WTN: 1996 Columbia Winery DL sig. Otis Vineyard Cab Sav

Just about fitted it into the title!

A chance purchase at a shop in the middle of deepest, darkest Suffolk - but run by a veritable wine geek The price was attractive and it outperformed the price.

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Mature in colour, with a quite light red-claret body and orange-brown at the rim.

The nose shows plenty of life though, with decent leafy fruit, plus some cured meat and tobacco.

Lighter palate than the nose suggested, indeed it comes across as slightly watery (not intended as a great criticism). Nice juicy acidity brings out the leafy fruit again, together with some pleasant bell-pepper, but there's not a huge amount of aged complexity or especially long finish.What tannins remain are soft and discreet. If served blind I might have suggested a good gru Bourgeois in a fairly good year. Nicely understated and enjoyable.

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As a first insight into Washington State wines, a very interesting one. As stated above, I wouldn't have picked it as from US. Alcohol was down at 13%, but I might have guessed 12 or 12.5%. I understand this wasn't a great vintage, but it seems they made a good wine in the context of the vintage.

I did a quick search on the forum and didn't find any notes on this wine - any previous experience with it here?

regards

Ian

p.s. not quite a contender for wine focus - IMO neither a summer or winter wine - but very much a food wine

[Jenise]

Ian, I haven't had that wine, but a few things that might interest you. One, David Lake is a MW. Two, he is English by birth I believe, and was raised on French wine by parents with a good cellar. By Washington standards, his wines are unusually restrained and more savory in character than most.

Jenise
Ta for the info - I'd picked up on the MW bit from somewhere (possibly 'Wine behind the label'), but not that he's a brit (or at least was born one). I must admit it wasn't quite what we expected (though I had been a little concerned about the pale colour, which through the glass had looked worryingly brown).

I could see some folk hating it for it's restraint; it's leafiness; the touch of bell-pepper. Even in our household there was disagreement (the brains of the operation chose it off the shelf and was a little underwhelmed). As I mentioned, the price was good (£8). Had we paid £10 or £12 I would have felt it was a fair deal. £15 would have made it a disappointment. At £8, I very much enjoyed what it delivered.

regards

Ian