The 2017 Cabernet / Syrah The Creator Powerline Vineyard doesn’t match the 2016 yet is still a brilliant blend (75/25 Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah) sourced from a site on the southern side of the Walla Walla Valley. Loads of jammy blackberry and black cherry fruits as well as hints of chocolate and peppery herbs emerge from this purple/plum-hued 2017. Offering full-bodied richness, a layered, seamless texture, ripe tannins, and a great finish, it’s another sexy, pleasure-bent effort from this team that can be drunk any time over the coming 10-15 years.

Made from a co-fermented blend of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon and 25% Syrah, the 2017 The Creator opens with opulent blackberry, dusty plum, a firm oak backbone and elements of caramel, cardamom and crème brûlée. Full-bodied, flavors of blackberry reduction, fresh dark cherries and black plum sway on the palate with a firm structure and oaky essence, followed by flavors of cassis and currant that linger on the long finish.

(92+ points) Dark red with ruby tones. A whiff of matchstick reduction quickly dissipated to reveal pure scents of blackberry, licorice and black olive tapenade. Very concentrated sweet/savory wine with lovely inner-mouth lift and spiciness (probably from the 67% new thick-staved barriques). Suave and fine-grained but needs time to reveal itself. Incidentally, I moved up my projected peak drinking planes for this wine as well as the Ovide and Roma as the wines mellowed considerably with 24 hours in the refrigerator--without losing their shape. (this bottling used to be a mixture of Jack's and River Rock vineyards, before Powerline was planted in 2012) -- Stephen Tanzer