2007 Fidelitas Cabernet Sauvignon Champoux Vineyard

The Fidelitas 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon Champoux Vineyard – which didn’t incorporate any fruit from the old Block One into which Hoppes was subsequently permitted to tap – offers complex counterpoint of smoky black tea, cocoa powder, iodine, nut oils, pencil lead, and mouthwatering salinity to its ripe creme de cassis and dark cherry. While plush by any normal standards, this evinces a sense of fine tannin more obvious than found in its 2009 counterpart or in some of the other top bottlings from this site and grape. That said, what I’ve come to think of as Champoux’s trademark energy and finishing ping are present here in spades, and the sense of dynamic, interactive complexity – not to mention sheer grip – is compelling. I suspect this will be worth following for a decade. Owner-winemaker Charlie Hoppes fits a familiar Washington pattern inasmuch as he came out of aeronautic engineering; nursed a love of wine all the way through a degree at U.C. Davis; then put in time (in his case a decade working alongside Mike Januik) at Ste. Michelle. Hoppes founded Fidelitas in 2000, and, quite luckily, was recently able to acquire a property along Sunset Road in Benton City at the edge of Red Mountain that accommodates a stylishly modern tasting facility alongside facilities of several other wineries, in the immediate vicinity of which Hoppes and some friends have acquired properties that will constitute the Fidelitas estate vineyard. He is also looking forward to his first, substantial crop from Cabernet on nascent nearby Shaw Vineyards, whose clonal origins are so diverse and novel, says Hoppes, “that I can’t pass up the opportunity” to experiment, “even though I don’t even know what I’m going to do with it all.” Alcohol levels in the reds I tasted hovered around 14.5%, though not, it’s quite safe to say, without utilization of “Jesus units” (a.k.a. H2O in the blend). Hoppes says he tries to avoid adding acid, though, and if he does, then unlike most of his colleagues, he does so in small amounts to the young wines rather than to the must. His barrel mix for reds is interesting, ranging from 50-100% new and typically 30-40% from 4-year-dried American oak. Surprisingly, Hoppes was one of the few Washington winemakers I talked to who said he tries to remain flexible in his choice of barrels until the young wine comes off its skins, at which point by taste and intuition he tries to match its characteristics to the most appropriate mix from among his stock of barriques, then fills them without prior settling. How close to dryness that happens depends on the character of the fruit, with that from Red Mountain sources typically finishing its fermentation in barrel, lest there be too much tannic extraction. Reluctant though I am to dampen my expressions of enthusiasm for Hoppes’ outstanding oeuvre, I do feel it necessary to point out that – as is often the case with Willamette Valley Pinots as well as reds from Washington – the only Fidelitas reds that see widespread out-of-state distribution (and which were shown me only after I specifically requested) are their generic (Columbia Valley-appellated) Merlot and Cabernet, assembled from barrels that don’t make the cut for single-vineyard bottlings; priced (I was told) to little-more than cover the winery’s production costs; and really only marginally recommendable. Tel. (509) 588.3469