Washington wine legend and Long Shadows founder Alan Shoop named this wine in honor of his mother, Elizabeth Chester, and his grandmother, Maggie Kidder.
Long Shadows winemaker Jill Nicoll was selected to create a New World wine that blends Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and other classic Bordeaux varietals.
A beautifully dark, concentrated wine with a gorgeous aroma.
The palate is soft with a rich, fresh, sweet spice that develops in the mid-palate.
Flavors of fresh fig and ripe plum are interwoven with graphite and intriguing woodland notes.
A dense wine with a silky, mouth-filling texture and structure that continues through to a vibrant finish with lots of flavor.
Walla Walla's Summit View Vineyards provides classic Cabernet flavors, texture and a rich mouthfeel that make this wine multi-layered.
Candy Mountain Syrah adds structure and a layer of sweet spice, while Dionysis Vineyards Petit Verdot completes and enhances the blend by providing balance, acidity and dark fruit characteristics.
After a slow start to the spring, the 2018 growing season warmed up rapidly.
The hot summer continued, but the weather suddenly died down in September and the milder conditions extended the hanging time for the grapes.
In the fall, Columbia Valley's typical warm days and cool nights allowed for slow ripening without losing acidity.
The result is a well-balanced wine with concentration, beautiful texture and richness.
Selected Cabernet Sauvignon is macerated for 40 days to develop intense color, flavor and firm tannins, allowing it to withstand 30 months of barrel aging in fine-grained French oak barrels (85% new).
Long-term aging in barrels allows the fruit flavors to fully integrate and accentuates the complex flavors.
The result is a supple, layered wine that is delicious to drink on release but also well suited to cellar ageing.
Long Shadows was founded in 2002 by Washington wine visionary Allen Shoop.
Shoop served as President and CEO of Chateau Ste. Michelle from 1984 to 2000, where he developed international winemaking partnerships with world-renowned Italian Piero Antinori (Col Solare) and German Dr. Loosen (Eroica Riesling).
Building on this success, Long Shadows was established to bring an elite group of great winemakers from the world's major wine regions to Washington State to create world-class wines that showcase the excellence of Washington State's Columbia Valley grape growing region.
Each winemaker partners individually with Shoop and the winery's resident winemaker, Jill Nicoll, to create their own quintessential, top-quality wine using their own vinification techniques and bottled in their own unique style.
