2015 Betz Family Clos de Betz

Moving to the Bordeaux blends, the 2015 Clos de Betz is 75% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Petit Verdot. This medium to full-bodied, nicely textured, elegant 2015 gives up lots of plum, chocolate, leafy herbs, and wet rock-like aromas and flavors. It’s going to drink nicely on release. Owned by the Griessel family since 2011, Betz Family Winery still has Washington State’s incredible ambassador of Bob Betz firmly involved in the winery, with the wines made by the talented Louis Skinner since 2013. This is an undeniable reference point estate for the Washington State and the wines go from strength to strength. Today, they are at the top of the hierarchy in just about every vintage. In addition, while it would be easy to sit back and maintain the status quo at an established estate like this, they continue to push for improvements in quality at every level, purchasing an optical sorting machine in 2015, creating a second wine, doing an even more strict selection for their top cuvées, and experimenting with stems in the ferments as well as with different sizes (and types) of vessels in their vinification and aging regimes. This is a terrific, world-class estate that readers need to try, and both the 2014s and 2015s are incredible wines.

(the pH here is a bit higher than usual at 3.85): Bright, dark red. Musky red berries, leather, mocha and spices on the rather wild nose. Rich, spicy and quite dry on the palate; a bit clenched and unforthcoming in the early going, showing little easy sweetness but finishing with a rather suave tannic spine. There's nothing tough or tart about the back end of this wine, which hints at spices and black olive. Needs time to blossom in the bottle. The Ciel du Cheval Merlot for this wine was harvested on August 26 in 2015.