Staff Notes:

"I love the fragrant black-raspberry and violet notes that pull you into this concentrated yet elegant red. Great tannin structure and freshness that could wake the dead. The finish is super long, focussed and minerally. A blend of 62 per cent cabernet sauvignon, 26 per cent merlot, six per cent cabernet franc and six per cent malbec. From organically grown grapes."96 Points James Suckling

Bright, saturated ruby-red. Aromas of blackberry, dark chocolate, musky tobacco and pungent minerality are lifted by a floral note, plus a hint of brown spices that may come from some iron in the soil (basalt decays into clay, notes Clubb, and here the clay is red and rich in iron). Boasts lovely inner-mouth sweetness and silkiness of texture, with its purple and black fruit flavors lifted by spices and showing a superb light touch. Perhaps most impressive on the wonderfully spreading back end, where the suave tannins are totally buffered by the wine's mid-palate material (Clubb does a gentler extraction for this fruit, as the berries are tiny and thick-skinned, and typically come in with the highest natural acidity of any of the winery's sites in Walla Walla Valley.) Incidentally, this wine was mostly made from a 2008 planting, with a crop level of barely 2.5 tons per acre. But Clubb planted another 12 acres in Ferguson in 2016 and another 2 last fall, including some Rhône varieties. This is just the sixth release for this wine, and the best to date. 95 Points Stephen Tanzer, Vinous

"Incorporating the most Cabernet Sauvignon of the three top tier releases, the 2016 Estate Ferguson Ferguson Vineyard is 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 26% Merlot, and the balance Cabernet Franc and Malbec, all aged in 50% new barrels. It's a full-bodied, powerful wine that has a distinct salinity and a marine-like note in its red and black fruits, spice, crushed rocks, and cedar aromas and flavors. Full-bodied, concentrated, and structured, it nevertheless has the charming, balanced, layered style of the vintage front and center. It too has good acidity and is going to benefit from 3-4 years of bottle age." 95 Points Jeb Dunnuck