The Desert Wine Guy - 2012 Columbia Crest Grand Estates Cabarnet Sauvignon

                         What are your thoughts on the state of Washington when it comes to Cabernet Sauvignon? Would you believe that the state of Washington produces not only makes great Riesling such as Chateau Ste Michelle (https://www.ste-michelle.com/) but some great Cabernet Sauvignon as well, such as the Columbia Crest (https://www.columbiacrest.com/) Cabernet Sauvignon, Grand Estates . While Napa and California in general are still one of the most renowned regions for wine  that there is in the world, a new state is coming up quickly on the horizon. Washington state is now coming on strong in the world of Cabernet Sauvignon. As a side note, California actually produces 89% of American wine by volume whereas Washington state produces currently 4%.

                                               
The Washington State winery in particular, as well as the one we will be talking about in this review is Columbia Crest. While it turns out that Columbia Crest has been making award winning Cabernet for a few years now, to me it was never really an area that I took too seriously for that particular varietal. I now see that I will have to start looking a little deeper in the future. The Columbia Crest label by the way happens to be owned by Chateau Ste Michelle the maker of the above referenced Riesling and are both part of the Ste. Michelle Wine Estates collective. It seems that Columbia Crest has been making big news lately with their other 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon, the H3 Horse Heaven Hills. With a rating of 92 points by Wine Spectator magazine http://www.winespectator.com/newsandfeatures) and with the common availability at your local supermarket as well. Oh did I also mention that the Columbia Crest H3 retails for $11? I didn't think I did. As I have already told you this wine seems to be on the tip of everyone's tongue and is supposed to be wonderful. I myself have not tasted it yet although I do have two bottles on hand. As you can imagine I am looking forward to doing just that shortly after this which will of course follow shortly. There is however another 2012 Columbia Crest Cabernet Sauvignon that is going seemingly unnoticed and almost sort of under the radar simply because it is currently being overshadowed at the moment by the H3 and that wine is the the 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Grand Estates which also retails for $11. I am actually reviewing this wine prior to the H3 because I wanted to review a wine from the same producer as the H3 that wasn't making any noise. Do you think it's possible that I can expose a "hidden gem" to you guys? Well folks, the Grand Estates is not the wine you are hearing so much about and so here we are to hopefully start a fuss and discussion about it.  Today I will share with you just how great this wine truly is and expose to you that "hidden gem".
   From the beginning of my review the wine gave me a hint of what it had in store for me. To begin with, the Bouquet of the Columbia Crest Cabernet Sauvignon Grand Estates is that of a full bodied, fruit forward and yet at the same time complex wine. The wine is complex in as far as the fact that there were so many different notes that hit the nose at once. I remember when I very first did a pour of the wine and I was walking back to my chair. I was still able to smell it's bouquet and this was at a distance of about waist high. The Bouquet simply would not stop. I remember thinking that I couldn't wait to get back to my chair and actually bring the glass to my nose to really appreciate it. When I did make it to the chair I brought the glass to my nose with the anticipation of a full bouquet of fruit and Oak.
                               I was NOT to be disappointed. There was this amazing sense of Plum that immediately jumps out at you. A ripe, rich plum that reminds you of walking past a fruit market on the side of a road while traveling to Northern California in route to Napa or even an organic supermarket where all the fruit available was picked because it is ripe and not just to simply get it to market. As I have already said, there was some Oak that was also present in the bouquet, a warm toasted Oak. You can almost imagine being there as they cut the wood to make the barrel with your nose smelling the fresh oak being cut, or imagine sitting out by the Barbeque with your friends and smelling a nice steak sizzling on the barbeque with wood chips. Well anyway, Joined into the many different aromas of the bouquet was  nice bouquet of Current to add to the amazing sense of depth of the wine. There were also the minor notes of Cherry and Cocoa which are present and while certainly not dominating they very much did have their impact on the bouquet. I love it when you can smell something in a wine that puts a picture in your mind of that particular fruit or almost develops a taste in your mouth that conjures up the sense of that particular fruit. I believe that this sense actually adds a mental effect that highlights the bouquet as well as the taste. This is a very complex bouquet and you can just sense what you, the drinker have in store for you when this wonderful wine finally gets to your palette.  Once again this wine needs to be given the chance to breath before enjoying it, I recommend around two (2) hours. Once this wine had about two (2) hours to open up it became a full bodied, but not what I would consider "heavy" Cabernet Sauvignon, it was more on the deeper side that lighter side but still certainly not overdone. Prior to letting it breath it was a very jammy tasting wine and not approachable at all. Once given the opportunity to open the wine exposed some light, clean and well refined Tannins and that wonderful Plum which was now in moderate and tasty amounts. The wine jumped from a wine that I would have rated at an 86 point wine to one that I would put at a cellar worthy 91 points. The Green Pepper present in the mouth along with the Currant combined for an immediate one two flavor note knockout. There were mineral notes and a deep Black cherry as well. The wine was consistent and the notes never dropped off throughout the bottle. There was no aftertaste, good or bad and the wine was consistently very good throughout. This wine drinks incredibly smoothly and went down just begging for you to take another sip immediately. I had actually invited a friend over to help with this particular tasting (like I needed it) and we both agreed when the bottle was finished we were ready for and needed another. From the first sip to the last it was pure Heaven.

   UPDATE!!! -  Since I wrote this article I have had the opportunity to do a serious tasting of the 2012 Columbia Crest Cabernet Sauvignon H3 and while I do want you to come back and read that review I will go as far as to tell you that it was not a great wine at all. The 2012 Columbia Crest Grand Estates BLOWS the H3 away. I don't want to ruin my review on the H3 for you but I can tell you that I don't know what Wine Spectator Magazine was thinking when they reviewed the wine. The wine was full of Blackberry and over the top at that. Check back in a week or so for my full review.
END OF UPDATE!!!