Wine Spectator Discovers Washington State Values

It appears that the Wine Spectator (Oct. 15, 2009) has discovered a couple of dozen value wines from the Northwest. Out of 500 wines they recommend only 5% from the Northwest. That's because they missed some of the best ones I mentioned in my 10/14 post "Half Price Wines." They start off with 2007 Substance Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon.The 2006 Boomtown Cab Sauv from Dusted Valley gets the accursed "89". Actually you should look for wines with the "89" mark on their heads as there is no statistically meaningful difference between a wine scored "89 and one scored "90" except the price. Eyrie Pinot Gris gets a 90. This is a fairly big Pinot Gris that combines fruity body with some crisp acidity. Pacific Rim Riesling scores an 88, while Hogue Merlot scores an 86. Waterbrook Chardonnay gets an 88. Some of the other wines they recommend, I wouldn't. Seems they missed a wealth of value wines from the Northwest.

The House That Jacob Built

Jacob Toft is one of those outstanding stealth winemakers who quietly develop their craft under the wings of a great winery or winemaker. Jacob apprenticed himself to Stephan Asseo, the great French winemaker who founded L'Aventure in Paso Robles to pursue his dream of blending Bordeaux grapes and Rhone grapes unfettered by French bureaucracy. Stephan's wines tend to be seemlesly smooth in a dreamy way. Jacob's wines are primarily Rhone style, slightly more rustic and down to earth - two different, but equally delicious styles. I think of the house on the label as representing Jacob's family.of wines.My fave is the 2005 Jacob Toft "Sarah's Cuvee" - deep rich red with a purple edge. The intensely fruity nose leads to a round, soft entry into the mouth followed by a major massive Rhone attack of big fruit, followed by a hint of vanilla and some soft tannin.

The Salacious Dirt in Oregon

Geologists get together to talk dirt in Portland, Oregon. Once again we are informed that minerals don't go directly from the soil to the wine and that you can't taste the minerals in wine, hence no "minerality." Despite many attempts to make wine tasting seem objective, it remains, and always will remain , a subjective experience and despite Ann Noble's best attempts at a "Tasting Wheel" we are reduced to metaphor when describing taste - no color spectrum here. So what is "minerality" or "stoniness" in a wine? It is a poor attempt to describe a quality with no name. Perhaps it is aniconic, an absence, an absence of fruit?

Then there is the question of "Terroir." Last night I had the good fortune to consume some Foie Gras with a 2001 Chateau Angludet from the village of Margaux. Although terroir usually refers to micro-climate, even on the scale of  an entire Appellation or AVA there are differences associated with place. At the simplest level, it appears, for example, that St. Estephe is a little colder and rainier than Margaux, but what gives Margaux it's "elegance." Is it a group delusion? A hallucination? A belief?  Cultural? A winemaker's prototype? Does the soil contribute? In any event, wines from different places usually taste different, although I'm sure there are many winemaker's who could, and have, obliterated these differences.

So different places can produce different wines, but do different places produce different Foie Gras? The little tag attached to the "pot" of Foie Gras claimed "terroir." What is terroir in this case? Place?  don't think so. Feed?  Maybe. Hype? French marketing? Bingo!  

Judgement Day?

Oooooow! Who will be judged? At least Matt Kramer's piece in the Wine Spectator admits that there are wine bloggers in contrast to several years ago when Alder Yarrow in his eminent Vinography blog bemoaned the fact that we were not acknowledged at all in the mainstream media, but it is a back-handed compliment, if it can be called a compliment at all. Essentially, Kramer bemoans the democratization of wine information. He describes "one of the peculiarities of wine discussion on the internet...[as] simultaneously deflating and inflating." He goes on to define the "deflation part...[as] a welcome demolishment of barriers to self-expression....The inflating part is a 'wisdom of crowds' preening about how we know best....The real issue is who gets to be believed." He goes on to describe a tasting group he leads where "over time our individual tasting strengths and weaknesses became unmistakable." That's good ! That's called reliability. "Above all, we knew whose judgment to respect and whose to discount." Again, reliability. "The challenge today for those who wish to acquire credibility is to demonstrate a foundation of knowledge." How does Kramer demonstrate his credibility? By tasting lots of free samples? By going on junkets? By getting paid ads from wineries reviewed? By WSETs, MWs or Master Sommelier credentials? Has he reported his activities to the Federal Trade Commisssion? "Have you published a nice little monogragh on the subject, having visited the zone, talked to the producers, tasted multiple examples from multiple vintages?" Have YOU, Matt, published 'a nice little monograph on the subject."? I remember when you were a fairly decent wine writer for a local Oregon newspaper. You were kind of like a proto-blogger. You had some cred. Now you claim cred because writing for one of the major wine media seems to have gone to your head . "Give us some reason to credit [YOUR] judgement." What's the bottom line? Will print media go the way of the buggy whip?Who will be left standing on judgement day?

