Undoubtedly, every person reading this has at one time or another come face to face with one of Charles Smith’s wines. Once a Scandinavian rock band manager, Smith released his first wine – K Syrah in 1999. The rest of his wine journey pretty much wrote itself as he continued to put it all in black and take big bets that continued to pay off 3 fold. While Smith makes several wines under a number of different labels, Wines of Substance is a concept that he created to highlight the best value priced domestic Bordeaux style wines that he could produce.
In the glass, this Washington State Cab Sauv is dark purple from the inner core to the outer edges.
The nose is blueberries, blackberries, and cedar wood…. The smell on this sucker is almost addicting. There’s not too much to geek out about here but that said, it’s pretty damn pleasant.
Up front the palate is a bright cranberry jam that mellows out quick into dark fruit and cocoa. Mid-palate is almost smoky and the finish throws out some black cherries and smooth tannins that actually grip my tongue quite nicely and hang on for a while………..
For a value driven Cabernet ($18ish), this thing OVER-DELIVERS and then some 🤑🤑🤑. The good news on this wine is that you should be able to find it just about EVERYWHERE….
Don’t get me wrong, this probably isn’t a bottle that you are going to lay down in the cellar for a special occasion: but for a Wednesday night pop and pour – this thing is pretty SOLID!
2016 Charles Smith “Wines of Substance Cabernet Sauvignon” Columbia Valley WA
Wines on the Range 