2020 Cabernet Sauvignon, Champoux Vineyard

Champoux Vineyard is one of three Cabernet vineyards that we source from. Each is in its own distinctive region or American Viticultural Area (AVA), with their own distinct characteristics. The Horse Heaven Hills was established in 2005 and sits above the Columbia River. It averages eight inches of rain in a year.

The vintage of 2020 was generally a warm year, with a fairly consistent growing season. There were two unusual weather events, but neither had any impact on the harvest and quality of the fruit, although they had our attention! The first was in mid September, when a ten day stint of wildfire smoke came in from Oregon and blanketed much of the region. Luckily, the smoke didn’t penetrate the fruit but rather acted as a cloud layer that briefly paused ripening. The second event, a significant freeze, brought harvest to a close on October 25th. At that point, all of our fruit was already in the winery, and so the impact was not an issue for us.

This Cabernet consistently expresses the aromas and flavors of black cap raspberries. To us, these are deep red hinting toward blue characters, and if you have had them, you know they are typically on a roadside with a sifting of dust. Mulberries are in the same vein, with any hint of dusty earth coming through as a bit of minerality. Ripe strawberry puree and cherries are classic descriptors for fruit from the Horse Heavens, too. These bright influences make for a luminous wine, with vibrancy and lift. The fruit is sweet, dense, and mouth-watering. Honey graham, like a pie crust with a touch of cinnamon, adds to a complexity of flavors. The tannins are fine-grained, not edgy, and a hint more prevalent than in the Bacchus Cabernet. The finish is long and unwavering.
The vintage of 2020 was our first in the Fire House, our current location. We moved at the beginning of the pandemic and went on to navigate, as we all did, an unprecedented time. Fortunately, the move was a short distance from one side of the airport to the other. We are forever grateful for how fortunate we were in all ways during that crazy time.