2015 Sparkman Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Holler

JamesSuckling.com

• By James Suckling
  3/18/2018, (See more on JamesSuckling.com...)

  (Sparkman Cabernet Sauvignon Columbia Valley Holler, Red, United States) Login and sign up and see review text.

Full Pull

• By Paul Zitarelli
  Full Pull Holler, 10/22/2017

  (Sparkman Cellars Holler Cabernet Sauvignon) Hello friends. Very pleased today that we can offer Chris Sparkman’s outstanding Holler Cabernet Sauvignon for only the second time in this wine’s existence. It wasn’t easy either; it required pre-buying the entire remaining stash in western Washington. This wine is essentially sold out everywhere else west of the mountains.We went a little long (read: 56 bottles) on this wine because it has been incredibly difficult to source since 2013, when it scored 94pts and a coveted place on Spectator’s year-end Top 100 list. This year, we wanted to make sure we had enough. This clocks in at 14.5% listed alc and kicks off with an attractive Cabernet nose: black plum, dark chocolate, dark soil; there’s something wonderfully loamy and earthy here, offering a beautiful counterpoint to the deep dark fruit and smoky barrel tones. Palate-wise, this is the classic reverse mullet: party in the front, business in the back. The attack is all richness and plush fruit, and then somewhere around the mid-palate, the tannins pick up and carry this all the way through a lengthy, chewy finish. You can taste the classy vineyards here; so too the classy winemaking. This is a bottling that offers polish and intensity and complexity more often seen in Cabernets that command twice its price.