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Columbia Crest Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 2001 Vintage: 2001 Colour: Red Origin: United States - Washington - Columbia Valley AVA Alc % by Vol: 14% 12 X 750 (432CHF) The Wine Spectator: 93/100 Top 100 2004 This product is sold in the following mixed case(s): • World Tour Classic Red Selection (6 Btls)

Our opinion

It's roundness and ripeness combined with fine balance and freshness make it especially appealing. The wine has complex aromas, both in the nose and on the palate. A wine that's ready to enjoy now, after a brief decanting, but can also be kept for a few months more. Meals cooked out of doors will suit it wonderfully. (December 2004)..

Description

Washington State, probably most famous for the eruption of Mount St Helena in the 1980's, is the up and coming wine region in the States. It is at higher altitude than the Napa and therefore has the capacity of producing wines of the same richness of fruit but with more finesse and complexity. Colombia Crest was founded as recently as 1978 and has rapidly become the leader in the area. Huge investment has been made here and the results are stunning : these wines, as well as those of its elder brother Château Ste Michelle, are regularly praised in its native US.

Tips on service

• Conservation: drinking now
• At its best in: 2008
• To decant: 1 hour
• Serve at 16°

Food and wine matching

Serve with gourmand's salad, grilled beef, pork ribs with rosemary, lamb chops with summer savory, rabbit or chicken in peppery mustard sauce, strong flavored cheeses.

Tasting notes

By Jean Michel Deluc : Master Sommelier

Eye - A wine of a ruby color of good intensity with glints of violet and a fade tending toward a softer mauve tone at the edge of the glass. The wine is bright, limpid and displays good concentration.
Nose - The nose offers an aromatic background dominated by ripeness. You'll detect notes of jammy red and dark fruit including blackcurrants, cherries, blackberries and prunes. Then the wine takes on spicy notes of pepper, cardamom or vanilla, along with empyreumatic notes of smoke, toasted aromas and cacao. Finally, a fresher note of mint rounds out this already rather complex background.
Palate - On the palate the wine has a supple, fruity attack with a fine structure lending freshness in mid palate. The same very ripe fruity notes and notes of spice reappear on the palate, and persist with good length. The finish is licorice and peppery. A balanced wine that's ready to enjoy now.