Deep ruby with purple highlights, the 2017 Champoux Vineyard is a stunning success with elegance and complexity bursting at the seams. Seductive blackberry essence, dusty plum skin, dark cherries and cassis waft out of the glass with delicate dusty floral tones, dried tobacco and graphite nuances. Medium to full-bodied, the wine is balanced with rich complexity and an elegant mineral tension before offering up a clearly delineated fruit frame compounded by focus, precision and finesse. At present, the wine has a pleasingly tannic edge and finishes with a mineral tension and red-fruited succulence that continue to evolve in the mouth. Simply stellar!
95 points, Anthony Mueller, Wine Advocate (Oct 2020)
A joyous blend of about 40 percent each of cabernet franc and merlot (the balance cabernet sauvignon), this amounts to a return to form for this venerable Washington winery. Cedary wood notes and dark carob and blackberry scents lead, and the flavors fall into line from there: red cherry and red plum, a shred of tobacco, a prickle of acidity. It radiates vitality, nimble and red fruited, with a brightness within the structure that gives it the feel of a Bordeaux varietal wine unleashed.
95 points, Patrick J. Comiskey, Wine & Spirits (Oct 2020)
The 2017 Champoux Vineyard is another wine from this team that shows the more elegant, pure, balanced style of the vintage beautifully. Fabulous notes of crème de cassis, candied violets, spice, and unsmoked tobacco all flow to a medium to full-bodied Bordeaux blend that has silky tannins and no hard edges. As with the Ciel Du Cheval, it’s going to be better with 2-3 years of bottle age and should cruise for two decades in cold cellars.
94 points, Jeb Dunnuck (Apr 2020)
Bright ruby-red. Deep, musky, balsamic scents of currant, blackberry, cannabis, spices and dark chocolate; slightly high-toned. Nicely high-pitched yet plush and suave on the palate, conveying serious energy and vinosity to its currant, dark raspberry, spice, cocoa and menthol flavors. Real nobility of texture here, along with a captivating sweetness and a repeating high-toned suggestion. Builds slowly and lingers long on the finish, with the firm but refined tannins fully supported by fruit. Classy juice, especially considering the sizable Merlot percentage. And more sweet than savory. Incidentally, my two samples of the 2017 Ciel du Cheval Red Wine were too volatile and porty to recommend; both finished with drying tannins.
93 points, Stephen Tanzer, Vinous (Dec 2020)
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