Beet red to dark cherry in color, eliciting aromas of graphite, pipe tobacco, black currant, candied ginger and forest floor. Graham cracker notes on the palate integrate with flavors of black plum, balsam, bramble berries and milk chocolate. The mouthfeel is medium to full bodied with mouth-coating tannins. With a long finish that shows intense dark cherry liqueur and incense.
Vintage Notes
Cabernet Sauvignon is the most widely planted wine grape and the backbone of many of the world’s great regions. Born on Bordeaux’s Left Bank, where gravelly soils fostered structure and longevity, it found a second home in California, where climate and craft elevated its status for a new generation of collectors. In the right hands, Cabernet marries power with clarity and ages with grace.
In the Columbia Valley, Cabernet Sauvignon thrives. Long summer light, cool nights, steady Columbia River winds, and well drained ancient flood soils allow full ripeness with balance. Diverse elevations and aspects across AVAs like Red Mountain, Royal Slope, and Horse Heaven Hills enable precise farming and smart clonal matches, yielding wines with poise and ageworthy structure that set the region apart.
The 2020 Tenor Cabernet Sauvignon was crafted from Champoux vineyard in the Horse Heaven Hills AVA, Quintessence vineyard in Red Mountain AVA, and Solaksen vineyards in the Royal Slope AVA. Farmed using sustainable practices, the vines were limited to one or two clusters per shoot for maximum concentration. The fruit was then hand-harvested in the early mornings in October. Upon arriving in the winery, each cluster was hand-sorted, berry-sorted, and then fermented in both French oak barrels (88%) and stainless steel (22%). The free-run wine was then cellared for 21 months in new French oak (100%). The resulting 8 barrels were bottled in July 2022, producing only 191 cases.
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