66% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc, 2% Malbec. The idea behind Long Shadows, the brainchild of longtime Washington State winemaker Alan Shoup, is really cool! Take some of the state’s very best terroirs and combine them with the world’s best winemakers and, voila, check out the results! And, thanks to Shoup’s personal charisma and access to many wonderful vineyard sites, a who’s-who of winemakers signed on. The results have been stunning. From Randy Dunn from the Napa Valley who worked with Shoup’s Cabernet Sauvignon to Armin Diel from Germany who works with Riesling, Long Shadows has been an exciting laboratory and, in the process, has created some of Washington’s most iconic wines. One of the most interesting and unique we’ve tried to date is Pirouette, an elegant Bordeaux-styled blend originally conceived and fashioned by Napa Valley winemaker Philippe Melka. Melka’s wines, historically, despite their multiple 100-point scores and cult-y following, are masterpieces of elegance and restraint, and his concept for the original Pirouette was similar- create a Columbia Valley red with Margaux-like subtlety and polish. He succeeded beyond anyone’s initial expectations, and Pirouette has become, in many ways, the flagship wine for the Long Shadows collection. Now made by Long Shadows ‘house’ winemaker Gilles Nicault, the 2020 Pirouette impresses with an exotic array of spices, herbs, florals and fruits. Big, for sure, it’s also seamless on the palate with richly displayed blueberries, mulberries, violet pastilles, minty chocolate, dusky, graphite, loamy earth and pipe tobacco. Imagine, if you will, a bottle of your favorite Margaux reduced under low heat to concentrate all of its attributes into a beautiful, silky whole and you get the idea. And, at five years past the harvest, the 2020 Pirouette has the benefit of not needing any additional cellar time to taste great. A bottle tonight with a steak off the grill or a duck confit and earthy lentils would be just perfect. We love wines like this- powerful but elegant, flavorful but subtle- and, thanks to its Brave New World pricing, really inexpensive for the level of quality we’re talking here. We have only 30 bottles to share…..

Owen Bargreen: Consistently one of the great red blends in Washington State, the 2020 ‘Pirouette’ combines 66% Cabernet Sauvignon with 30% Merlot and small portions Cabernet Franc and Malbec. Aged in mainly new French oak barrels, this offers alluring Asian spices on the nose alongside suggestions of tar, cuban cigar and shades of black licorice. The palate is elegant and generous, showing soft tannins that frame a glorious core of black fruits, with shades of Black Forest Cake. A great wine to consume now, enjoy over the next few years. 95 points

Jeb Dunnuck: Based on 66% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, and the balance Cabernet Franc and Malbec, the 2020 Pirouette offers more high-toned aromatics of plums, liquid violets, incense, and dark chocolate. These carry to a medium to full-bodied, nicely balanced, dense 2020 offering ripe tannins and outstanding length. 93 points

Vinous: The 2020 Pirouette is spicy with a dark and brooding bouquet of musky black currant, grilled herbs, cocoa and ashen stone. This is velvety smooth, yet lifted in feel, with a combination of red and blue fruit that flows across a core of juicy acidity. It leaves the palate caked in primary concentration and fine tannins, as a mentholated herbal tinge adds freshness and suggestions of tobacco fade. 93 points