The 2021 Matthews Columbia Valley Claret is comprised of several small vineyard parcels within the greater Columbia Valley, with key vineyard sites in Horse Heaven Hills, Red Mountain, and Royal Slope AVA’s as well as the famed Conner Lee vineyard. This wine truly represents the broad flavor and aromatic expressions of Cabernet Sauvignon from the diverse terroirs of Washington State. The new winemaking team worked with our vineyard managers to update our viticultural practices, reducing yields (on average) by 30% for each site. These restricted yields created small, concentrated berries. Further vineyard dedication meant we were able to harvest between 3-6 weeks later than previous vintages. This allowed each site to fully develop the proper ripeness and flavor profile we were looking for.

Each vineyard was hand-harvested in the early mornings between late September & early October, cultivating on October 28th for our last pick. Upon arriving at the winery, each vineyard parcel was hand-sorted, de-stemmed, and berry-sorted. The grapes were placed in tank and cold soaked for 2 days, before undergoing a 14 day fermentation and an additional 14 days of extended maceration, resulting in 32+ days on skins for maximum extraction and integrated tannins. The wine was cellared for 19 months in new French oak (27%) and used French oak (73%). In the spring of 2022, we selected 201 barrels to be carefully selected and blended. The wine was bottled in June, producing only 5083 cases.

Twenty-two separate clones were included in the final blend (Cabernet Sauvignon: 2, 4, 6, 8, 15, 21, 31, 169, 191, 337, 338 Merlot: 2, 3, 6, 15, 18, 181 Cabernet Franc: 1, 214, 327 Malbec: 4 Petit Verdot: 1).