Sleight Of Hand The Illusionist Cabernet Sauvignon 2014
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Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
This vintage of the Illusionist is loaded with blue and black fruits, and is complimented with aromas of cedar, smoke, and spice, all of which is backed by sweet oak notes. It is immediately approachable, with fine grained and silky tannins, but will age beautifully for at least another two decades.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A blend of 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, with the balance Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Merlot, the 2014 The Illusionist is a gorgeously pure, elegant beauty that offers terrific notes of cassis, leafy herbs, earth and lead pencil shavings. Medium to full-bodied, with terrific fruit intensity, polished tannin and a great finish, give bottles a year in the cellar and enjoy over the following 7-8 years. It's slightly more streamlined than I remember from barrel, but I like its length, and if it fills out with bottle age, it should get closer to that barrel score.
Rating: 93+ -
James Suckling
Modern ripe and packed with dark plums. The palate delivers a smooth and rather deep-set fruit presence. The long, flavor-soaked tannins carry impressive freshness. Drink or hold.
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Wine Spectator
Plush and generous, with expressive black cherry and mocha-espresso aromas and rich, layered blackberry and savory licorice flavors that linger toward refined tannins. Drink now through 2023.
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Wine Enthusiast
Dried herb, black cherry, dark fruit, coffee and spice aromas are followed by a palate that brings a sense of refinement for such a warm vintage. Best after 2020.
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Born out of a chance meeting at the Sun Valley Wine Auction's trade tasting that developed into a deep friendship, and a shared passion for outstanding wine, rock and roll, and fun, Sleight of Hand Cellars is the brainchild (love child) of Trey Busch and Jerry Solomon. Following that initial meeting in 2002, Trey, Jerry, and the winery's third partner, Sandy Solomon, started doing annual wine dinners in Sun Valley while Trey worked as the winemaker at another local winery (a job he had taken after training under Eric Dunham of Dunham Cellars beginning in 2000). Those dinners continued for four years, until in 2006 Trey finally convinced Sandy and Jerry to come over to Walla Walla for a visit.
That visit proved to be life-changing for the three partners. In less than 24 hours after their arrival in Walla Walla, the Solomons had not only fallen in love with Walla Walla and its unique charm, but a deal had been struck to start the winery. In June of 2007 the winery officially opened its doors with a small storefront tasting room in Downtown Walla Walla, while renting space at another winery for production purposes. But great press, and outstanding scores from critics, soon changed those minimalist beginnings.
Sleight of Hand Cellars has two basic goals in its vision statement, to make world class wines and to have fun while doing it—a visit to the winery is all the proof anyone needs to confirm that the winery, and its partners, are succeeding on both fronts. The winery has been open for less than ten years, but in that time Sleight of Hand Cellars has been named one of "The Next Generation" of up and coming wineries in Washington State, as well as one of "The Next Cult Wineries" by Seattle Magazine. We have had numerous wines make the top 100 of Wine and Spirits Magazine, as well as Seattle Met Magazine.
Washington produces so many exciting wines, and that definitely includes Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. With over 10,000 acres under vine, Cabernet Sauvignon is now the most widely-grown varietal in the state. Terrific examples hail from sub-appellations like Red Mountain, Wahluke Slope, Horse Heaven Hills and Walla Walla Valley. One of the fascinations of these Columbia Valley Cabs is that they so often seem to have one foot in the New World and one in the Old. Representing the former are characteristics like the ripe, forward fruit that results from long sunny days during the growing season (up to two hours longer than in much of California). Old World similarities include an undeniable brightness from acidity, as well as notes of herbs, graphite and a dusty, sometimes gravelly minerality.
Whether you’re looking for a budget bottle for everyday enjoyment, or a stellar, world-class wine with tremendous aging potential, Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon wines can deliver the goods! Among the many fine options are bottles from Columbia Crest, Chateau Ste. Michelle, L’ecole #41, Quilceda Creek and Leonetti.