2017 The Guide Cabernet Sauvignon, Columbia Valley
Tasting Notes
Opening with inviting aromas of cherry, cocoa and leather, this wine leads to a silky palate that is layered with vanilla clove. This well-structured wine leaves developed cedar and lingering fruit on the finish.
Wine & Winemaker Notes
The 2017 Washington State harvest proved to be spectacular with a record crop level and excellent quality. All factors needed for success came together perfectly: cool nights, lots of warm weather in the growing season, and rain limited mostly to the shoulder seasons. Harvest started the third week of September and wrapped in the second week of November. The crop across the state was heavy, yet bountiful with quality. Our vineyard team enjoyed weather that enabled them to pick at will, affording perfect flavor, acidity and sugar levels.
While working as a baker in college, Hal Landvoigt’s fate was sealed when he was handed a glass of red wine at a party, inspiring his more than 20 years in the wine industry. As a winemaker and as Precept Wine’s director of winemaking, Hal enjoys the latitude of picking exactly the right lots from each vintage in Washington State for HOUSE, Washington Hills as well as Oregon Pinot Noir for Primarius, Battle Creek and Windy Bay. Hal also loves innovation, smart packaging and the science behind winemaking. He’s not afraid to push wine to new categories and was the mastermind behind the chocolate-flavored red wine sensation, Chocolate Shop, introduced in 2011 and still the top-selling chocolate red wine in the U.S.
6x 2017 The Guide Cabernet Sauvignon, Columbia Valley
Case:
12x 2017 The Guide Cabernet Sauvignon, Columbia Valley
Price Comparison
Not for sale online, $240/case MSRP
About The Winery
Winery: The Guide
The Guide was inspired by Precept Wine’s relentlessly curious wine expert, Phil Hurst, in constant discovery of delicious wine grapes grown all over the world. With a palate and a passport, The Guide’s great finds are taken back to the winery to be blended and aged to perfection, then bottled in very limited production. Savor these intriguing discoveries with The Guide.
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IA, KS, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NM, NY, NC, ND, OK, OR, PA, SC, SD, TN, TX, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY
The Guide Washington Cabernet Sauvignon
6 bottles for $69.99 $11.66/bottle + $1.33/bottle shipping
Case of 12 for $119.99 $10/bottle + $1/bottle shipping
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: Tax & Shipping not included in savings calculations)
2017 The Guide Washington Cabernet Sauvignon - $20 = 14.28%
From Wine Enthusiast:
87 Points
The aromas show notes of garden herb, orange peel, mesquite and raspberry, with the palate showing more of the same, accented by a touch of sweetness. A citrus twist flavor lingers on the finish. SPS 4/1/2020
9/9/2019 87 Points Silver Medal Highly Recommended
Dark garnet color. Aromas and flavors of plum pie, huckleberry compote, vanilla candle, clove, chocolate biscuit cookie, coconut, and mocha with a satiny, vibrant, fruity medium body and a smooth, charming, medium-length finish evoking shades of Nutella. A silky, easy-drinking Cabernet with endless fruit offerings
@kaolis
From the reviews, you would think WE and BTI tasted two completely different wines. Also, “chocolate biscuit cookie”? Isn’t that like saying “rye toast bread”?
Hi All! I ended up with this as part of a previous CaseMates purchase (called out above as well). Honestly, you may look at this as I did with the above and say hey this is a great QPR and at the very least I’ll have some cab on hand for “house” wine for folks that come over. Don’t. I won’t serve this to a guest. I’d say if you pay $10 a bottle for this you overpaid. By 2x.
@pete0744 gotta side with you on this one, maybe not quite so bad as to say I wouldn’t serve it (at least to people who don’t know better) but it definitely wasn’t a very enjoyable wine and might have even poured out the remainder. Had the Huntsman last night and found it similarly unimpressive. Probably means the canoe ridge bottle is meh also.
At 10 a bottle, it’s about the right price point in a grocery store but don’t expect great QPR
The Guide 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon opens with a slight astringent sting, and a dark fruit (cherry and black currant).
The first taste is smooth, fruity, and very to little alcohol. There is no taste of long aging. I find a slight cherry, blackberry, smokey tobacco, that is slightly sweet with a slight pucker. This wine did not change much from Friday to Sunday night. It paired well Friday night with Bison rib eye steaks. This would be a drink now wine with little chance for aging doing anything. If I had to place a price I’d place it around $12 a bottle.
There isn’t much complexity here, but it is easy drinking and will drink well from first to the last pour.
So doing a little traveling and had an instacart Binny’s order pending for delivery today to my destination. They had this offering in stock so added it to the order. Paid $16.99, was on sale for $14.99 but instacart does not recognize my loyalty card. The travesty!
Anyway, meh. Pretty simple and not worth the price of casemates admission my humble. Not sure how BTI pulled that melange of flavors out of this. Saved a tad for tomorrow to see if a 12 hour day on the road influenced my palate.
@Mark_L Maybe bottle variation but there was really little fruit to subdue. Just had another glass and as my lovely bride just said, same as last night. A little pepper in the nose, a little tannin on the end, and no flavor in between.
Upon opening the wine I found it had a very nice garnet color in the glass.
On the nose were dark fruit, chocolate, and some clove. The taste was very smooth with some fruit. It was definitely easy drinking and paired nicely with my beef tenderloin and roasted potatoes. I saved some for the next day and found it pretty similar to the day before.
This was a nice easy drinking wine that gets the job done. I’d put the price point around $13.
