2018 Cayuse Flying Pig
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Tasting notes
The 2018 Flying Pig is a blend of 45% Cabernet Franc, 44% Merlot and 11% Cabernet Sauvignon and begins with classic notions of roasted red bell pepper, juicy dark cherry and dusty plum with elements of roasted sage, dried herbs and baked earth. Medium to full-bodied, the wine offers a balanced structure with lifting tannins that sway with a dusty mineral tension in the mouth. The wine concludes with a long, lingering and silky finish that will continue to be food-friendly and provide pleasure for years to come. For any Cabernet Franc lover, you'll want to put this on your radar. The sine rested for 19 months in approximately 33% new French barrels. Just under 2,900 bottles produced.
Critic scores
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
Jeb Dunnuck
More reviews and scores
The 2018 Flying Pig checks in as 45% Cabernet Franc, 44% Merlot, and the rest Cabernet Sauvignon. Beautiful, classic Cabernet Franc notes of red and black currants, cedarwood, forest floor, leafy herbs, and rose petals gives way to a medium to full-bodied, silky, elegant blend offering terrific tannins as well as outstanding length. In the same league as the 2016, this brilliant wine will stand up to any Cabernet Franc blend out there. It can be drunk today or cellared for 15-20 years. This is a hard mailing list to crack, yet winemaker Christophe Baron continues to deliver the goods, releasing singular, exotic, incredible wines from his bevy of single vineyards in the Rocks region of the Walla Walla Valley. The 2018s show the rich yet focused, straight, elegant style of the vintage beautifully and are going to be incredibly age-worthy. While the Syrahs get all the love, don’t miss his Grenache, Tempranillo, and Bordeaux blends. His 2018 Grenache God Only Knows might be the finest Grenache I’ve ever tasted outside of France and few California releases.
Bright, dark red with ruby tones. Brisk scents of red berries, soil and flowers, plus hints of gunpowder and black pepper. Silky, juicy and penetrating, with urgent sour-candy acidity giving a racy quality to the wine's intense fruit, spice and earth flavors. This distinctly wild, red fruit-dominated claret blend offers a lovely floral element and boasts a tightly coiled spring to support graceful aging. But even today its tannins are utterly smooth and buffered. Hard to fault, even in the early going. Finishes sweet, graceful and very long. (Tasted June 2021; Published September 2021)