Wine Spotlight: Chateau Ste Michelle 2020 Échange Cabernet Sauvignon

2020 CHATEAU STE MICHELLE ÉCHANGE CABERNET SAUVIGNON, WAHLUKE SLOPE, WA

Exciting news for wine drinkers and planet earth lovers alike! This week, CSM announced its first ever Organic wine, a Cabernet made from the grapes of Wahluke Slope (Indian Wells vineyard) in Eastern Washington. Brian Mackey, CSM’s head red winemaker said “Making our first organic wine was an exciting and nerve-wracking experience that required the attention of every single person in the winery. Our organic wine was blissfully unaware of the stress and effort surrounding its upbringing and made its way calmly into the bottle with all its raw and unadorned beauty intact.”

This starts a wonderful new chapter for the long time WA winery, as many winemakers are looking to further their sustainability and provide Organic wine options for their customers. While I have not been able to taste the new 2020 Échange, I am very excited to see how CSM uses their already stellar grapes from Indian Wells and applies the organic standards to this wine! Order your 2020 Échange here!

WINE ANALYSIS

Blend: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon.
Aging: The wine was aged in French oak, 31% new.
Alcohol: 13.5%
Fermentation: Daily gentle pump-overs during fermentation help extract optimal flavor and color. Each fermentation lot is tasted daily to evaluate the evolution of the tannins to find the right moment to drain the wine off skins.