Cigar Porn

The most recent issue of Cigar Aficionado arrived at my doorstep unsolicited. While it wasn't in a plain brown wrapper, it didn't take long to find some soft porn like food porn and I'm not referring to the model on the cover.

"The color is rich amber. The texture is almost viscous as its liquid coats the side of the glass and ever so slowly gives up its legs to gravity.... You flirt with the aroma a bit, prolonging the sweet anticipation and then put spirit to tongue. First comes the mellifluous sweetness...followed by nips of spic[iness]. Then you sense the slightest bite...before the sweetness returns as a hard candy, but much deeper than that...." p. 37, Cigar Aficionado, October 2009

No, we are not talking about Eliott Spitzer's whore, although the prices are almost the same. This is in the " Good Life Guide" to Cognac. This sexy hussy is L'Or de Jean Martell available for only $3600. Some high priced tastes are available for as little as $130. Others can be had for $300 or $400, and you can even take a peek at Remy Martin Louis XIII in a 100 ml bottle for only $200.

You can have your Cognac and eat it, too, or rather smoke with it, too. You could accompany your high-priced libation with a Corona described as "such (a) little cigar", but wouldn't you rather have a Corona Gordas "thought of by some as the perfect size - not too big and not too small." For the more macho man we have the Robusto. You can take your "big smoke" to the Las Vegas weekend at the Venetian the weekend of November 13th. Isn't this a little obscene with millions of people unemployed. Please, sir, can I have another sip? Can you spare a dime? What would Freud say? A cigar is a cigar is a cigar? Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar? How about some Price Albert and E. & J. Gallo Brandy?

Half Price Wines

Eddie Murphy once had a routine where he kept repeating the word "half" and the audience kept cracking up. When he uttered some more obscene words the audience laughed even louder. While "the worst recession since the depression" is obscene, it is no laughing matter. Restaurants have closed, wine bars have closed, upscale eateries are trying to work off their excessive wine cellars, Deageo sales are down 6%, and wineries are having trouble selling wine over $30. While few have stopped drinking wine (some probably are just getting started), virtually everyone has moved down to half the price of what they paid before. Wines under $15 are doing great. Washington wines are too pricey is a frequent complaint, but it ain't so. It may be true that many of the "boutique" wineries offer most of their wine at over $30, but in fact roughly half the wine in the state is priced under $20.

Under $10

There are a number of wines from Chateau Ste. Michelle which are widely distributed throughout the states. The Riesling, Gewurz, and Pinot Grigio are representative of type and reasonably priced. Here is a list of reliable value wineries in addition to Ste Michelle with fairly wide distribution:

1) Columbia Crest Two Vines - The Merlot and Chardonnay can be had at any gas station in Washington and are usually "on sale" for about $8 at many supermarkets - amazing value.

2) Columbia Crest Grand Estates - these wines see some oak and are good food wines

3) Red Diamond -Another member of the Ste. Michelle portfolio - Outstanding Merlot, Cab, Syrah and Chard for less than $10 at supermarkets

4) Hogue - Excellent dry Chard and pretty good Rieslings of varying sweetness levels - good value at supermarkets

5) Sagelands - less widely distributed, but available in some supermarkets. good stuff

6) Barnard Griffin - excellent Syrah. all good values at State Liquor stores in Washington and some supermarkets

6) Pine and Post - frequently posted off to about $5. Excellent value, especially the Chardonnay


Under $20

These may be a little difficult to find but they are worth it. Check high-end supermarkets and wine shops.

1) Dusted Valley - all "Boomtown" wines

2) Balboa - all regular bottlings - Merlot, Cab Sauv, Syrah

3) Parejas - all of Mark's wines are excellent, especially the Gewurztraminer which is a great value

4) Vin Du Lac - Larry purposely keeps prices down and quality up, especially the whites

5) Eliseo Silva - This is a whole line of outstanding varietals at around $15 - Merlot, Cab Sauv, Syrah, Chardonnay

6) Randall Harris - a very acceptable Merlot at a very good price.

