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Wine Recommendation
Soos Creek Wine Cellars
2004 Cabernet Sauvignon, Ciel du Cheval Vineyard(Red Mountain)
Soos Creek wines are easily spotted on local retail shelves by their distinctive label graphic of a horse outlined in thick black ink. Making wine professionally since 1989, Dave Larsen was smart enough to line up impeccable vineyard sources early on – among them, Ciel du Cheval (Red Mountain) and Champoux (Horse Heaven Hills). Recently he has begun using Dionysus (Columbia Valley), Weinbau (Wahluke Slope) and Dineen (Rattlesnake Hills) fruit as well.
Ciel du Cheval is one of the oldest, and arguably the most prestigious vineyard on Red Mountain, and wines made from its fruit, of which there are many, often show a fine-grained minerality, from a substrata of graphite and rock.
This young Cabernet, an austere mix of mineral and green tea flavors, begins quite hard and tight and densely compacted. The opening aromas hint at dried grass and wild berries, with the vineyard’s typical minerality. This is a vintage (and a vineyard) that will certainly reward cellaring, for up to 20 years. Winemaker David Larsen keeps the alcohol at a moderate 14.1 percent.
Reviewed March 28, 2007 by Paul Gregutt.
Other Awards & Accolades
92 points - Wine Enthusiast (May, 2007)
"Again winemaker Dave Larsen has made a classic Ciel du Cheval Cabernet, an austere mix of mineral and green tea flavors, hard and tight and densely compacted...This is a vintage (and a vineyard) that will certainly reward cellaring, for up to 20 years."
Other reviewed wines from Soos Creek Wine Cellars
The Wine
Winery: Soos Creek Wine Cellars |
The Reviewer
Paul Gregutt
Paul Gregutt values these things in wine above all: typicity, specificity, clarity, elegance, polish, depth and balance. He recognizes that there are genuine flaws in some wines, and it is important to know and identify them. Wines that are too ripe, too oaky or alcoholic to the point where nuance and detail are obliterated are not going to win his praise. Price is a factor in his evaluation of any wine; a good $8 wine is much harder to make than a good $80 wine. |