Happy Saturday! And of course, it's the first one of a new month, which makes this Cellar Saturday! It's a magical time when I raid the cellar for something at least a decade in the making, which I must say is getting easier as time goes on and I have a cellar full of teenagers (wait, that didn't sound right). In any case, tonight we are going way back, to perhaps the second oldest bottle in my cellar, and from one of my favorite Walla Walla producers. The 1992 Seven Hills Walla Walla Cabernet Sauvignon was Founder Casey McClellan's fourth vintage, and the label notes this was still when the winery was located in Milton-Freewater, Oregon! So, let's see how this wine is tasting three decades later!
The wine is a deep ruby in the glass, with just the faintest hint of amber along the edges, showing how well this wine has stood up over time. A swirl of the glass reveals classic aromas of prune, cedar and lavender with undertones of basalt, just what you might expect from a mature Bordeaux. Take a sip and you're greeted with a rush of tart cherry and rustic mineral notes of dusty limestone and basalt. The tannins are somewhat fading, but still provide for a nice dry finish that's reminiscent of a fine, well aged Bordeaux.
Overall, I would rate this wine a solid 9, as it's probably a few years past its peak but still drinking very nicely for a 30-year old. This wine would be ideal with a variety of fall comfort foods, from mushroom risotto, to hearty beef stew or Yankee pot roast, but as a former Pacific Northwest resident, I'm a big fan of Cabernet with salmon, which is my choice for dinner tonight. I'm enjoying this wine with some crispy skin salmon, steamed rice and oven roasted white asparagus. Cheers!
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