Great Northwest Wine

News, reviews and info about the wines of Washington, Oregon, British Columbia and Idaho

Gold medal winners from Great Northwest Invitational Wine Competition

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Barnard Griffin 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon, Columbia Valley

Great Northwest Invitational Wine Competition award: Gold medal

barnard-griffin-cabThis red from winemaker Rob Griffin in Richland, Wash., is always a great value and a consistent award-winner. This latest version, from a cooler vintage, is already showing its greatness. Aromas of black cherries, summer-ripe blackberries, mint and judiciously used oak all tell the taster this will be a refined Cabernet. In the mouth its lush fruit spreads smoothly from front to back, then fades slowly into sweet, smooth chocolaty tannins and a final nip of blueberry.

Price: $17

Production: 5,900 cases

Alcohol: 13.6%

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About Andy Perdue

Andy Perdue is founding partner of Great Northwest Wine LLC and a longtime wine columnist. He is a third-generation journalist who has worked at newspapers since the mid-1980s and has been writing about wine since 1998. He co-founded Wine Press Northwest magazine with Eric Degerman and served as its editor-in-chief for 15 years. He is the author of "The Northwest Wine Guide: A Buyer's Handbook" (Sasquatch, 2003) and has contributed to four other books.

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