2017 Leonetti Cabernet Sauvignon Walla Walla Valley
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Tasting notes
Instantly impressive with a deep ruby color and soft purple highlights, the 2017 Walla Walla Cabernet Sauvignon floods the nose with rich, ripe and robust fruit tones. Juicy aromas of cherry compote, stewed plum and blackberry essence waft out of the glass with cinnamon-spiced oak tones and resinous purple flowers, compounded by an elegant nuance of turned earth. Full-bodied, the wine exudes with a robust expression that fills all of the corners of the palate with pleasure, power and finesse. An instant blockbuster, the wine ends with a long, drawn-out finish, with the flavors continuing to evolve on the palate for more than a minute, showing remarkable precision with notions of bitter dark chocolate and black cherries covered in cinnamon. Try to give it a few more years before opening. I’m tempted to open it now because it’s so beautiful, but patience will be rewarded here. Stunning!
Critic scores
Average Score
James Suckling
Jeb Dunnuck
More reviews and scores
Yum. This shows intense blackberries, blueberries and spice. Medium-to full-bodied and spicy. Cedar and smoked almonds, too. The tannins are firm and chewy, yet polished.
Bright, saturated medium ruby. Captivating aromas of cassis, blackberry, graphite, licorice, exotic spices and lavender convey an impression of medicinal reserve. Enters the mouth thick, utterly seamless and suave, displaying alluring sweetness to its dark berry, bitter chocolate and spice flavors. This wonderfully rich yet juicy 2017 Cabernet finishes with broad, refined tannins that are already in balance with the wine's fruit. Just this side of voluptuous, this beauty may not have the sheer verve of the '16 but it will offer earlier fireworks. Very long and vinous on the palate-saturating aftertaste, with the tannins coating the entire palate and front teeth. The wine's spicy complexity should contribute to its early appeal but it would be a shame not to hold this Cabernet for at least a few years. (ST)
Lots of cassis, camphor, spice, and violets notes as well as background oak emerge from the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon, which is all Cabernet Sauvignon aged in 22 months in new barrels. With full-bodied richness, awesome purity of fruit, and a powerful, mouthfilling style, it's in the top two or three Bordeaux blends in the vintage. Give this remarkable 2017 3-5 years of bottle age, longer if you can, and it's going to be very long-lived. There are 2,863 cases produced. Located in Walla Walla and made by Chris Figgins, Leonetti Cellars is one of the benchmark estates in Washington. They produce a bevy of Bordeaux blends, with their Cabernet Sauvignon and Reserve functioning as the flagship wines. They also make a tiny amount of their single vineyard releases, all of which showed brilliantly for this report. Unquestionably, these 2017s are up with the crème de la crème of the vintage. While the 2017 vintage is generally forward and approachable, that’s not the case here and these wines are going to benefit from bottle age.