2008 Carriage House DuBrul Vineyard

The Shiels’ 686 cases of 2008 DuBrul Vineyard Carriage House – its Cabernet Sauvignon blended with 23% Merlot and 12% Cabernet Franc, and raised in two-thirds new barrels – represents the latest installment of a wine that is their “second” red from Bordelais varieties but not at all a “second wine” in the classic sense, since it originates in separate rows with slightly different underlying soils from those farmed and sourced for the Cote Bonneville flagship. As usual for this bottling, there is a lovely alliance of polished, even silken texture with Washington fruit-typical vim and vigor. Despite the dominance of Cabernet Sauvignon, there is a significant, not to mention winsome, profusion of bittersweet floral perfume. Cassis, elderberry, and dark cherry are mingled with nut oils and tinged with iodine, smoky Latakia tobacco, and dark chocolate. Glycerol-rich yet with a buoyancy that belies its high-14% alcohol, this finishes with lusciously lingering fruit in a vibrant exchange with floral, herbal and mineral elements. Expect it to be worth following for at least a decade. Kathy and Hugh Shiels founded Cote Bonneville in 2002, seven years after their predominantly steep and cobbled DuBrul Vineyard produced its first fruit. Wine growers out of love and pride rather than professional need – she was a physical therapist and he continues even after achieving fame in wine to practice as an orthopedic surgeon – their fruit from what was to become the Rattlesnake Hills A.V.A. rocketed to high-regard, reflecting an attention to viticultural detail so intense it spawned the saying I heard more than a couple of times during my recent trip: “If Hugh Shiels thought that licking each stone in his vineyard would improve the quality of his fruit, he’d do it.” The minuscule size of the inaugural release of Cote Bonneville (named for their family’s Romanesque Revival home in Cincinnati, built in 1902 by inventor Napoleon DuBrul) by no means reflected hesitancy or dilettantism, but rather the meticulousness and perfectionism this family had already displayed in their vineyard management. From the beginning, the aim was to make world class wine, and when, after a few years, volumes reached commercial proportions, the Shiels’ flagship bottling raised some hackles by being the first in Washington to retail for three figures – a front-running status that they appear unapologetically aiming to retain. Merely to cite one example of the Shiels’ and vineyard manager Larry Dolan’s viticultural detail-consciousness (and in next year’s report I’ll discuss others), not just individual blocks or vine rows but individual stretches of vine rows are, via a multitude of valves, selectively dry-farmed or permitted occasional slow drip to reflect their specific location, vine origin, and, of course, signs of vigor or stress. After receiving her viticultural degree from Davis, daughter Kathy Shiels took over as winemaker beginning with the 2009 harvest. Fourteen clients are permitted to purchase the three-quarters of DuBrul’s fruit – nearly 75% of which is in Bordelais varieties – not now vinified by the owners. Tel. (509) 840-4596