Matthews Winery Claret 2020
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Wine
Enthusiast -
Jeb
Dunnuck -
James
Suckling
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Dark berries, bramble, and cola give way to sandalwood and vanilla bean. Red and black fruits, cocoa, and black tea on the palate. Polished tannins and well-balanced acidity leave a lasting finish that intrigues.
Serve with grilled beef sliders, breaded meatballs, and roasted lambchops.
Blend: 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Merlot, 27% Cabernet Franc, 3% Petit Verdot, 1% Malbec
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
This is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (35%), Merlot (34%) and Cabernet Franc (27%), along with bits of Petit Verdot and Malbec. With fruit coming from Horse Heaven Hills, White Bluffs, Wahluke Slope and Royal Slope, appealing aromas of green pepper, herb and fresh black fruit lead to ripe, polished, pure, decadent black-fruit flavors. It shows a lot of intensity and richness. Chocolate notes linger on the very long finish. It's flat-out delicious and an outrageous value to boot.
Editors' Choice -
Jeb Dunnuck
The most expensive wine in the lineup, the 2020 Reserve Claret is based on 68% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Cabernet Franc, 7% each Merlot and Petit Verdot, and 4% Malbec. Its deep ruby/purple hue is followed by a perfumed bouquet of cassis, candied cherries, violets, and Asian spices. These carry to a medium to full-bodied, structured, tannic wine with a firm yet concentrated mid-palate, notable purity of fruit, and outstanding length. Give bottles a few years in the cellar, and it should evolve for 15 years or more.
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James Suckling
Aromas of cloves, dark cherries, blackcurrants, anise and spearmint. It’s full-bodied, firm and compact, with flavorful spicy and herbal layers. Chewy finish. 35% cabernet sauvignon, 34% merlot, 27% cabernet franc, 3% petit verdot and 1% malbec.
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Wine &
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Established in 1993, Matthews Winery is located in the heart of the Woodinville Wine Country. The boutique winery is owned by a local family and focuses on maintaining production of Bordeaux-style and single varietal vineyard-designated wines. Matthews uses grapes grown in Washington state from vineyards that have experience and respect for nature and its soil. The winery and winemakers believe that there is a deep and tangible link between the vines, hills, winegrowers and winemakers, and carries this proof of affinity into every aspect of wine making—from the vineyard to the cellar, from the vine to the wine bottle.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
A large and geographically diverse AVA capable of producing a wide variety of wine styles, the Columbia Valley AVA is home to 99% of Washington state’s total vineyard area. A small section of the AVA even extends into northern Oregon!
Because of its size, it is necessarily divided into several distinctive sub-AVAs, including Walla Walla Valley and Yakima Valley—which are both further split into smaller, noteworthy appellations. A region this size will of course have varied microclimates, but on the whole it experiences extreme winters and long, hot, dry summers. Frost is a common risk during winter and spring. The towering Cascade mountain range creates a rain shadow, keeping the valley relatively rain-free throughout the entire year, necessitating irrigation from the Columbia River. The lack of humidity combined with sandy soils allows for vines to be grown on their own rootstock, as phylloxera is not a serious concern.
Red wines make up the majority of production in the Columbia Valley. Cabernet Sauvignon is the dominant variety here, where it produces wines with a pleasant balance of dark fruit and herbs. Wines made from Merlot are typically supple, with sweet red fruit and sometimes a hint of chocolate or mint. Syrah tends to be savory and Old-World-leaning, with a wide range of possible fruit flavors and plenty of spice. The most planted white varieties are Chardonnay and Riesling. These range in style from citrus and green apple dominant in cooler sites, to riper, fleshier wines with stone fruit flavors coming from the warmer vineyards.