7) Northwest - Bob Deff offers good wines at good prices and you can have them personalized for special events such as a wedding or you can have your own label
( for a fee, of course)

8) Bergevin Lane - Who says Danes can't make wine. Look for Calico Red, Calico White, and Fruitbomb

9) Martinez & Martinez - Make really good, inexpensive wine on purpose. Some winemakers get it that we are not all billionaires.

10) Revelry - Another winery that gets it!

11) Ryan Patrick - Rock Island Red is usually rock solid.

12) Waterbrook - A variety of very good wines at very reasonable prices.

13) Goose Ridge - A whole line of delicious wines at reasonable prices made under the supervision of winemaker Charlie Hoppes.

14) Dunham - Not only is Eric an outstanding artist, but he is very fond of dogs, hence his Three Legged Red and his Four Legged White

15) Hightower - Speaking of dogs, try Murray Cuvee from Hightower way up on Red Mountain. Hint - a dog on the label often suggests a value wine from a good winery.

16) Apex - I've always been fond of Apex Chardonnay when it was made by Brian Carter. Now that the brand is owned by Precept Brands it may not be quite the same.

17) Kiona - Another Red Mountain winery. This one makes a huge variety of wines , almost all excellent, many of which are in our price range.

18) Terra Blanca - Ken Pilgrim's wines are almost always excellent. If you can't afford the flagship Onyx, you can usually find a Terra Blanca Merlot or Cab discounted to around $12 at some supermarkets and Costco.

19) St. Laurent - some lucky dog's gonna get some Lucky White or Lucky Red.

20) Gordon Bros - Jeff Gordon makes a variety of well priced wines that are outstanding values. The Merlot has garnered "90 plus" points and is frequently available at Costco for less than $20.

21) Brian Carter - Brian is a superstar winemaker, yet his Abracadabra blend can be had for about $18 at the winery.

22 Sleight of Hand - Superstar Trey Busch makes two very reasonably priced wines - the Magician Gewurztraminer and the Spellbinder Red - Trey is one of the few to put everyday wines in screwcaps and special wines that need cellaring have corks. Wish other wineries would follow his example.

22) Novelty Hill - Their motto should be "never a bad wine." Superstar Mike Janiuk makes their wines several of which can be had for less than $20. You can even get one or two Januik wines for around twenty at the winery - Januik Red?

23) Saviah - pricey but worth it. The Jack will give a whiff of this quality for under $20.

24) Cayuse - Christophe Baron is a Rock Star winemaker. Try the Rock Star Red for only $19.99. Sorry, just kidding.

25) Mountain Dome - This Spokane winery only makes bubbly. It is dry and yeasty and competes in quality with California and French sparklers in the same price range.
26) Wine of Substance - We end with a science lesson. Have you ever used the periodic table you were forced to study in high school chemistry. Here's your chance
except this time you can taste your chemicals or rather your varietals. Substance wines have names like RE, ME, CH, CS, SY meaning Riesling, Merlot, Chardonnay, etc.,. They are only twenty bucks each and they are excellent. What a great painless way to learn about varietal characteristics.

Not "half" bad - over 30 wineries offering over 100 quality value wines for under twenty bucks. Maybe I should have called this "100 Best Washington Values Under Twenty Dollars.

The Wine Market

Speaking of investment and billionaires got me to thinking of the wine market as similar to the stock market in some respects. If LFIT, TOUR, MARG, MTON, HAUT, LMHB, & PETR are equivalent to big caps such as GOOG, AAPL, AMZN, FSLR, ISRG, GE, MSFT, then perhaps we should seek out the equivalent of small caps and micro-caps such HEST, ADAM, FALL, CDNC, NOTE, OS, PALU, CAYU, & QUIL. Personally, I would settle for any of them.

2005 Bordeaux For Billionaires

The 2005 Bordeaux vintage was hyped to the extreme and new billionaires forked over as much as $750 a bottle for a typical First Growth. Back in the good/bad old days when everything was going up and people were spending like crazy, people would pay any price. After all, like real estate, the price of wine could only go higher, so buy it and flip it or hold it as an investment, but for heavens sake don't drink it. Now that people are jobless, afraid of being jobless, underwater, and trying to be retired on 201ks, the market for "investment" wine is in a slump and virtually everyone across the spectrum is paying half or less per bottle than they used to. Last year, I picked up a bottle of 2005 Chateau Segonzac, a Cru Bourgeois from the Premieres Cotes de Blaye at Trader Joe's for around ten bucks. When I opened it a few days ago, I was so pleased by the deep red color and the bouquet overflowing the bottle. In my glass, it had the smell and look of a very good wine. Ah, a real Bordeaux, I thought as I put my lips to the glass. Beautiful black berry fruit hung from a big dark structured wine with lots of tannic backbone. While clearly a case of infanticide (this one needs at least another 3 years of ageing in the bottle to shed its tannins), the wine was delightfully European in style. I thought of some of my friends who are so used to tasting user- friendly, "gout americain", fruit forward wine who would have turned up their nose at so much structure, so much tannin and acid, but for a moment I felt like a billionaire, somebody who had made a rich discovery.

