The 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve was aged for 21 months in French and American oak. Medium purple-colored, it gives up a reticent nose of cedar, spice box, and assorted black fruits. A bit tight on the palate and in need of complexity, it should be drunk over the next 2-3 years while it retains its fruit. Waterbrook was one of just 4 wineries in Walla Walla when I first visited in 1990. Now it is owned by Precept Brands and is housed in a large winery on the outskirts of Walla Walla. www.preceptbrands.com

A very fine effort, with classic cassis and black cherry in the fruit core, but also offering interesting details of bark, earth and herb. The wine lingers, perhaps due to excellent natural acidity, and without overpowering the palate it keeps tantalizing it with nuances of moist earth and wet rock.——P.G.(9/1/2010)—— 90