Along the same lines, yet with a tad more elegance and finesse, but not as much richness, the 2010 Cabernet Stone Tree Vineyard Reserve comes from block 14 of the Stone Tree Vineyard, which lies in the warmer Wahluke Slope AVA. Aged similarly to the Wautoma Springs Vineyard Reserve, with 18 months in 50% new French oak, it has an outstanding raspberry and black raspberry styled core of fruit to go with complementing notions of toast, flowers and crushed stone-like minerality. Seamless, supple and polished on the palate, with full-bodied richness and no hard edges, it is serious Cabernet that will shine for 10-12 years. Drink now-2022. www.columbia-crest.com

Blended with a bit of Merlot, Columbia Crest's 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon Stone Tree Vineyard Reserve from a site high up on the Wahluke Slope is at once confitured in its expression of dark berries and a bit green in its herbacity. With slightly chewy tannins, it finishes with force if not finesse. I would be inclined to drink it within a couple of years. Columbia Crest is a 2.5 million-case outgrowth of behemoth Ste Michelle, sharing fruit from Cold Creek, and based amid enormous riverside acreage not far from Ste Michelle's Canoe Ridge Three decades old, this winery is dedicated to a very distinctive style of wines that are treated according to a different methodology, inter alia involving assemblage prior to barreling down to do malo, and in the reserve wines the completion of primary fermentation in barrel. A native of Mendoza, Juan Munoz Oca joined the team here in 2003 and became head winemaker in 2011. His long-time predecessor in that position and only the second to hold it, Ray Einberger - now officially Winemaker Emeritus - thus had final say in the making of many of those wines I tasted on this occasion. "I'll be happy," notes Oca modestly but displaying confidence, "if at the end of my tenure nothing has dramatically changed in how people look at Columbia Crest." The winery portfolio is broken into three distinct groups: a so-called Grand Estates tier of inexpensive Chardonnay, Cabernet, and Merlot based on fruit from the Horse Heaven Hills and Wahluke Slope; an -H3- label based on fruit of those same three varieties from Alder Ridge, McKinley Springs, and Coyote Canyon in the Horse Heaven Hills; and a reserve tier featuring various blends that receive long elevage in all or nearly-all new barrels. Confitured fruit and prominent caramelized resin from (a hundred thousand!) barrels - even the inexpensive Cabernet gets one-third new wood, both French and American - are common denominators for most of the wines I tasted, and I am sure there are tasters for whom the styles here - especially in the reserve tier - will hold greater appeal than they did for me. And I could only recommend, modestly, a few of the whites I tasted. Even so, there are some imposing results in the entire Columbia Crest line-up, including some remarkable values. Tel. (509) 875-2061

The 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve Stone Tree Vineyard has no such issues. The fruit from this excellent terroir was aged in 100% new French and American oak for 18 months. Aromas of sandalwood, Asian spices, lavender, cassis, and black cherry are followed by a medium-bodied wine that admirably combines elegance and power. Full-flavored on the palate with excellent volume and balance, this lengthy effort will evolve for 2-3 years and drink well through 2022. Columbia Crest, part of the Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, is Washington’s largest winery. It produces mammoth amounts of wine (2,000,000+ cases) at a remarkably high level of quality. A visit to the cellars reveals brilliant organization, high morale, and a sense of personal involvement by the staff that undoubtedly adds value to the finished wine. Tel. (509) 875-2061; www.columbia-crest.com

This wine surprises by being so very pretty—unexpected from such a hot site. Lovely scents of raspberry, strawberry, mint and spice lift the nose; the palate is medium-bodied, nicely tart, perfectly balanced and long. The mix of sweet and tart red fruits lasts deliciously, with the spice adding grace notes. Though blended and aged in 100% new French oak barrels, the oak is muted, and the fruit shines through. ——P.G.(12/31/2010)—— 91