FLASH: 2009 ANOTHER GREAT VINTAGE IN WASHINGTON?

Another great vintage after the 2007? According to the Washington Wine Commision great weather resulted in an early start to harvest in Washington. Dick Boushay of Boushay Vineyards, one of the oldest in the state, says, "We're probably a week ahead of last year. It looks outstanding. The weather has given us both plenty of sugar and good acidity. Also, the color in the reds is great..." Jim McFerran of Milbrandt Vineyards says, "I look for Cabernet to be the star of the vintage." I'm tellin' ya, It's going to be a feast!

The Gorge II

We actually visited the Washington side of the Gorge first and we started from the east. Maryhill was the first stop. Perhaps more infamous for rock concerts, Maryhill winery is a destination tourist site. Spectacular views, delicious BBQ and a wide selection of wines invite a picnic. We tasted through almost the entire selection of bottles. The 2007 Gewurz was another classic with tastes of pears & peaches, again, perfectly balanced. The 2005 Sangiovese Classic is indeed a classic Chianti-like version with a smokey, leathery nose and tangy fruit. Close your eyes and you are in Tuscany.The 2006 Syrah Classic was medium to light bodied with the taste of marionberries. The '07 Winemakers Red is light round and fruity with a smokey leathery nose, too. At $14 a bottle it is a great wine for your picnic. The 2006 Zinfandel Reserve with 1.5% residual sugar taste like a light Port. Interesting, but hard to pair with food - blue cheese, maybe. The 2007 Muscat Canelli is sweet and flavorful, but not too sweet - an excellent dessert wine. Overall Maryhill offers something for everybody, even though the average profile is fairly light bodied and fruity. Be sure not to miss the Maryhill Museum nearby. We stopped at Cascade Cliffs where Barbera is the thing - soft fruity and friendly - maybe the best Barbera we've tasted. We also got a sip of Naked Chardonnay from across the river in Hood River. I guess they have a bottle exchange program or something.


On to Syncline winery in Lyle. Following various back roads with the navigational help of Kathy we ended up in sort of a hollow with a house, barn-like structure, various outbuildings and vines growing outback. James & Poppie Mantone were on hand along with two very able pourers and the winery dog. Although most of the grapes are sourced from Horse Heaven Hills and the Columbia Valley, this was a nice setting in which to taste wine. As usual the excellent Mouvedre was sold out. All of the wines were excellent , though the 2007 Syrah was a little disappointing after the 2006. The 2008 Subduction White is a blend of 42% Chardonnay, 30% Roussanne, and 28% Viognier. The 2008 Viognier was pleasingly dry, round, and fruity with a hint of citrus in the finish. The '08 Roussanne had a wonderful hint of walnut in the nose and excellent acid balance. The 2007 Cuvee Elena was the Tovey's fave - a complex, but smooth blend of 70% Grenache, 17% Mourvedre, 9% Carignane, 2% Cinsault, and 2% Syrah leaves only eight varietals to go for the mythical thirteen of Chateauneuf- du- Papes. This time around I preferred the McKinley vineyard designate Syrah over the regular Syrah, but the mindblower was the 2007 Steep Creek blend of 61% Syrah, 24% Grenache & 5% Mourvedre. Steep Creek is big and complex with tastes of cranberry, spice, pepper and nutmeg on an earthy base. Of all the Rhone Rangers, James may be the Lone Ranger himself. Whoa!


James recommended Cor winery, but the tasting room guy was a wiseguy and the wines weren't very good. Turn left onto Canyon Road, right on Lyle Snowdon Road to Domaine Pouillon. Where we tasted a number of excellent wines. We liked the 2007 Blanc du Moulin, a Roussanne/ Viognier Blend, the 2007 Black Dot, a Rhone style red blend and the medium bodied Cab/Syrah blend, but 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon Barrel Select 100% Cab knocked our socks off - big spectacular and complex everything you could hope for in a Cab. The proud owners hope it spotlights Columbia Gorge Cab, but in fact the grapes were sourced from the Columbia Valley. Is it Mistral Ranch or McCormick Family or Memeloose? Apparently, Mistral Ranch is owned by the McCormick family who produce Memeloose wine. Did I get it right? No matter! We finally found the winery on its spectacular perch above the Gorge. We talked with the father, but apparently the son makes the wine. The vineyards are on both sides of the river. The wines were good but a little lighter than we like. We particularly liked the Idiot's Grace Cab Franc and the Pinot Noir. To us, this winery represents the current state of the Columbia Gorge and its future - lots of potential. Phelps Creek in Oregon and Syncline in Washington show what can be done.