2017 The Guide Cabernet Sauvignon, Columbia Valley
Tasting Notes
Wine & Winemaker Notes
Specs
Included in the Box
6-bottles:
Case:
Price Comparison
Not for sale online, $240/case MSRP
About The Winery
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IA, KS, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NM, NY, NC, ND, OK, OR, PA, SC, SD, TN, TX, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY
Estimated Delivery
Monday, Sep 21 - Tuesday, Sep 22
The Guide Washington Cabernet Sauvignon
6 bottles for $69.99 $11.66/bottle + $1.33/bottle shipping
Case of 12 for $119.99 $10/bottle + $1/bottle shipping
2017 The Guide Washington Cabernet Sauvignon
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: Tax & Shipping not included in savings calculations)
2017 The Guide Washington Cabernet Sauvignon - $20 = 14.28%
From Wine Enthusiast:
87 Points
The aromas show notes of garden herb, orange peel, mesquite and raspberry, with the palate showing more of the same, accented by a touch of sweetness. A citrus twist flavor lingers on the finish. SPS 4/1/2020
https://www.winemag.com/buying-guide/the-guide-2017-cabernet-sauvignon-columbia-valley-wa/
and from Beverage Tasting Institute:
9/9/2019 87 Points Silver Medal Highly Recommended
Dark garnet color. Aromas and flavors of plum pie, huckleberry compote, vanilla candle, clove, chocolate biscuit cookie, coconut, and mocha with a satiny, vibrant, fruity medium body and a smooth, charming, medium-length finish evoking shades of Nutella. A silky, easy-drinking Cabernet with endless fruit offerings
http://www.tastings.com/Wine-Review/The-Guide-2017-Cabernet-Sauvignon-Columbia-Valley-USA-10-15-2019.aspx
also offered right here on casemates twice before as part of multiple wine deals:
6/5/20
https://casemates.com/forum/topics/washington-cabernet-sauvignon-trio
3/9/19
https://casemates.com/forum/topics/washington-cabernet-sauvignons?sort=most-likes
fwiw
@kaolis
From the reviews, you would think WE and BTI tasted two completely different wines. Also, “chocolate biscuit cookie”? Isn’t that like saying “rye toast bread”?
@chipgreen The BTI review a bit head shaking.
No rats for those offerings that I could see. Do we assume the same for this one?
@gtcharlie my apologies I was late to post
Hi All! I ended up with this as part of a previous CaseMates purchase (called out above as well). Honestly, you may look at this as I did with the above and say hey this is a great QPR and at the very least I’ll have some cab on hand for “house” wine for folks that come over. Don’t. I won’t serve this to a guest. I’d say if you pay $10 a bottle for this you overpaid. By 2x.
@pete0744 gotta side with you on this one, maybe not quite so bad as to say I wouldn’t serve it (at least to people who don’t know better) but it definitely wasn’t a very enjoyable wine and might have even poured out the remainder. Had the Huntsman last night and found it similarly unimpressive. Probably means the canoe ridge bottle is meh also.
At 10 a bottle, it’s about the right price point in a grocery store but don’t expect great QPR
@deadlyapp well said. I will say the huntsman at the very least has a pleasant label
@deadlyapp @pete0744 Thanks. Was waiting on a rat to show up. Seems like I don’t need to…
I also got this along with The Huntsman and Canoe Ridge on a previous offer. Of the 3, Canoe Ridge was the only one I was really pleased with.
@Mark_L Ditto. The Canoe Ridge was dandy, the others a tad meh.
The Guide 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon opens with a slight astringent sting, and a dark fruit (cherry and black currant).
The first taste is smooth, fruity, and very to little alcohol. There is no taste of long aging. I find a slight cherry, blackberry, smokey tobacco, that is slightly sweet with a slight pucker. This wine did not change much from Friday to Sunday night. It paired well Friday night with Bison rib eye steaks. This would be a drink now wine with little chance for aging doing anything. If I had to place a price I’d place it around $12 a bottle.
There isn’t much complexity here, but it is easy drinking and will drink well from first to the last pour.
@jml326 Thank you so much for the report. like the Bison ribeye pairing.
So doing a little traveling and had an instacart Binny’s order pending for delivery today to my destination. They had this offering in stock so added it to the order. Paid $16.99, was on sale for $14.99 but instacart does not recognize my loyalty card. The travesty!
Anyway, meh. Pretty simple and not worth the price of casemates admission my humble. Not sure how BTI pulled that melange of flavors out of this. Saved a tad for tomorrow to see if a 12 hour day on the road influenced my palate.
@kaolis IIRC, I liked either this or The Huntsman a bit better on the second day – the fruit seemed a bit more subdued.
@Mark_L Maybe bottle variation but there was really little fruit to subdue. Just had another glass and as my lovely bride just said, same as last night. A little pepper in the nose, a little tannin on the end, and no flavor in between.
Upon opening the wine I found it had a very nice garnet color in the glass.
On the nose were dark fruit, chocolate, and some clove. The taste was very smooth with some fruit. It was definitely easy drinking and paired nicely with my beef tenderloin and roasted potatoes. I saved some for the next day and found it pretty similar to the day before.
This was a nice easy drinking wine that gets the job done. I’d put the price point around $13.
@jwill1981 Thank you for the rattage. I like the descripts and the pic.
I had a bottle of The Guide left from the last offering-on the first night I did not like it very much but tonight it was very nice.
Precept.