Chateau Ste. Michelle’s Artist Series is a Bordeaux-style red blend that celebrates the inspired collaboration between artisan winemaking and fine art. The Artist Series is the first wine that blends each vintage from Ste Michelle’s best vineyards in the Columbia Valley, striving for elegance, complexity with underlying power.
The very warm 2015 vintage produced incredible ripe,rich concentrated red wines. This 2015 bottling shows the bestof both worlds – the wonderful, ripe vintage, contrasted withsophisticated layers and complexity.
The 2015 vintage labels showcase artist Sheri Bakes, a Canadian painter whose paintings deal with light and atmospheric motion in nature. The featured paintings explore the delicate movement of light and shadows cast along a vulnerable field of luminous poppies and wildflowers.
Tasting Notes
Colour: Deep maroon-purple
Aroma: A generous bouquet of ripe cassis, blackberries, loamy soil and subtle, nutty new oak.
Palate: Medium to full-bodied, youthfully chewy and open-knit, but its finish is somewhat fleeting. It should gain some depth and dimension with a bit of bottle age. Best from 2021 through 2024.
Grape Varieties: 57% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc, 3% Malbec
Aging: Aged for 24 months in 33% new French oak, and 66% Neutral French oak.
Awards: 94pts – James Suckling; 91pts – Wine Advocate-Parker; 91pts – Wine Spectator
History of Chateau Ste. Michelle
Chateau Ste. Michelle is the oldest, and one of the most prestigious, wineries in Washington. The company produces a wide range of wines from grape varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Chardonnay, but it is best known for its high-quality wines made from Riesling.
It was founded as the American Wine Growers in 1954 by the merger of two companies that were set up following the repeal of Prohibition in the 1930s: the National Wine Company and the Pomerelle Wine Company. Before the merger, the National Wine Company had planted Vitis vinifera grapes in the Columbia Valley. However it was legendary winemaker Andre Tchelistcheff, as a consultant, who introduced higher quality vinifera wines in 1967. These were produced under the name Ste. Michelle Vintners and the first wines released were Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Semillon and Grenache.
In 1976, the name was changed to Chateau Ste. Michelle. The winery has since achieved international acclaim. Chateau Ste. Michelle has three estate vineyards all in the Columbia Valley AVA – Cold Creek, Horse Heaven and Canoe Ridge. In 1995, the company formed a partnership with Antinori to make luxury Cabernet Sauvignon under the label Col Solare. Most recently, in 2016 the company purchased Sonoma-based Pinot Noir and Chardonnay house Patz & Hall.
