Northstar Cabernet Sauvignon 2015
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Product Details
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Aromas of black cherry lead into a palate ripe with raspberry jam, chocolate, cedar, and vanilla flavors. The wine has a full mid-palate and a rich finish of toasted oak.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Ripe blueberries, cassis, toasted spice, and candied violet notes all emerge from the 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon. Made from 87% Cabernet Sauvignon and 13% Merlot, it's medium to full-bodied, with a layered, seamless texture and a great finish. This is a classic, impeccably made Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.
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James Suckling
This has a very assertive, ripe dark-fruit core with blackberries, cherries and dark plums, as well as chocolate on offer. Really showing well already, these tannins are ripe yet sturdy. A blend of 87% cabernet sauvignon and 13% merlot. Drink in the next six years.
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Wine Spectator
Plush and polished, driven by a refined structure, offering elegant blackberry, espresso and spice flavors that take up speed on the long finish. Drink now through 2024.
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Wine Enthusiast
Brooding aromas of dark fruit, char and spice are followed by velvety bittersweet chocolate, cherry and mocha flavors that linger on the persistent finish. The enjoyment is as much about feel as flavor.
Other Vintages
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Northstar, located in Walla Walla, Washington, aims to make Merlots that can be considered among the world's best, using fruit sourced from one of the world's best regions for the variety: Washington state. Winemaker, David "Merf" Merfeld, blends New World fruit with an old world winemaking style, influenced by Bordeaux's "right bank," to create his highly-acclaimed wines. Northstar produces two Merlot-based wines from the Columbia Valley and Walla Walla AVAs, as well as the Stella Maris red blend and extremely limited production bottlings of the blending component varieties that Merf uses as his "spice box" in creating Northstar's Merlots.
Washington produces so many exciting wines, and that definitely includes Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. With over 10,000 acres under vine, Cabernet Sauvignon is now the most widely-grown varietal in the state. Terrific examples hail from sub-appellations like Red Mountain, Wahluke Slope, Horse Heaven Hills and Walla Walla Valley. One of the fascinations of these Columbia Valley Cabs is that they so often seem to have one foot in the New World and one in the Old. Representing the former are characteristics like the ripe, forward fruit that results from long sunny days during the growing season (up to two hours longer than in much of California). Old World similarities include an undeniable brightness from acidity, as well as notes of herbs, graphite and a dusty, sometimes gravelly minerality.
Whether you’re looking for a budget bottle for everyday enjoyment, or a stellar, world-class wine with tremendous aging potential, Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon wines can deliver the goods! Among the many fine options are bottles from Columbia Crest, Chateau Ste. Michelle, L’ecole #41, Quilceda Creek and Leonetti.