Cayuse "Impulsivo" Walla Walla Tempranillo 2018

Vinous - Stephen Tanzer : 97 Points

(3/2022) The 2018 Tempranillo Impulsivo En Chamberlin Vineyard may be the best Tempranillo botting I have tasted from Cayuse Vineyards. The wine broods in the glass. Aromatically, you’re greeted by a brilliant core of dark fruits with tobacco leaf, black tea and tar tones. The palate is soft and generous with a sensuous mouthfeel. Even with 50% new large-format French oak, this doesn’t get close to being overly oaked. Silky and elegant to savor now, it has a really long life ahead of it. This is in a league all its own for North American Tempranillo. Drinking Window: 2021 - 2035.

James Suckling : 95 Points

(7/12/2021) 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.

Jeb Dunnuck : 96 Points

(5/6/2021) 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. Maturity: 2021 - 2042.