The best Chester Kidder yet. Gobs of sweet black plums and black currant, with notes of coffee extract, caramel, and smoke. A supple, initial hit of fruit on the front end, with integrated tannins, tobacco, and dark chocolate on the finish. The '04 Chester Kidder is beautifully polished, approachable now, but with enough structure and acidity for the cellar.
58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Syrah, 10% Cabernet Franc and
3% Petit Verdot
Winery Tasting Notes: Deep and concentrated, the 2004 Chester-Kidder is a wine with pure, ripe blackberry and dark chocolate aromas and flavors. Rich, lingering tannins coat the palate, giving the wine its vibrant mouth feel and long, satisfying finish.
Vintage: The 2004 Columbia Valley growing season produced dark, balanced wine with great intensity and natural acidity. The vintage was marked by a hot summer, cool September, and a warm October that finished ripening grapes late into the season. While the late ripening was tricky for some vineyards that didn't shoot thin because of a January freeze, the long fall harvest proved advantageous for Long Shadows because winemaker Gilles Nicault worked alongside growers throughout the season to keep yields low, resulting in grapes with intense flavor and rich tannins.
Winemaking: Chester-Kidder is a blended red wine styled to showcase Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah, two outstanding blending partners that represent the best of the Columbia Valley. Aged for 28 months in ninety-percent tight-grain French oak allows the fruit and oak to integrate completely and gives the wine time to develop round tannins and richness; ten percent Eastern European oak adds complexity and spice.
Vineyards: The 2004 Chester-Kidder represents a diverse collection of outstanding Columbia Valley vineyards sourced largely from the Horse Heaven Hills, Red Mountain and Wahluke Slope. Horse Heaven and Red Mountain Cabernet give the wine texture and concentration; Horse Heaven Syrah adds dark flavors and color; Cabernet Franc from Weinbau (Wahluke Slope), one of the Columbia Valley's best Cabernet Franc vineyards, adds aromatic intensity; and a small amount of Petit Verdot from Stone Tree Vineyard on the Wahluke Slope adds intensity and tannins to enhance the mouth feel.
Detailed Info, Previous Vintage Notes, Reviews:
Chester Kidder is part of the LongShadows group of wines, and the wine was made by up-and-coming winemaker Giles Nicault, formerly winemaker at Woodward Canyon. He was trained in the Cote du Rhone, Provence, and Champagne. His wife is Marie-Eve Gilla, winemaker at Forgeron Cellars.
The 2002 Chester-Kidder is a full-bodied, concentrated red wine offering complex aromas of vanilla and cassis layered with dark berry fruit. Well-focused with balanced acidity and supple tannins across a long finish, this is a wine that will continue to improve for years to come.
Chester-Kidder is a hand-crafted, beautifully blended wine styled for complexity and elegance. Fermented in small lots, only the best barrels were selected for this blend. Aged 27 months in tight-grain French oak, Merlot was selected as the predominate grape for this blend because of its lush, fruit-forward character. It is perfectly framed by the addition of Cabernet Sauvignon to give the wine its dense mouth feel; Syrah boosts the wine's concentration and black fruit aromas and flavors; Cabernet Franc broadens the aromatics and mid-palate.
Allen Shoup named this wine in honor of his grandfather, Charles Chester, and his grandmother, Maggie Kidder. He has a purpose in mind; a vision really, and that is to offer his guests a glass of Chester-Kidder and say, "this is how good a Washington red wine can be".
I love Opus, Silver Oak, Ferrari, etc. but for the value, you couldn't get a better bottle of wine... priced from 50-60... I'd pay 90-100 for it anywhere!~ more...
