Andrew Will Winery Klipsun Cabernet Sauvignon 2000

The gift of wine can be such a lovely thing. During the Holidays we are given some pretty special bottles as our friends know how much we enjoy them. It is a huge treat to prepare a special meal around one of these special bottles. This Wine Wednesday post is as much about our love of all things Andrew Will Winery on Vashon Island as it is about this particular bottle. This Klipsun Vineyard Red Mountain Cab is pretty out of this world. Perfect for a chilly eve and a hearty meal to go with this meaty red. When you are perusing the wine shelves at your grocer or wine shop or scanning the wine list while dining out, if an Andrew Will catches your eye and intrigues you, go for it. Same with any wines from grapes grown on Red Mountain. I promise you won’t regret it. Andrew Will is owned by our pal Chris who is the partner of Robin Pollard who makes our POLLARD private label Watson Kennedy coffee for us. 

A bit about Chris and Red Mountain where the grapes for this bottle were grown, by way of wine.com. Andrew Will Winery was started in 1989 and is owned by Chris Camarda. The winery was launched out of a love for wine that Chris developed while working in the restaurant trade for almost 20 years. Named after his son Will and nephew Andrew, Andrew Will has been a major contributor in putting Washington State on the map as a world-class wine-producing region.

A coveted source of top quality red grapes among premier Washington producers, the Red Mountain AVA is actually the smallest appellation in the state. As its name might suggest, it is actually neither a mountain nor is it composed of red earth. Instead the appellation is an anticline of the Yakima fold belt, a series of geologic folds that define a number of viticultural regions in the surrounding area. It is on the eastern edge of Yakima Valley and its slopes face southwest towards the Yakima River, ideal for the ripening of its grapes. The area’s springtime proliferation of cheatgrass, which has a reddish color, actually gives the area the name, “Red” Mountain.