Let’s make one thing clear—Woodinville, Wash.’s Mark Ryan Winery is not beating a dead horse. Blends evolve with the vintage, vineyard sources change, new sister brands (see Boardtrack Racer) and wines pop up like flowers in the spring, tasting rooms have opened near and far (in Woodinville and Walla Walla), critical hosannas are abound (see latest Wine Advocate reviews) and now vineyard plots have been planted under the winery’s direction on Red Mountain. Although the use of the above figure of speech is tired, so says my husband who is the winery’s national sales manager, the Dead Horse has exuberantly stuck it out as the winery’s flagship wine.
When Mark (Ryan) McNeilly first started out in 1999 as one of the wild cards in the warehouse wineries of northern Woodinville, Dead Horse was named for its main vineyard source of Ciel du Cheval, loosely meaning “horse heaven.” Continuously sourcing from Ciel du Cheval ever since and now Obelisco also in Red Mountain, the fervor behind the epithet has fastened on for the long haul (which happens to be the name of another MRW wine). Now labeled as a Cabernet Sauvignon—but a blend at heart with 10 percent Merlot, six percent Cabernet Franc and two percent Petit Verdot—the 2011 Dead Horse shows the softer, kinder side of Mark Ryan, with props to winemaker Mike MacMorran and a cooler vintage from a hot site. The nose crows aromas of savory herbs, tea leaf, black cherry and currant, while mineral and earthy tones with cigar box spices and sweet ripe plum plump in the back. The palate is layered with black fruits, compartmentalized by acid, structuring and silky tannins, easy oak and a texture to meditate on.
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