2022 Estate Reserve
VIP Exclusive 

Tasting Notes

The first time this wine comes predominantly from our estate site, Schafer (48%), in the foothills of the Blue Mountains, slightly edging out McQueen (45%), with the remainder coming from LeFore. A perfect representation of three grand crus in the Walla Walla Valley and an absolutely stunning wine. Wet stone and slate, beautifully framed French oak, pipe tobacco, just the right amount of classic Cabernet herbal tones, perfectly ripe blackberries, and it continues to give more and more. This new Estate Reserve is full bodied, rich, large without rough edges, and has great energy to the way it “feels”. I tasted while writing these notes over multiple days and it only improved - a sign of great things to come. Truly hard to keep my hands off this wine and there is potential to be our finest to date. Drink 2029 through 2055. 

     
- Josh McDaniels, CEO & Director of Winemaking

Vintage Notes

2022 was a vintage that winemakers remember. A close to normal bud break was met with snow at the beginning of April that shocked us! One of the latest times I have seen snow in Walla Walla. The spring continued cool until the heat finally arrived in July and August but we still were tracking behind normal. We diligently thinned our crops down to ensure that we achieve ripeness if cooler temperatures continued. I remember throughout September starting to get a bit worried about the vintage and getting our later blocks of Cabernet across the finish line. However, October came to save the day with beautiful weather that pushed us over the line. I made my final picking decision in November- the latest I had ever picked with perfect ripeness, beautiful energy, and perfect tannins extracting in the fermenter. I feel like I pushed the limit on our picking decisions in 2022 and I believe those risks are paying off greatly as we taste these incredible new wines we are very proud of. Hats off to my entire production team, vineyard to winery, for battling through a challenging harvest and absolutely crushing it- pun intended.

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Technical Notes