The Spellbinder
Red Blend · Columbia Valley 04 / 15 $25
Your Tuesday Bordeaux blend.
Four grapes, no new oak, a Top 100 pedigree: at twenty-five bucks.
Fruit-first, with red fruit, cassis, plum, and a lick of allspice.
Wine Spectator Top 100 20252022 vintage
Grapes
A four-grape Bordeaux blend
49% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Cabernet Franc, 17% Merlot, 3% Petit Verdot. Red fruit, cassis, plum, and allspice.
Terroir
Multi-site sourcing
No single vineyard: the Spellbinder is sourced across Columbia Valley sites and blended for balance and value, a Bordeaux blend built to overdeliver at its price. The Columbia Valley runs to loess over flood gravels and basalt bedrock; well-drained, low-vigor sites give structure without weight.
Region
Columbia Valley
A multi-AVA Washington blend under the Columbia Valley umbrella.
Winemaking
Fruit first, no new oak
Eleven months in neutral barrel and large oak tanks so the fruit leads. The 2022 was a Wine Spectator Top 100 wine; 1,500 cases.
What it is
Why it matters
Why it's cool
The Spellbinder Red Blend Composition49% Cab Sauvignon, 31% Cab Franc, 17% Merlot, 3% Petit Verdot
AVA(s)Columbia Valley
Oak / aging11 months, neutral barrel + large oak tanks (no new oak)
Cases1,500
Alc14.5%
Scores 2023 IWR 92Wine Enthusiast 92Paul Gregutt 91