2010 Gramercy Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Walla Walla Valley

(13.9% alcohol; mostly from Phinny Hill; includes 1% petit verdot): Good bright red-ruby. Complex, expressive nose combines redcurrant, red licorice, smoke and graphite; smells concentrated! At once silky and brisk, with intense red cherry, red licorice, cedar and tobacco flavors complicated and lifted by notes of dried herbs. Shows a distinct pyrazine quality but in the way of a top Medoc wine. The fine-grained tannins spread out to dust the palate on the long, lightly saline finish. Harrington noted that these 15-year-old vines manage to retain good acidity and do not get roasted, even in a late harvest.

The 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon Columbia Valley (99% Cabernet Sauvignon and 1% Petit Verdot aged in 40% new French oak) offers up classic currant, lean pencil shavings, cedar and hints of leather to go with a great palate. Firm, chewy and very focused, with a medium to full-bodied texture that doesn’t yield a smidge with air, it needs 3-4 years of bottle age to round into form. Drink 2016-2025. These top-notch efforts are made by Greg Harrington, with help from assistant winemaker Brandon Moss, and always show the fresher, more edgy and lean side to the region. Normally fermented with varying degrees of whole cluster and aged in neutral oak, they have Old World, classical profiles and will benefit from short-term cellaring. While I’ve been drinking the Rhone blends from this estate for years, this was the first time I’ve been able to taste Greg’s Bordeaux releases. The house style certainly persists and the wines all show firm, concentrated and age-worthy profiles. From a much warmer vintage, Harrington’s 2009s are more voluptuous and textured than the 2010s, yet still play in the same classically styled ball park of the estate. While more approachable today, I think they will have a similar, if not broader, drink window than the 2010s. Time will tell but at the moment, I generally like the 2009s more due to their fruit, yet I still think the tannin quality in the 2010s is better. Tel. (509) 876-2427; www.gramercycellars.com