Description
Gramercy Cellars, Cabernet Sauvignon
Between Bordeaux and Napa Valley, there’s plenty of opulent, structured Cabernet Sauvignon to last a lifetime. But to leave Washington State out of your Cab mix is a critical error. It demands a spot on the table alongside the all-timers, which is something Greg Harrington picked up on when he was looking for a place to craft his own wines. Having been exposed to the greatest wines in the world as a restaurant sommelier and MS candidate, Greg chose Eastern Washington when it came time to make his own leap into winemaking, and this 2016 release of his Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon—driven by fruit from the celebrated Walla Walla growing zone—is his latest validation.
The Gramercy Cellars lineup, headlined by Cabernet, has captivated us over the years because the wines aren’t showy, they’re soulful. The crushed gravel savor in today’s 2016 calls to mind some of our favorite châteaux in Margaux, while the concentration and well-managed tannins evoke some of the old-school titans of the Napa Valley. As we’ve found with past vintages of this wine, it’s a thoughtful, balanced, place-expressive Cabernet that elbows countless others out of the way in a deserved quest for the spotlight. Grab some—you won’t regret it.
After passing the Master Sommelier exam, Greg Harrington was a restaurant wine director, but his yen for winemaking grew stronger each year. He was drawn to Washington’s Walla Walla Valley, where he worked harvest in 2004 and established a foothold for Gramercy Cellars. Vineyard-specific Syrahs and Bordeaux-inspired red blends have become the focus, and while Walla Walla can produce reds of immense concentration, Greg seeks to moderate this by harvesting on the early side and using whole-cluster fermentation to give the wines some “cut.”
As Gramercy Cellars has grown, Greg has been able to acquire two “estate” vineyards, one of which is the Octave Vineyard in Walla Walla, a 22-acre site planted in 2007 and shared by several owners. Other key sources are the Phinny Hill Vineyard, a gravel-rich parcel in the Horse Heaven Hills sub-AVA, and Sagemoor Vineyards, a 180-acre site on the eastern side of the Columbia River first planted in 1968. These vineyards, especially the estate site, are in the process of organic conversion, and 2016 marked the inclusion of Cabernet Sauvignon from the Gramercy estate vineyard alongside fruit from the Phinney Hill and Sagemoor sites. The wine contains 92% Cabernet Sauvignon rounded out by Walla Walla Merlot and Petit Verdot. Aged 22 months in 30% new French barrels (a smaller percentage of new oak than previous vintages).
Having tasted this Cabernet bottling across multiple vintages, we’ve found it to occupy a kind of stylistic midpoint between Bordeaux and Napa; you get the “New World” concentration and supple tannins, along with the “Old World” soil character that lends palpable savor. In the glass, it’s a near-opaque, blackish ruby extending to the rim, with aromatics that would send you in a few directions (Margaux? Mount Veeder?) if you were tasting it blind. The fruit component is red, black, and blue all at once, with everything from blackberry to red currant to cassis intertwined with scents of graphite, tobacco, espresso grounds, cacao nibs, and wet gravel. The velvety tannins have a telltale New World feel, and while the ripeness and weight are considerable, it’s the furthest thing from a fruit bomb. It should age well past its 10th birthday, but there’s lots of pleasure to be had right now, provided you give it a 30- to 60-minute decant. Serve it at 60 degrees in large Bordeaux stems and pair it with something that will showcase its brooding, dark-fruited character. I like the looks of the attached braised lamb shanks recipe, and will have it on my to-do list come winter. Cheers!
