Mullan Road Cellars Red Blend 2015
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Pairs well with any red meat on the grill, pork tenderloin, heavy cheeses and grilled vegetables.
Blend: 49% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Merlot, 17% Cabernet Franc
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2015 Columbia Valley Red Wine opens in the glass with aromas of cassis, plums, sweet spices and burning embers. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, deep and layered, with lovely concentration, an abundance of fine-grained tannins and a pure, penetrating finish. A blend of 49% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Merlot and 17% Cabernet Franc, 3,570 cases of this excellent red were produced.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The soft, sexy, decadently styled 2015 Red Wine Blend offers loads of sweet red and black fruits, spice box, chocolate, and leafy herb aromatics. These carry to a ripe, full-bodied beauty that has sweet tannin, not a hard edge to be found, and a good finish. It's a sexpot of a wine to drink over the coming 7-8 years. The blend is 49% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Merlot, and 17% Cabernet Franc, aged 18 months in 34% new French and American oak barrels.
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Tasting Panel
Creamy, mellow, and lush with a long finish; soft yet surprisingly intense. 49% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Merlot, and 17% Cabernet Franc.
Other Vintages
2016-
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One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
A large and geographically diverse AVA capable of producing a wide variety of wine styles, the Columbia Valley AVA is home to 99% of Washington state’s total vineyard area. A small section of the AVA even extends into northern Oregon!
Because of its size, it is necessarily divided into several distinctive sub-AVAs, including Walla Walla Valley and Yakima Valley—which are both further split into smaller, noteworthy appellations. A region this size will of course have varied microclimates, but on the whole it experiences extreme winters and long, hot, dry summers. Frost is a common risk during winter and spring. The towering Cascade mountain range creates a rain shadow, keeping the valley relatively rain-free throughout the entire year, necessitating irrigation from the Columbia River. The lack of humidity combined with sandy soils allows for vines to be grown on their own rootstock, as phylloxera is not a serious concern.
Red wines make up the majority of production in the Columbia Valley. Cabernet Sauvignon is the dominant variety here, where it produces wines with a pleasant balance of dark fruit and herbs. Wines made from Merlot are typically supple, with sweet red fruit and sometimes a hint of chocolate or mint. Syrah tends to be savory and Old-World-leaning, with a wide range of possible fruit flavors and plenty of spice. The most planted white varieties are Chardonnay and Riesling. These range in style from citrus and green apple dominant in cooler sites, to riper, fleshier wines with stone fruit flavors coming from the warmer vineyards.