A rough guide to Cabernet Sauvignon

Many people consider Cabernet Sauvignon the king of wine grapes. Tough, tannic and low yielding, it’s a hard grape to love on many levels, starting at the vineyard and working back to the consumer. However, if you know what you’re doing at all those levels the wine produced can be refined, multi-dimensional and glorious.

I’m not a huge fan of most Californian versions. I love older Bordeaux (and older Californian) but I’m 60 years old, and buying wine that needs 20 years in my wine closet doesn’t seem a particularly good idea. My compromise these days is to buy the wines from slightly more northerly (or southerly in the case of New Zealand) locales, where the cooler evenings result in a finer wine from the get-go with a little more apparent acidity.

If you’re willing to pay for Napa wines, you really need to start checking out the wines from Washington State. They aren’t cheap — the vintners know they’re selling to Americans trained to think in three figures — but they can be astonishingly good while still quite young.

Lower East is a wine from Greg Harrington’s Gramercy Cellars in Washington. I assume it is from various estates given the lack of an appellation. (The Columbia Valley has about 10 AVAs.)

It’s a really well made wine, with a bit of meaty fruit, and a sufficiency of oak to be interesting but not overpowering. The palate is brighter than many of the competitors and this is a wine you should decant and enjoy with a nice piece of medium rare beef. The grip is sufficient to let you know you’re drinking a genuine Cabernet, but not so unbending as to require a further decade or two in your cellar. Lower East Cabernet Sauvignon $50 **** White wine next week. Other wines on Twitter.com/drbooze.