The 2005 Old Vines is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from the Champoux Vineyard (the principal source of the Quilceda Creek Cabernet). It was aged for 20 months in 100% new French oak. Opaque purple, it offers up aromas of pain grille, pencil lead, violets, vanilla, black currant, and blackberry liqueur. This leads to a wine with serious depth and concentration, sweet, savory fruit, incipient complexity, and a very long, pure finish. Give it 5-6 years in the cellar and drink it through 2030. I tasted a 1983 Old Vines on this tasting trip and it was in impeccable condition, at its peak but with another decade of life.
Woodward Canyon, founded in 1981 by Rick Small, remains one of Washington’s benchmarks. Over the years, the winery has had peaks and valleys but the trend-line has always been in an upward direction. There is something to be said for continuity.
Tel. (509) 525-4129; www.woodwardcanyon.com