Novelty Hill Cabernet Sauvignon 2015, Columbia Valley, Washington

2015 vintage – 95% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Malbec, 1% Merlot. An expressive, full-bodied wine with dark fruit aromas and layers of concentrated wild blackberry, fresh plum and black cherry flavors that gain focus on the palate and carry across the wine’s long, rich finish. The Columbia Valley is a diverse growing region that produces a wide range of fruit expressions, and few Washington winemakers know the land as well as veteran vintner Mike Januik. Like previous vintages of this wine, Mike relies on Novelty Hill’s estate vineyard Stillwater Creek on the Royal Slope of the Frenchman Hills as the predominant source for this blend, then builds in layered complexity by adding grapes from a handful of top Red Mountain, Wahluke Slope and the Columbia Valley vineyards to further enhance the wine’s flavor and mouthfeel. Winemaking: Gentle pump overs during the early stages of fermentation were used to extract color and flavors fully. Gravity racked every five months to soften and clarify the wine. Aged 21 months in 65% French, 30% American oak barrels; 40% new.