The Wine Knows

Over the weekend, I opened two bottles of wine made by Charlie Hoppes, longtime Washington winemaker.

The first was a Fidelitas Wines 2002 Optu, a Meritage-style red. The second was a new release, Goose Ridge's 2005 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon.

I hadn't tasted the '02 for a year or more, so I was interested to see how it was progressing. We had it the first night with grilled steaks and asparagus, and it showed off lean, Bordeaux-like fruit. A near-absence of tannin allowed the fruit to shine. Two nights later, we poured the rest of the bottle with ribeyes, and the wine had opened up beautifully, providing a fuller feel on the palate yet with no loss of elegance.

The Goose Ridge is an epic wine. It was bigger than the Fidelitas, with rich, ripe fruit. Part of this can be attributed to its youthfulness, and part is vintage-related. Smooth, round, deep, intense are just a few words to describe this Cab. Outstanding would be another (wink, wink).

On a purely aesthetic note, I'd add that Goose Ridge's new packaging (new to me, at least) is a nice improvement and fits the elegance of the wine inside.