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Red Mountain Cabernets can ‘match up to any from Napa’

25 August 2023 By Lucy Shaw

Cabernets from Washington’s Red Mountain AVA are now of such high quality they can compete with the best of Napa, according to one leading winemaker.

Chris Upchurch, the founding winemaker of DeLille Cellars, and who now runs Upchurch Vineyard, has been championing the Red Mountain for 30 years and believes that Cabernets from the AVA can go toe-to-toe with the best from California.

“I don’t see Napa as competition as they’ve priced themselves out of the market. I’m confident that our Cabernets can match up to any from Napa and will almost always be less expensive,” he told db.

Having learnt from the best in Bordeaux, Upchurch has put the French obsession with crafting wines that are distinct from your neighbours into practice by working with a number of different Cabernet clones.

“We’re planting more and more Cabernet and less of everything else here and there’s a reason for that,” he revealed, putting Red Mountain’s distinctive style – ripe, concentrated Cabernets made with poise and precision – down to the high number of sunshine hours in the AVA and big diurnal temperature swings, which slows down the ripening.

Tuscan wine giant Antinori was early to spot the potential of the Red Mountain AVA, teaming up with Washington wine pioneer Château Ste. Michelle in 1995 to plant vines on the mountain and make wine under the Col Solare brand.

Retailing at more than £80 a bottle in the UK, from the get-go the aim was to make a distinctly “Washington wine” rather than trying to push a Tuscan agenda.

“Chief oenologist, Renzo Cotarella, comes over a few times a year for blending. He’s obsessive about quality and the wines have to be perfect before he’ll sign them off – this is the first year he has said that the wines are finally starting to get to where he’d like them to be,” Christina Starr, director of brand communications for Château Ste. Michelle, told db.

Meanwhile, Red Mountain pioneer Kiona Vineyards, which sells fruit to 60 producers in Washington, believes the AVA has come of age and carved an enviable niche when it comes to world-class Cabernet.

“Red Mountain Cabernet grapes cost more than twice as much as Cabernet from other parts of Washington. We’re moving towards acreage rather than tonnage contracts as it allows for more intentionality in the buying process,” Kiona’s general manager, JJ Williams, told db.

“A lot has changed here over the past 30 years and everyone is now on board with the idea of Red Mountain being a quality wine region – there are no sand baggers here, which isn’t always a given,” he added.

Among the leading lights in the AVA is Cadence, run by former Boeing executive Benjamin Smith and his wife Gaye McNutt.

The pair make a quartet of 100% estate grown Bordeaux blends from a 4.5ha, southwest-facing slope in Red Mountain; wines which are prized for their elegance, perfume, structure and ageworthiness.

“We championed Bordeaux blends from the start in Washington when the region was only making varietal wines. Since then the industry has shifted and accepted blends and vineyard designated wines as being a good idea. If you have great vineyards you should show them off,” Smith said.

Taking a low intervention approach, Smith picks earlier than most to keep his alcohol levels in check, and is currently regrafting his vines to the clones he finds most interesting to work with, which are producing intense fruit from small berries.

“There’s real intent with the way we ferment and pick. It’s important to have the confidence to pick early in order to retain acidity. We want the flavour without the sugars,” Smith said.

“The riper the fruit gests, the more generic a wine becomes, so I’m seeking to keep the varietal character in my wines,” he added.

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