2015 Figgins Estate Red Wine

(aged in "mostly low-impact" Boutes barrels, according to Chris Figgins): Bright medium ruby. Aromas of black raspberry and sexy oak spices convey excellent depth and musky sweetness. Plush, sweet and very ripe, and distinctly broad for this normally more linear bottling from a high-altitude site. With its densely packed black raspberry fruit and firm tannic spine, I'd give this at least a few more years in the cellar to lose some baby fat and absorb a bit of its alcoholic warmth. But even today there are no rough edges. (14.5% alcohol)

The 2015 Estate Red Wine is a rich, ripe wine that wafts from the glass with notes of berry preserve and creamy new oak. On the palate, it's full-bodied, ample and heavily extracted while packing a huge payload of tannin that puts the 2014 and 2013 renditions—which are quite structural in their own right—in the shade. While it's a big, ample wine, it's also somewhat diffuse, but it's hard to get a read on its underlying quality because its tannins are so dominant.

Made from a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Petit Verdot aged 21 months in 69% new French oak, the 2015 Red Wine from Figgins is a beauty that’s all from their estate vineyard located on the eastern, cooler side of the Walla Walla Valley. Deep, rich, full-bodied, and incredibly opulent, with loads of blackcurrants, smoked herbs, graphite, and chocolate aromas and flavors, it stays beautifully balanced and elegant on the palate, with sweet tannin. It's a killer Washington State red that's going to drink nicely for 10-15 years.