2016 K Vintners Cabernet Sauvignon The Creator

This is a profoundly long yet elegant blend with an abundance of rich dark fruit that carries bold but contained into the palate. The cabernet leafiness pervades the finish and there’s impressive freshness here. A blend of 80% cabernet sauvignon and 20% syrah. Drink or hold.

An 80/20 split of Cabernet and Syrah from a site in the Walla Walla Valley, the 2016 Cabernet / Syrah The Creator Powerline Vineyard offers lots of bloody black and blue fruit, black olive, beef blood, and pepper herb aromas and flavors. Full-bodied, rich, and concentrated, it has silky tannins and shows surprising elegance and finesse on the palate. It’s a “Wow” wine that should be snatched up by readers. This is another formidable lineup from Charles Smith and Brennon Leighton, who have recently moved their winemaking facility from Walla Walla to just outside of Seattle. All of the pure Bordeaux variety blends/releases have been moved to the Wine of Substance label (also reviewed in this report), and the K Vintners label is reserved for Rhône variety releases. By and large, these are all not destemmed and brought mostly in neutral puncheons. As I’ve said in the past, these are the real deal and are brilliant wines.