Wine Press Northwest | Fall 2012

Double Platinum – Northwest Cellars 2009 Cadenza, Walla Walla Valley

Bob Delf launched Northwest Cellars in 2004 primarily to offer delicious wines with personalized labels for weddings, birthdays and other events. But Northwest Cellars has become so much more, developing into a high-quality winery with tasting rooms in Kirkland and Spokane. And he contracts with über-winemaker Robert Smasne, who makes some of Washington’s top wines from his Yakima Valley location. This superb and affordable red is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (50%) and equal parts Merlot and Carmenérè. The resulting wine combines suave aromas and flavors of plums, black cherries and dark chocolate with powerful yet refined tannins, giving way to a memorable finish. (500 cases, 13.9% alc.) Awards: Seattle Wine Awards (gold), Savor Northwest (Gold).

About the Platinum Judging

Wine Press Northwest began the Platinum Judging in 2000 as a way to determine some of the best wines of the Pacific Northwest.
To accomplish this, we track more than 30 professionally judged wine competitions worldwide and track those wines from Washington, Oregon, British Columbia and Idaho that win gold medals.

In 2012, Northwest wineries won nearly 1,100 gold medals at professional judgings, and we collected more than half of them for the Platinum.

The wines are categorized and judged blind over three days by two panels of wine experts, who award wines with Platinum, Double Gold, Gold or no medal. A wine is awarded a medal based on how a majority of the judges voted. In the case of all four judges deem the wine a Platinum, that wine is awarded a unanimous Double Platinum.