2017 Corliss Cabernet Sauvignon

Slightly more expensive, the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon is all varietal raised in 70% new French oak. Pauillac-like notes of darker currants, lead pencil, tobacco, and scorched earth define the bouquet, and this beauty is medium to full-bodied, with loads of chalky minerality, notable overall balance, and a dense, closed, backward mouthfeel that's going to benefit from bottle age. It's the real deal, though, and has serious class. Hide bottles for 3-4 years (if not longer) and it should have two decades of prime drinking.

Bright, full ruby-red. Inky, rather brooding scents of blackberry, blueberry, cassis, mocha, licorice and musky oak. Wonderfully silky, concentrated and seamless, filling the mouth without leaving any impression of weight. Fine-grained flavors of musky dark berries, mocha, violet and licorice deliver captivating sweetness without any heaviness or roasted qualities. A bit tighter-grained than the red blend, and the deepest of these new Corliss wines. Huge dusty, horizontal tannins spread slowly out slowly to saturate the palate, with the finish delivering outstanding subtle, slow-building length. More purple in its fruit character than the blend, and with more obvious verve and spine. This should be long-lived. (aged in 70% new French oak for 22 months)

The 2017 Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon begins with a deep core of dark fruit, layered with aromas of blackberry, black raspberry, dark cherry and crème de cassis, framed by elegant French oak and resinous purple flowers. Full-bodied, the wine has a rich and coating texture on the palate that intensifies over time. The wine is slightly sappy across the mid-palate as it shows still-tight tannins and elevated alcohol. Ending with a long, complex finish, the wine still needs time to round out in the bottle, but it will be ready upon release and will effortlessly age for more than a decade. Only 9,224 bottles were produced, and I firmly believe this will be a great sleeper bottle to add to the wine cellar.