Vinous

• By Stephen Tanzer
  Focus on Washington: Hot Times in the Desert (Nov 2016), 11/1/2016 (link)

  (Àmaurice Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Estate Reserve Owl And Crown Washington) Subscribe to see review text.

Full Pull

• By Paul Zitarelli
  Full Pull aMaurice Estate Vineyard, 2/16/2018

  (aMaurice Owl and Crown Estate Cabernet Sauvignon) Hello friends. The wines of aMaurice tell many stories. Every bottle tells the story of Maurice Schafer—the winery’s namesake—a generous community member and businessman. The story of Tom Schafer drinking a 1962 Mouton Rothschild in Tahiti at the age of 19. The story of Anna Schafer and the two harvests she worked for Paul Hobbs's Viña Cobos in Mendoza, Argentina. But today’s story isn’t about a person, it’s about a place: the aMaurice Estate Vineyard. To find this vineyard, head east out of Walla Walla along Mill Creek Road. You’ll pass K Vintners and their estate Phil Lane Vineyard. Then you’ll pass Abeja, and their estate Mill Creek Vineyard. Further up the drainage, you’ll find Leonetti’s Mill Creek Upland Vineyard, Figgins Estate Vineyard, Tokar Vineyard, and finally, aMaurice Estate Vineyard. The vineyard, planted in 2006, sits 1475 ft. above sea level on a gradual southwest-facing slope in the MillCreek Valley. Shaped by the receding power of the Missoula floods, this vineyard, and the surrounding area, is made from thousand year old wind-deposited silt loam. This soil runs 10 feet thick at aMaurice vineyard, creating a well-drained bed that covers basalt on the upper half of the property and ancient Mill Creek flood plain gravel in the lower half. This entire subsection of the Walla Walla Valley is unlike anything else in the state. The silky texture of silt loam mixed with the increased elevation and rainfall of the area creates a consistent supply of moisture during the growing season. This allows growers to play around with dryland-farming their sites (no irrigation); aMaurice uses supplemental irrigation in the late summer, only if needed. This is indeed a frontier for Washington wine, beyond the usual hype of a buzzy winemaker or a newly planted vineyard. There is a different type of excitement in the air—a chance to taste a new piece of terroir within our state. Both wines today come from aMaurice’s Estate: one white and one red to showcase what this vineyard is capable of—and the frontier it’s helping to explore. A wine that’s only made in the best vintages, Owl and Crown may just be the crown-jewel of aMaurice’s lineup. At least Jeb Dunnuck seems to think so. He has reviewed this wine over the last two vintages, bestowing the 2013 94pts and 2014 96pts (review text below). In his 2013 review of Anna’s wines, Jeb wrote, “without a doubt, this is the finest lineup of wines I've tasted from her, and I still believe the best is yet to come from this estate.” And he was right, the best was yet to come, for in 2014 he wrote, “winemaker Anna Schafer continues to ratchet up the quality, and this is the finest set of wines I’ve tasted from her.” Through Owl and Crown, Anna is slowly building one of the best Cabernet track records in Washington state. It’s not hard to see what Jeb loves so much about this wine. The nose has a lovely, playful lift—full of dark cherry, leafy tobacco, leather, and toasted spice. The palate provides deep intensity of fruit, juicy acidity, and firm tannins that resolve into a lingering finish. Classy yet playful, elegant with plenty of personality. The listed alcohol is 14.7%. Wine Advocate: Copyrighted material withheld.