2018 Cayuse Vineyards Impulsivo Tempranillo Walla Walla Valley, USA

Winemaker Notes
"A longer term prospect will be the Impulsivo, which is 100% Tempranillo brought up in puncheons. It has tons of black and blue fruits, smoked earth and graphite, as well as full-bodied richness, building tannin and top-notch purity. It has a lot of tannin, so it won?t be one to open right on release"

Press
Rated 96 Points Jeb Dunnuck
Press
Rated 96 Points Jeb Dunnuck
Showing beautifully, with pure cassis and black raspberry fruits as well as loads of dried flowers, cedar, tobacco, and dried herbs, the 2018 Impulsivo is medium to full-bodied and has a seamless, elegant texture, ultra-fine tannins, and a great finish. It shows more meaty, almost bloody nuances with time in the glass, and it's certainly a singular expression of Tempranillo. The tannins are present yet polished and ripe, and it has a great mid-palate as well as the balance and elegance to drink nicely today yet also improve with short-term cellaring and keep for two decades.

Rated 95 Points James Suckling
Dark fruit, dried earth, burnt orange and charred wood on the nose. It’s full-bodied with firm, chalky tannins. Intense and smoky with a spicy finish. Such intensity and focus. Best tempranillo in America? Drink or hold.

Rated 93 Points Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 Impulsivo displays a dark ruby core and a solid magenta rim and offers up aromas of leather, dusty violets, bone broth, blackberry reduction and dusty plums. Full-bodied for a Tempranillo, the palate offers flavors of spiced cherry compote, cedar and cigar box with pipe tobacco before fine-grained tannins coat the palate along with a soft oaky essence. The wine concludes with a long, lingering finish that offers a generous and persistent flavor of cinnamon-spiced plum compote and blackberry jus.The wine rested for19 months in French oak barrels, about 50% new.