Price: $15.99
Sale Price: $12.97
Washington’s Columbia Valley, tucked away in the arid rain shadow of the volcanic Cascade Mountain range, continues to produce some of the country’s best-value wines. Sandy, well-drained soils ensure concentration of flavor, while hot, dry summer days (17 hours long near the solstice) impart a fruit-forward character and notably cool nights (typically 30-40 °F colder than daytime) lets the wines retain a freshness and acidity that some California wines, produced in similar hot, arid conditions, don’t. This wine is spicy and floral on the nose, with the requisite blackcurrant notes quite present; it tastes of that, of tart cherry and of wild strawberry together with ripe plum and a measured bit of toasty American oak. This is a fairly by-the-book New World Cabernet; it would go quite well with a nice thick slice of ribeye. For something further afield, try roast fennel and celeriac, or grilled figs with prosciutto on rosemary skewers.
