix of the Sol Solare, Quintessence, Shaw, and Kina vineyards, its deep purple hue is followed by a beautifully balanced, medium to full-bodied Cabernet with lots of currant fruits, notes of lead pencil, violets, and damp earth, silky tannins, and a great finish. It doesn’t have the richness or concentration of the reserve, yet it’s better balanced. Drink this beauty over the coming 15 years or so.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Also blended with a splash of Cabernet Franc, the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon opens with dusty, dark blackberry essence with the rusticity of Red Mountain terroir. Full-bodied and weighted on the palate, the wine offers a balanced frame and some tight tannins that will loosen in time before. The wine ends with flavors of pencil shavings, cedar and plum reduction on the long, drawn-out finish. It's always good and constantly dependable.
Rating: 93(+) -
James Suckling
A rather lean, gritty-textured cabernet with lots of iodine, blackberry and confer undertones. Full-bodied, tight and rich. Better in 2021. Drink or hold.
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Wine Spectator
Savory and well-proportioned, with a fervent structure of tannin and acid, balanced by deep blackberry and green olive flavors. Drink now through 2029.
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A noble variety bestowed with both power and concentration, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys success all over the globe, its best examples showing potential to age beautifully for decades. Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in Bordeaux's Medoc where it is often blended with Merlot and smaller amounts of some combination of Cabernet Franc, Malbecand Petit Verdot. In the Napa Valley, ‘Cab’ is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious, age-worthy and sought-after “cult” wines. Somm Secret—DNA profiling in 1997 revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon was born from a spontaneous crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc in 17th century southwest France.
A coveted source of top quality red grapes among premier Washington producers, the Red Mountain AVA is actually the smallest appellation in the state. As its name might suggest, it is actually neither a mountain nor is it composed of red earth. Instead the appellation is an anticline of the Yakima fold belt, a series of geologic folds that define a number of viticultural regions in the surrounding area. It is on the eastern edge of Yakima Valley with slopes facing southwest towards the Yakima River, ideal for the ripening of grapes. The area’s springtime proliferation of cheatgrass, which has a reddish color, actually gives the area the name, "Red" Mountain.
Red Mountain produces some of the most mineral-driven, tannic and age-worthy red wines of Washington and there are a few reasons for this. It is just about the hottest appellation with normal growing season temperatures commonly reaching above 90F. The soil is particularly poor in nutrients and has a high pH, which results in significantly smaller berry sizes compared to varietal norms. The low juice to skin ratio in smaller berries combined with the strong, dry summer winds, leads to higher tannin levels in Red Mountain grapes.
The most common red grape varieties here are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Syrah, among others. Limited white varieties are grown, namely Sauvignon blanc.
The reds of the area tend to express dark black and blue fruit, deep concentration, complex textures, high levels of tannins and as previously noted, have good aging capabilities.