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ded.reckoning 2011 The Rancher, Walla Walla Valley, $60

By on September 2, 2014

ded-reckoning-the-rancher-2011-labelDecorated wine merchant Doug Charles knew Chris Figgins when the second-generation Leonetti Cellar winemaker “was still playing with Tonka trucks.” Long-standing working relationships with many of the Pacific Northwest’s elite have allowed Charles to slowly expand his own ded.reckoning project, which in this case features Figgins juice from a cooler vintage that didn’t fit the traditional profile of either Leonetti or Chris’ own Figgins estate programs. The blend of Bordeaux varieties offers dense aromas of blackberry, black cherry, black licorice and moist earth, as well as butter rum LifeSaver candy, chalkboard dust and lime peel. What’s in store is a big entry of dark fruit flavors akin to blackberry, plum and black cherry, backed by rounded tannins, red currant acidity and pencil snap. The Figgins family also operates Lostine Cattle Co. — a young ranch in Oregon’s Wallowa Valley — and this bottle would be ideal now served with well-marbled cuts of beef. Or tuck it away in the cellar for a spell.

Rating: Excellent

Production: 125 cases

Alcohol: 14%

Winery website

About Great Northwest Wine

Articles authored by Great Northwest Wine are co-authored by Eric Degerman and Andy Perdue. In most cases, these are wine reviews that are judged blind by the Great Northwest Wine tasting panel.

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