
2017 J|R|G
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.
Blend Details
88% Cabernet Sauvignon
9% Merlot
3% Petit Verdot
Appellations
46% Red Mountain
24% Walla Walla Valley
18% Horse Heaven Hills
12% Rattlesnake Hills
Vineyards
25% Scooteney Flats
21% Klipsun
21% Summit View
12% Elephant Mountain
9% Canoe Ridge Estate
9% Discovery
3% Seven Hills
Harvest Dates
September 28 – October 24, 2017
Aging Profiles
20 months in new (21%), single use (24%) and neutral (55%) French oak barrels
Alcohol
14.2% by volume
Release Date
Spring, 2021
Production
803 cases of 750mL bottles
The 2017 JRG bottling from Pamplin is composed this year from a blend of eighty-eight percent cabernet sauvignon, nine percent merlot and three percent petit verdot. The wine comes in at 14.2 percent this year and delivers a superb young nose of dark berries, black cherries, cigar wrapper, a fine base of dark soil tones, hints of violets and a deft framing of cedar. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied, focused and well-balanced, with an excellent core of fruit, ripe, beautifully-integrated tannins and a long, complex and very classy finish. This is an excellent wine in the making that exalts in its old school stylistic sensibilities! 2027-2055+. (John Gilman)
Deep garnet color, berry and earth nose, smooth texture, dense flavors of berries, earth, spice with a long finish.