14 Hands Cabernet Sauvignon Washington Red Wine

East of the Cascade Range, the mountains block much of the Pacific rain, and conditions are generally dry. Keep that in mind when you see Washington on a wine label. The state's vineyards sit largely in that dry country, ripening grapes through warm days and cool nights, and our Washington guide covers why the address is broader than it sounds: 21 federally recognized growing areas, with this label naming only the state.

The grape is Cabernet Sauvignon. Our grape research points to black currant and plum, noticeable tannin, and possible spice from oak.

Its 4.71 average came from 34 ratings as of August 12, 2026, more responses than many catalog wines receive. In our September 2026 checks the price ranged from $10.99 at one store to $19.99 at another. Producer research on 14 Hands, missing from this record until now, follows below.

14 Hands takes its name from the historic wild horses that once roamed eastern Washington and the Columbia River Valley, a 'hand' being the width of a palm and the rough height measure for those horses; the winery, owned by Ste. Michelle Wine Estates and Washington's third-largest wine brand by the producer's account, opened its tasting room in Prosser in April 2014. For this Cabernet Sauvignon specifically, the producer names Columbia Valley as the region, lists 13.5 percent alcohol, and describes aromas of dark cherry, black currant and coffee, with refined tannins and what it calls subtle oak influence. Current winemaker Zach Richardson, a Tri-Cities native with a University of Washington earth-sciences degree, came up through the company's lab and enology programs before taking the role; the producer says its wines are built to taste good first, ahead of following convention.

Our call: a sensible reach for a shopper who wants a Washington Cabernet from the inexpensive end of the reds we track, now backed by the producer's own account of the winery and this wine's tasting profile, with one of the larger pools of shopper scores in our coverage behind its average. Pass if you want vineyard-level sourcing or a region narrower than Columbia Valley, one of Washington's broadest AVAs; the producer's page does not go that far, leaving the wine's exact source unnamed within it.

The Grocery Store Wine Desk · written Sep 16, 2026 from our research file for this wine. Numbers reflect our latest checks.