2009 Soos Creek Champoux Vineyard Red Wine

Tonight I am enjoying a wine I received in the recent Snooth "Secret Santa" exchange, and what a delight, a new Washington red wine from a producer that I am not familiar with!  Now apparently Soos Creek is a family-owned winery that sources its wine grapes from the Champoux Vineyard in the Horse Heaven Hills AVA in Washington's Columbia Valley.  And of course Champoux Vineyard is well known for its outstanding Cabernet Sauvignon among others, and it's always a treat to have a bottle of wine made with such fine fruit.  This particular wine is a blend of 92% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8% Cabernet Franc, which were sourced from blocks of mostly older vines.

The wine itself is an inky purple color in the glass (so far so good!) just as you'd expect from a fine Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.  The nose is a lovely combination of leather, tobacco, and a wonderful combination of sweet fruits, cherries, blackberries that just seem to play around the edges.  Surprisingly, this is not a particularly fruit forward wine, instead I experienced a rush of floral notes at the outset, which was then followed by some very subdued flavors of ripe berries.  The finish was quite nice, with some earthy notes accented by some cedar and a hint of anise, as the rather young tannins made for a bit of tightness that might open up with a bit of time. 

This was really a wonderful example of a great Washington wine and overall I would rate this a solid 8.5!  It's always fun to try a new and undiscovered wine, and this "secret Santa" was a perfect opportunity to try something completely new.  And tonight I am enjoying this big, bold red with an unexpected meal of pan seared sea scallops, couscous and steamed broccoli (yeah, sometimes I get in weird cooking moods), as I find the floral notes and modest fruit play well against the richness of the sea scallops.  Salut!