• Young
• Dark fruit
• Spices
• Long finish

Dark fruit flavours with spicy, toasty notes; full of fruit, but balanced, elegant, long and complex.

The House of Independent Producers (HIP) Cabernet Sauvignon reminds the drinker why Cabernet Sauvignon is a structure varietal. A lean, angular, racy, penetrating, crystalline structure is excellent for those drinkers looking for a more conservative fruit approach. Too many times this grape is abused with oak perfume and picked late, like an old man: wrinkled, soft, and complacent. Take your cabernet sauvignon young, tight, and transparent and leave the jam bombs for your sugar drinking friends. It's time to taste the varietal, not the brand. HIP is a project directed by Christophe Hedges, bringing to the table some of the more compelling Columbia Valley AVA vineyard sites.

2016 had a very mild and warm winter followed by a wet Spring with a few heat spikes early on in May. Summer had an average amount of heat, but nothing like what we saw in 2015. A few rain events throughout the growing season made regulating irrigation water a bit tricky. The first part of harvest had mild heat which made for steady and even ripening of the fruit. The end of harvest was hit with off and on rain for a few weeks, which really slowed things down and stretched out picking dates. The 2016 harvest resulted in large crops with impressive fruit quality.

With their 31st vintage now in barrel, Tom and Anne-Marie Hedges can look back at their pioneering efforts to help establish the modern Washington State wine industry, and specifically their efforts in establishing the renowned Red Mountain American Viticultural Area. Beginning as negociants selling their first Hedges branded Columbia Valley wine to the Swedish government, the Hedges quickly realized the importance of site for producing great wines, and purchased a fifty-acre parcel on the dusty southwest slope of Red Mountain, a barely known growing region at the time. More than two decades later, Hedges Estate Vineyard, Bel'Villa Vineyard, Les Gosses Vineyard, Magdalena and Rockwell Brown vineyards, comprising about 120 acres on Red Mountain, are the heart of Hedges Family winemaking.

Farmers first, and winemakers second, the Hedges family believes there is nothing more important than expressing the characteristics of
specific vineyards, of capturing Terroir. Anne-Marie grew up in Champagne, France, and is no doubt the messenger of these beliefs, bringing the philosophies of the old world to her new home in eastern Washington State. For more than a decade, the Hedges have chosen not to have their wines scored using numerical values, as they believe this would hinder their pursuit of making wines of soul and truth.

Food Pairing: Perfect with slow-roasted barbecued steak or braised meats.