Red Mtn Cabs
Red Mountain produces a Cab feast! Klipsun, Ciel du Cheval and Taptiel vineyards all produce outstanding Cabernet Sauvignon. Why don't we start at the top of Red Mountain and work our way down. Hightower competes with Taptiel winery for the highest spot on the mountain. So far Hightower's best Cab came from Pepper Bridge vineyard in Walla Walla. Taptiel's wines are quite variable - perhaps they should stick to growing grapes. Hedges makes big Cabs from their own vineyards on the mountain as does Red Mountain pioneer Kiona. Keith Pilgrim at Terra Blanca makes the outstanding Cab blend - Onyx as well as a regular Cabernet Sauvignon. Red Mountain seems made for big Cabernet Sauvignons.
posted by Gene Stein, Ph.D. @ 7:41 AM
3 Comments:
At 9:19 AM,
Anonymous said…
I agree. Red Mountain is the definitive growing area for Washington's best cabernets. However, the winemakers on Red Mountain are a few steps behind the farmers!
Just about any wine made from Ciel du Cheval fruit is worth trying. Ciel's owner Jim Holmes and his team do a good job. One wine to try, if you can find it, is the Grand Ciel release from DeLille Cellars. It's a blend using only fruit from DeLille's Red Mountain vineyard, and it goes for $125 a bottle, yipes!
At 9:51 AM,
Gene Stein, Ph.D. said…
So far as I know, Grand Ciel hasn't been released yet and you can probably still purchase futures at DeLille. It looks to be the next "cult" wine from Washington.
At 12:20 PM,
Anonymous said…
Red Mountain is producing some wonderful reds and with new vineyards and wineries being planted/built, I think we can all look forward to more great wine in the future. Has anyone heard of Corvus? Friend of a friend tried it recently at the Auction of Washington Wines and said it was an outstanding Red Mountain Cab Sauv and very limited production.
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