2019 Estate Reserve

Tasting Notes

For the first time, the Estate Reserve is not technically a Cabernet Sauvignon - staying true to the goal of this wine - crafting each vintage’s very best red wine from our estate vineyards. Tobacco, leather, basalt, fresh soil after a summer rain, cedar, and blackberry. There are so many layers to this wine. Framed to be a touch larger than the Doubleback Cabernet, there is good fruit sweetness, beautiful fine grained tannin, and a sexy and lingering finish. If opening now, decant in the morning to enjoy that night, or cellar this wine through 2043.

Vintage Notes

The 2019 vintage was a true testament to the strength of our estate vineyards sites and the incredible capacity and will of our production team. It also marked the first vintage with our own farm crew and boy did it pay off! The season started a tad later than in recent years and also had a more “normal” summer – meaning fewer heat spikes and more even ripening. I remember that we had great canopy growth and a large fruit set, as we quickly dropped clusters on the ground in August to achieve optimal ripeness. In September, we saw great balance and retained fantastic energy and acidity in the grapes. Our first pick was Merlot from LeFore on September 27th. Less than two weeks later, on October 9th, the real defining moment of the vintage came when a fall frost event wiped out nearly all of eastern Washington and growers rushed to pick their fruit. It was a sleepless couple of nights for me as I wasn’t quite ready to pick our Cabernet and ultimately, chose to wait it out. That decision paid off. It was incredible to see that all of the blocks going into Doubleback remained untouched by the frost event - we let our fruit hang with perfect canopies and finished harvest on October 26th with Petit Verdot from McQueen. Our new farm team over-performed for their first vintage. I am tremendously proud of what we accomplished as a team and am very grateful for the incredible estates that make up Doubleback.During a challenging year like 2020, it was an immense pleasure to focus on farming and winemaking, an escape from the chaos of the world. Staying connected with God and Mother Nature brought great joy, and the vintage started out strong with bud break on time in mid-April. Generally we had a nice, slightly warmer year than average and our vineyards flourished. Bloom was on time but we did have a smaller-than-normal fruit set which showed in the cellar as our yields were smaller and less wine was made compared to the previous vintage. We had a beautiful harvest with threats of wildfires on the West Coast that we prepared for and researched extensively. Despite the threat, the vintage was absolutely stunning, resulting in some of the best wines we have ever made. Intense color, bright aromatics, and beautiful tannins. We began harvest on September 22nd with Malbec from our estate vineyard, Bob Healy, and finished on October 22nd with Cabernet Sauvignon from our estate vineyard, McQueen. Our team continues to improve every year and we could not be more proud of this new vintage of Doubleback.The 2019 vintage was a true testament to the strength of our estate vineyards sites and the incredible capacity and will of our production team. It also marked the first vintage with our own farm crew and boy did it pay off! The season started a tad later than in recent years and also had a more “normal” summer – meaning fewer heat spikes and more even ripening. I remember that we had great canopy growth and a large fruit set, as we quickly dropped clusters on the ground in August to achieve optimal ripeness. In September, we saw great balance and retained fantastic energy and acidity in the grapes. Our first pick was Merlot from LeFore on September 27th. Less than two weeks later, on October 9th, the real defining moment of the vintage came when a fall frost event wiped out nearly all of eastern Washington and growers rushed to pick their fruit. It was a sleepless couple of nights for me as I wasn’t quite ready to pick our Cabernet and ultimately, chose to wait it out. That decision paid off. It was incredible to see that all of the blocks going into Doubleback remained untouched by the frost event - we let our fruit hang with perfect canopies and finished harvest on October 26th with Petit Verdot from McQueen. Our new farm team over-performed for their first vintage. I am tremendously proud of what we accomplished as a team and am very grateful for the incredible estates that make up Doubleback.

Join Wine Allocation

Technical Notes