The Washington wine selection down in socal is rife with the *usual suspects* so getting some smaller-production stuff is a treat. Apparently, these are single-vineyard, single-clone bottlings, and this cab certainly offers a LOT of things people look for in a cab. First of all: it’s big. Very big. Don’t let the mildly-transparent body fool you. Though unfined and unfiltered, it offers a crystal-clear deep ruby right out to the rim. The nose is a fruit-bowl cornucopia of blistering-ripe decadence, the blackberry and currant deposited on layers of vanilla, coffee and warm leather.
The bouquet had me worried about structure, but those fears are put to bed on first taste. The first lush intake explodes instantly in buckling texture, where the lavish velvet of intensely-fruited cabernet churns tannin and acid down your throat and into the back of your pupils. They’ve got a great mix of instincts here, and where a wine of this nature from Napa would go chubby and glycerine-y, this thing heads off down a rocky mountain path piled on all sides with pangs of interest. The gobb-stopping berry goes full-throttle through the middle deep into the finish, but is tempered with shear walls of ridiculous tannin and a bit of spicy heat. I’m guessing this thing is easily approaching 15-oh, and every point they have managed below that is worth 5 years in the cellar. This is stunning stuff worth the search–or the club membership.
2018 REVELRY VINTNERS ‘Aerials’ D11 Cabernet Sauvignon Dionysus Vyd Walla Walla Washington 14.6
Stephen McConnell 