Cabernet Sauvignon "Royal Slope", Mullan Road Cellars, Columbia Valley, WA, 2019

Ripe black currants, plum puree, black tea and a hint of desert sage. Swirling brings graphite, loamy minerals and a complex mixture of black fruits and sassafras. The palate has great volume, fine tannins and a dense but weightless feel. It shows a touch more forward structure than the 2018 but has greater clarity of fruit and a more open and accessible profile.

The 2019 growing season was phenomenal. A relatively mild winter followed by some spring rains resulted in nature doing most of the crop thinning for us by setting a reasonable crop size. A couple of the usual hot spells moved maturity forward without straining the vines. Harvest started in mid-September and wrapped up before the end of October.