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Washington State Cabernet Sauvignon

© Eric Cook

Consider the wine region of the Pacific NW comprehends the same latitudes as the southern parts of Burgundy, all of the Loire Valley and the northern parts of Bordeaux. For this reason and others, the wines of the Pac NW are as food-flavor evocative as their European ancestors without overpowering the food with its sheer hot climate brawn. Cabernet is a grape that lends itself to brawn even without a consistently hot climate. The small size of its berries give it more pulp per gallon of juice than almost any other grape! - and ripe pulp is what gives a wine its color, its longevity, and also its tannin. Washington and southern Oregon devote approximately 20% of their vinifera acreage to Cabernet, vs. the 25%-30% of California vineyards and the 40% of Bordeaux.

Cabernet lovers the world over are drawn to cabernet wines for their spectrum and depth of flavor. Some folks like them in their first five years of life when they are still untamed and have a real "grip" to them. Others prefer to let theirs rest quietly in the cellar until they are past their brash adolescence. Either way you take your Cab, the Pac NW, especially Washington and the warmer regions of Oregon, are where to find your cabernets for the near and long term, especially if you enjoy them with food. As for the prices of the wines, Pac NW real estate is not as expensive and there are no known vine pests that survive the winters to make replanting an immediate concern, yet in general, the flavor to dollar ratio is about the same as California due to the amount of bulk wine that the larger industry produces to stimulate necessary cash flow. Most importantly, the ripe juiciness and acidity of NW wines forges them with cuisine to a mouth-filling sensation that invites the next taste.

A bit of history: Cabernet Sauvignon was originally planted sporadically around the Columbia Valley starting in 1963. Oddly, it was grafted from vines in Oregon, which now plants much less cabernet than Washington. 10 years later, the first serious (and lasting) effort was made at a cabernet vineyard at Cold Creek near Wapato, WA. Once virtually alone in a sea of riesling and concord vineyards (though concord vineyard still outweighs vinifera vineyard by 2:1), cabernet is now responsible for nearly 3000 of Washington's 17,000 vinifera acres. (P.S. - the rate of growth in Washington's Wine Industry is currently estimated at 18 wineries a month! That reminds me of a pristine little CA valley in the early 80's...!)

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