2014 Sleight of Hand Cellars ‘Illusionist’ Cabernet Sauvignon Columbia Valley

WA93+ A blend of 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, with the balance Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Merlot, the 2014 The Illusionist is a gorgeously pure, elegant beauty that offers terrific notes of cassis, leafy herbs, earth and lead pencil shavings. Medium to full-bodied, with terrific fruit intensity, polished tannin and a great finish, give bottles a year in the cellar and enjoy over the following 7-8 years. It’s slightly more streamlined than I remember from barrel, but I like its length, and if it fills out with bottle age, it should get closer to that barrel score.
VIN91+ (aged in 50% new French oak barrels for 20 months): Dark ruby-red. Classic Cabernet Sauvignon aromas of cassis, graphite, black tea, leafy herbs and licorice. Very intensely flavored and sharply delineated, with the black fruit and black tea flavors enlivened by violet and black pepper notes from the Cabernet Franc. This wine boasts terrific energy and is built to age. Surely one of the best Cabernet Sauvignons bottled by Sleight of Hand to date.