Seven Hills Winery Ciel du Cheval Vintage Red 2011
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Blend: Cabernet Sauvignon 38 % Merlot 33%, Petit Verdot 15%, Cabernet Franc 14%
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
This Bordeaux-style, single-vineyard blend outshines others from the same iconic Red Mountain site that cost significantly more. Packed with concentrated cherry and cassis, it’s layered with well-integrated earth, rock, leaf and stem flavors, and finished with a hint of toast from 21 months in 40% new French oak.
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Wine & Spirits
This Bordeaux-style blend starts out massive, as most wines sourced from Ciel do, but with a little air the wine unfolds elegantly, revealing mocha, Mexican chocolate and an earthiness that folds into the cassis core of cabernet with an effortless grace. It has plenty of power, plenty of brawn, and it needs time in the cellar to grow into itself. Then serve with steak. (525 cases)
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Wine Spectator
Sleek and vivid, with boysenberry and floral aromas and flavors on a juicy, lively frame. Has elegance without losing depth and intensity of flavor, finishing harmoniously. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2011 Vintage Red Wine Ceil du Cheval Vineyard is a smoking blend of 38% Cabernet Sauvignon, 33% Merlot, 15% Petit Verdot, 14% Cabernet Franc that spent 21 months in 40% new French oak. Medium to full-bodied, elegant, focused and with fabulous purity of fruit, it offers up loads of black raspberry, creme de cassis, crushed flowers, toast and graphite. Showing solid tannic structure under its fruit, it will benefit from short-term cellaring and have 10 to 12 years of overall longevity.
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Established in 1988, Seven Hills Winery is proud to be among the founding estates of Walla Walla Valley. As pioneers who first championed the region, the winery’s heritage is built on longstanding relationships with the most renowned growers in the Northwest and a deep knowledge of the land. Their focus is crafting Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon-based wines that authentically reflect their places of origin.
Born to a farming family in Eastern Washington, Founder Casey McClellan learned about agriculture at a young age. Later, Casey and his wife, Vicky, began to cultivate an interest in wine and developed a long term vision to make wine from the family farm in Walla Walla Valley. They drew further inspiration during a European cycling trip through wine country, where they experienced wine as an integral foundation to these communities and an important, vital part of small town agricultural life.
As proprietors of one of the area’s first vineyards, the efforts of Seven Hills Winery have helped strengthen a community that values environmental stewardship to protect the future. For the past 15 years, they have practiced sustainable agriculture in order to be responsible guardians of the land, and currently hold LIVE and Salmon Safe certifications for their estate SHW Founding Vineyard.
Seven Hills Winery has always thrived to protect the environment and their communities. It has become clear to us that the emission of Green House Gases (GHG) not only is the biggest environmental threat, but also that the majority of environmental advances are tied to their ability to emit less GHG. They have embarked on a fundamental transformation of how they grow grapes and make wines and have joined international organizations such as the Porto Protocol and the International Wineries for Climate Action (IWCA). They have committed to reduce their GHG emissions by 50% by 2030 and 100% by 2050.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
Responsible for some of Washington’s most highly acclaimed wines, the Walla Walla Valley has experienced a surge in popularity in recent years and is home to both historic wineries and younger, up-and-coming producers.
The Walla Walla Valley, a Native American name meaning “many waters,” is located in southeastern Washington; part of the appellation actually extends into Oregon. Soils here are well-drained, sandy loess over Missoula Flood deposits and fractured basalt.
It is a region perfectly suited to Rhône-inspired Syrahs, distinguished by savory notes of red berry, black olive, smoke and fresh earth. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot create a range of styles from smooth and supple to robust and well-structured. White varieties are rare but some producers blend Sauvignon Blanc with Sémillon, resulting in a rich and round style, and plantings of Viognier, while minimal, are often quite successful.
Of note within Walla Walla, is one new and very peculiar appellation, called the Rocks District of Milton-Freewater. This is the only AVA in the U.S. whose boundaries are totally defined by the soil type. Soils here look a bit like those in the acclaimed Rhône region of Chateauneuf-du-Pape, but are large, ancient, basalt cobblestones. These stones work in the same way as they do in Chateauneuf, absorbing and then radiating the sun's heat up to enhance the ripening of grape clusters. The Rocks District is within the part of Walla Walla that spills over into Oregon and naturally excels in the production of Rhône varieties like Syrah, as well as the Bordeaux varieties.