Columbia Winery 2016 Gradient Red Blend

For more than 50 years, Columbia Winery has embraced a legacy of progressive winemaking that has led its forward-thinking winemakers to discover new grape varieties, vineyards and blends. Today, Winemaker Sean Hails continues this spirit of innovation, handcrafting a distinct collection of food- friendly wines from Washington State. Here, intense sunlight, coupled with a lack of rainfall, translates to deeply concentrated color, flavor and structure in the glass. Located just outside of Seattle, the iconic Columbia tasting room offers daily tastings and Northwest-inspired offerings.

About the Wine: A classic Bordeaux-style blend, our Columbia Winery Gradient Red Blend has a bold presence from aroma to finish. It opens with dark ripe notes of boysenberry, layered with toasted oak and baking spice. The 2016 boasts over 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, which creates a wine with solid structure, firm tannins and ample elegance. A portion of Merlot brings silky tannins and balance to the mouthfeel.

Viticulture Notes For our 2016 Gradient Red Blend, we sourced the grapes from premier sites around Washington finding the best of the best. The 2016 growing season brought us cooler weather mid-harvest, which allowed us to be patient and wait for ripeness in our reds. We had concentrated flavors resulting in wines with ripe fruit character, slightly reduced amount of acidity and supple, mouth-filling tannins.

Winemaking Notes: After harvesting in October, the grapes for this wine were destemmed at the winery and transferred to tanks. Fermentation occurred at 88°F in small-lot, stainless-steel tanks, both open and closed top. During fermentation, pump-overs and punch-downs were used for intense extraction of color and flavor. Malolactic fermentation was completed to create a round mouthfeel. All lots were barrel-aged for 18 months in a combination of French and American oak barrels, 38% of which were new.

Varietal Content: 63% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 4% Petit Verdot, 4% Cabernet Franc, 4% Malbec Appellation: Columbia Valley Alcohol Content: 14.8% Titratable Acidity: 5.8 g/L pH: 3.76 Bottling Date: August 6, 2018 Cases Produced: 707