Old Vines Cabernet Sauvignon

Columbia Valley, USA

Woodward Canyon Winery's benchmark cabernet sauvignon from old vine Columbia Valley sources, a Walla Walla producer that alongside Leonetti established the region's original identity. Rick Small's old vines bottling draws from low-yielding, deeply-rooted vines that produce concentrated, complex fruit with natural structure. The house style emphasises restraint and ageing potential over immediate flattery.

Pairing intelligence

• main: Old Vines Cabernet's herbal-dark fruit character bridges the rosemary crust and olive's savoury depth. Lamb's fat richness is met by the tannin structure. A classic Napa/Washington-style pairing that works at every price point.
• main: Woodward Canyon's old-vine depth and cassis-cedar profile are built for ribeye — the blue cheese butter's salt and fat intensify both the meat and the wine's structural frame.
• main: Venison stew's gamey, mineral character calls for a wine with matching depth and earthiness — old-vine Cabernet's concentrated mineral backbone is the ideal counterpart. Juniper's pine-forward bitterness echoes the wine's herb notes; red wine reduction in the stew mirrors the wine's own character in a reflexive aromatic loop. Sourdough pappardelle's lactic tang provides acid contrast to the wine's dark fruit.
• starter: Old vine concentration and the wine's dried fig and blackcurrant profile echo the fig compote directly, while the rich parfait calls for the structure of old vine Cabernet.
• fish course: Old vine concentration and extraction produces a wine of genuine structural weight that calls for the richness of braised short rib; bone marrow bridges the wine's fruit while gremolata cuts the fat.