2017 Cabernet Sauvignon – Walla Walla Valley AVA

Vintage Notes

A couple of good snow storms during the winter and a cool, wet spring meant there was plenty of water available for the vines once the weather warmed up in June. This led to vigorous canopies that growers had a hard time keeping up with. Dense canopies shade fruit early on and available water keeps them growing. It’s important to get sunshine on the fruit early to aid in the thickening of the berries skin – this is where flavor and tannins reside. Hot weather arrived in late June and continued through July, helping the canopies to shut down and allowed the vintage to catch up from the late start. Smoke from fires in British Columbia reduced sunlight intensity, keeping things cooler for the last three weeks of August. Days that were predicted to reach 100 degrees or more ended up 10 to 15 degrees cooler. Things thankfully cooled off further the last two weeks of September, stalling fruit development, which kept sugars and acids at reasonable levels. October was wetter than usual with very cold nights close to freezing. The cool temperatures pushed most of our Cabernet picks out to the second and third weeks of October. The wines of the 2017 vintage show great density and depth. They are a vintage until themselves that I find hard to draw any parallels to other vintages. The fruit is very dark and brooding backed by “sticky/dusty” tannins.