Beverage of the Week (B.O.W)

So often wine prices and prestige, like real estate, come down to location, location, location. If you make wines in Lalande de Pomerol you could be forgiven for feeling a bit envious of your neighbors across the Barbanne River in Pomerol where wines routinely sell for three to four times as much. As you see, location is king.

But what if you could buy wines from celebrated appellations for the price of wines hailing from obscure zones? That would be a clever way to achieve the all important quality to value ratio that we seek. Luckily, we found a Washington wine that does just that. Sonnet is a great new value-oriented brand that we have recently discovered and it scores high on flavor as well as value.

Their tasty 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon comes from Washington’s famous Columbia Valley. A majority of the grapes are sourced from the Sundance (planted in 1997) and Don Talcott (planted in 1998) vineyards in a sub-region known as the Wahluke Slope which is about mid-way from Seattle to Spokane. The Wahluke Slope was given official AVA status in 2006 and is the source of nearly 20% of the state’s wine grapes.

This region is prized for its warm temperatures and scare rainfall as it lies in a “rain shadow” created by the Saddle Mountains to the north. The Columbia River that lies to the south and west provides the water necessary for growing grapes.

The Sonnet Cabernet Sauvignon certainly punches above its weight reminding us of Washington wines that sell for twice as much. It’s clear that this bargain Cab has a noble pedigree and is crafted by winemakers who know how to craft serious wines. For us Sonnet Cabernet offers the best of both worlds - special occasion flavors and style at an everyday price.