Wine Recommendation
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Wine Recommendation

Wine:E.B. Foote Winery 2004 Cabernet - Merlot  (Columbia Valley)

E.B. Foote Winery

2004 Cabernet - Merlot
(Columbia Valley)




Rich Higginbotham and Sherrill Miller purchased this historic winery, one of Washington’s oldest, in 1991 and moved it to Burien, south of Seattle. They have fruit trucked in from Columbia Valley, the prime growing district of the state. They produce approximately 2,200 cases each year, including a Riesling-style wine – Sweet Sherrill, a Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Zinfandel, and red blends such as this. At this truly artisanal winery, Rich and Sherrill do all the work themselves.

As one expects with the better Bordeaux-blend wines of this area, this wine is fruit forward with sweet, ripe, hi-toned cherry cobbler, strawberry, and blueberry notes. Vanilla Haagen-Daz ice cream, toast, and buttery flaky pastry notes indicate lavish oak treatment. Full bodied and well structured, the wine is like a Mille Feuille or Napolean of luscious, candied fruit and grippy oak tannins. Juicy acidity comes out on the long, dark, mulberry-infused finish.

While easily a candidate for the cellar, this wine would be delicious now after decanting for aeration with braised lamb shanks, rib eye steak, beef Wellington, or Affineur Jean d'Alos, an earthy cheese from Bordeaux.

Reviewed January 30, 2007 by Catherine Fallis.




Other reviewed wines from E.B. Foote Winery

 

The Wine

Winery: E.B. Foote Winery
Vintage: 2004
Wine: Cabernet - Merlot
Appellation: Columbia Valley
Grapes: Cabernet Sauvignon (53%), Merlot (47%)
Price: 750ml $18.00

Review Date: 1/30/2007

The Reviewer

Catherine Fallis

Founder and President of Planet Grape LLC, a company committed to bringing the joy of wine, food, and good living into the lives of everyday people, Catherine is creator of the “grape goddess guides to good living,” a series of books, television presentations, seminars, and e-learning programs. The fifth woman in the world to become a Master Sommelier, grape goddess Catherine Fallis is still very much down-to-earth.