Tag Archives: The Benches

60 Second Wine Review — Browne Site Series Cabernet Sauvignon

A few quick thoughts on the 2015 Browne Site Series Cabernet Sauvignon from the Horse Heaven Hills.

The Geekery

Browne Family Vineyards was founded in 2005 by Andrew Browne of Precept Brands–whose background in the wine industry includes stints with Southern Wine & Spirits, Constellation Brands, Corus Brands, Chateau St. Jean and Associated Vintners (now Gallo’s Columbia Winery).

Precept is the largest privately owned wine company in the Northwest and includes an extensive portfolio of brands like Apex, Canoe Ridge, W.B. Bridgman, B. Lovely, Gruet, House Wine, Jacqueline Leone, Pendulum, Radius, Primarius, Red Theory, Sagelands, Paradise Peak, Ste. Chapelle, Summit Estates, Skyfall, Wild Haven and Waterbrook.

With Paul Gregutt, Peter Dow and Ross Mickel, respectively, they manage Waitsburg Cellars, Cavatappi and Ross Andrews. They also have a partnership with the Davey family in Australia to bring their Shingleback, Aficionado and Red Knot brands to the US.

John Freeman is the winemaker for Browne, joining Precept after previously working for the Napa Valley wineries Franciscan and Miner.

For the Site Series, they source from several of their contract vineyards in the Horse Heaven Hills AVA which includes Alder Ridge, Canoe Ridge and The Benches.

The Wine

Photo by Subhashish Panigrahi. Released on Wikimedia Commons under CC-BY-SA-4.0

Noticeable oak influence in this wine.

Medium-plus intensity nose. Lots of noticeable oak but it’s more spice than vanilla. Dark fruits like black currants and cherries.

On the palate, those dark fruits and oak spice carry through with juicy medium-plus acidity. Hefty medium-plus tannins adds to the full-bodied weight of the wine but the vanilla of the oak comes out to round them for a smooth mouthfeel. The finish is a bit short and hints at the youth of the wine.

The Verdict

For around $30-35, the Browne Site Series is a very solid Cabernet Sauvignon from the Horse Heaven Hills. That region doesn’t get anywhere near the attention of the “sexier” AVAs of Red Mountain and Walla Walla but is consistently the source of outstanding Washington wines.

The 2015 is young and could benefit from another year aging (or decanting) but it has lots of potential.

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60 Second Wine Review — Scarborough Stand Alone Cabernet Sauvignon

A few quick thoughts on the 2014 Scarborough Stand Alone Cabernet Sauvignon.

The Geekery

The winery was founded in 2004 by Napa Valley winemaker Travis Scarborough. A native of St. Helena, after graduating from Sonoma State and studying at UC-Davis, Scarborough worked at Viader before moving to Seattle in 2002.

The 2014 Stand Alone is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from Inland Desert located on the Roza Slope of the Rattlesnake Hills AVA and Wallula Vineyard (now known as The Benches) overlooking the Wallula Gap in the Horse Heavens Hills AVA. Both vineyards are sustainably farmed.

The “Stand Alone” series is produced only in what Scarborough deems as the “best years” in Washington. Andy Perdue of The Seattle Times described 2014 in Washington as “record-setting — warm, early and abundant.”

The Cabernet Sauvignon was aged for 26 months, including 6 months in 100% new oak barrels. Only 47 cases were made.

The Wine

Medium-minus intensity. Some red fruit and a little spice that is undefined. Also getting some tomato leaf.

Photo by Muffet. Uploaded to Wikimedia Commons under CC-BY-2.0

Just a little too much leafy greenness for my taste.

On the palate, that tomato leaf greenness carries through as does the red fruit which becomes more defined as raspberry, currants and cherries. The spice is still present but still undefined. Medium-plus acidity and high tannins give a lot of structure to this wine but, with the greenness, contributes to it feeling a little edgy.

The Verdict

This wine unfortunately is adding to the mystery of the 2014 vintage that I encountered at the Walla Walla tasting last month–even though this wine wasn’t sourced at all from a Walla Walla vineyard. I’ve had numerous 2014s that I’ve liked but the odd occasional occurrences of green notes in what was otherwise a spectacular vintage is still baffling.

At $50-55, this is a big, structured Cab that is a bit Old World in style. While the structure and tightness will mellow as it develops, those green notes will not leave. If you’re not as sensitive as I am to these notes, you can find some charm in this wine after a few years of mellowing.

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