Each week I pick out one wine to highlight as my wine of the week.  This wine may be an outstanding wine, a great value or just something very interesting.

 

 

 

Overview

This wine was a totally blind purchase.  This wine was offered on Garagiste Wine simply as Mystery Wine #80.  I generally avoid these “mystery” wines because I prefer to know what I’m buying.  That said, a Cabernet blend, directly from the winery of their current release (at the time of the offer), which normally sells in the $55 to $60 range for a touch under $30, was too hard to pass up.

 

The Winery (in their words)

Boudreaux Cellars is located on the Icicle River just outside of Leavenworth, Washington, four miles off the power grid (The only winery in Washington State completely self-powered). Rob relies heavily on nature in many ways to aide his winemaking. The 200 barrel cellar is completely underground, providing very constant temperatures for the somewhat extended two- and three-year barrel aging. Above ground, thick insulated walls, and propane heat when necessary, provide good wine making conditions for blending, bottling, labeling, waxing, and shipping. Gravity provides transport for wines from the press to the barrel. Blending is done in a series of tanks ranging from 225 gallon poly to 2000 gallon French oak. The site is not well-suited for grape farming although Rob is experimenting with Pinot Noir, Lemberger, and Reisling in our estate vineyard.

 

The winery is faced with local granite stone, blending it into the majestic Stuart Range setting. The drive from Leavenworth along the Icicle River is worth the trip. The spectacular wines are a bonus!

 

The site is well-suited for living deep in the Cascade Mountains in majestic surroundings and the views from the winery’s tasting room windows are spectacular. The Newsom’s log home, located next to the winery, was used extensively as a location by Warner Brothers for the Steven Segal movie, “On Deadly Ground.” as well as numerous magazine and catalogue photo shoots.

 

Much more information on the winery including some very nice photos are available on their website by clicking here.

 

 

 

2008 Boudreaux Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon – $29.80 (SRP $60)

This wine is a blend of 92% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Cabernet Franc, 3% Petit Verdot and 2% Merlot.  The grapes for this wine come from some of the oldest vines in these vineyards, Bacchus 23%, Champoux 4%, Dutchman 2%, Gamache 5%, Klipsun 6%, Loess 4%, Pepper Bridge 2%, Seven Hills 20%, Wallula 28% and Weinbau 6%.

 

The grapes get an cold soak and extended maceration before a cool ferment.  The wine is moved through the process in the winery’s gravity fed system.  The wine is aged for 32 months in high quality French oak before being blended in a 2000 gallon Radoux oak tank.

 

The wine has 13.8% alcohol by volume and the bottle is sealed with a natural cork.  There were a total of 1,050 cases of this wine produced.

 

My Tasting Note

The wine is a deep ruby to maroon color.  I can just sit back and keep enjoying the nose on this wine, it is full of cassis, crushed stones, cedar, mint, dried herbs, dried flowers and fresh ground espresso beans.  This has medium body with solid tannins and very nice acidity.  Sweet fruit and layers of savory elements roll over the palate in waves with no off notes or overpowering elements poking through or trying to steal the show.  The wine has impressive balance and equally impressive depth.  This is a winner to follow over the next decade, maybe longer.  (94 pts)

 

 

 

Connect with me

You can follow me on Twitter for more wine info, potential food pairings, and an occasional recipe or two.  Be warned, I’m also a sports fan and there are occasional Pittsburgh Penguins, Steelers, and Pirates tweets.  I attended the University of South Carolina, so during football season, there will also be some Gamecock posts.

 

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Cheers!

 

 

This is original to CliffsWinePicks.com.  Copyright 2014 Cliff’s Wine Picks.

All rights reserved.

 

 

 

***** Shameless Self Promotion *****

 

Here is a link to a YouTube video of me getting “coal” from Santa for being named the “Nicest Person in Social Media” in 2012.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOvQTeGR3-c

 

 

 

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Remember to support your local wine store!

 

 

 

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Notes – I use the “official” Cellar Tracker name for the wines.  I use Cellar Tracker to help manage and organize my cellar.  I highly recommend checking it out at www.cellartracker.com.  Loading you existing cellar is a lot less intimidating than it would first appear.  There is a good chance 99% of your wine is already in the system, so you generally only need to enter part of the wine’s name and the system will find it for you.

 

 

Prices noted are the prices I paid at the time of purchase.  I don’t shop around to find the best prices, but my local store is usually VERY competitive.  I generally get case discounts, and since I work there part time, I get a 5% discount.  Wines purchased direct from a winery do not include any shipping charges.  None of the prices include the sales tax.

 

 

All wines that were sent to me free of charge to sample will be noted and I will show suggested prices when available.

 

 

 

Cheers!