The Gorge

Worried about the economy? Don't gorge out, visit the Gorge and relax! The Columbia Gorge AVA is one of several bi-state wine regions on the Oregon/Washington border. Just as there is a tendency to think of the Walla Walla AVA as being in Washington even though some of the best vineyards are in Oregon, there is a similar tendency with the Columbia Gorge except for its proximity to Portland, Oregon. The Gorge is AVA number nine in Washington (followed by numbers ten - Snipes, and eleven - Chelan). The Columbia Gorge AVA stretches some forty miles along the windy Columbia River From White Salmon to Biggs. The wineries are mostly concentrated around Lyle in Washington and around Hood River in Oregon. Driving along I-84 from Portland, you might not even guess that this is a wine region except for an occasional winery sign. The vineyards are most hidden away with the exception of the well established, pioneering Celilo Vineyard. Frankly, the Gorge reminds me of the Yakima Valley in the 1970s. A few wineries clustered in small towns, hidden vineyards, lots of orchids. Orchids are a good sign. Since grapes are fruit, if you can grow other fruit, you usually can grow grapes and you know there is enough water. Bob Morus at Phelps Creek winery tells me that for every mile that you go east through the gorge the rainfall diminishes by one inch. The gorge is an amazing transitional zone from the moist climate of the Cascade Mountains to the dry heat of the desert. You can grow Pinot Noir in Hood River and Zinfandel in the Dalles

The quickest and easiest tour would be from Portland to Hood River. There we visited Cathedral Ridge, Pheasant Valley and Phelps. Naked winery's claim to fame is hot, sexy, fun names like Virgin and Sugar Daddy. Their Chardonnay is pretty good. At Cathedral Ridge Jessica did a great job of serving up the wines. We found most of the wines to be too light in style for our taste. The 2007 Riesling however was classic with just the right balance of acidity and sweetness and a wonderful nose of peaches and flowers. The 2007 Huber Pinot Noir tasted of cherry vanilla pudding but was too tart for my taste. The 2007 Necessity Red is an interesting experiment - a blend of Pinot Noir and Zin. The '06 Syrah was worthy and but the flagship 2006 Rock Star Red was the standout with a great nose and smooth fruit muddled with spices. Pheasant Valley Winery was next in line. We liked the McDuffee Chardonnay and the 2006 Syrah. We found the Tempranillo to be a bit rough and the 2007 Estate Organic Pinot Noir too acidic. Of the three Pinot offerings, we preferred the 2008 Estate Organic Pinot Noir which was fairly light with good cherry flavors. It would be fun to taste this with Pheasant Montmorency.


When we got to Phelps Creek I didn't recognize Bob Morus because he wasn't wearing his hat. I met Bob at Debuts and Discoveries in Seattle last year and asked him how come an Oregon winery was debuting in Seattle. He said he wanted to familiarize Seattle wine drinkers with his wine. Unfortunately for me he had only brought his second line which is quite good, but I didn't get to taste the Phelps Creek. Now finally I got to taste Phelps Creek. Bob took us on a tour of his vineyards which are hidden away up the hill from the tasting room. Talk about "slopes" - rolling hills with near southern exposure and a view of Mount Hood. The truck picked up an arrow shaped piece of gravel and we limped back to the tasting room where we tasted an amazing array of wines. Tom had tasted us on the 2008 "Unoaked" Columbia Gorge Chardonnay - whistle clean, fresh and light, truly a delight from Celilo and Jewitt Creek vineyards. The 2007 Estate Reserve Chardonnay was equally beautiful in a yeasty way. If the Unoaked was a pale blond , then the Reserve was a light brunette. As many of you know, I am not too fond of Riesling and Gewurz, but the 2008 Gewurz was perfect - "OMG, WOW, typical with just the right balance of sugar and acid." The 2007 Celilo Dry Rose was made from Merlot, but dry enough to almost pass as a European model. But wait, there's more!


Move over Willamette Valley! Pinot Noir from the East side of the Cascades! Once you've tasted "Le Petit" Pinot Noir Columbia Gorge 2008, you will never want to drink French Beaujolais again. This baby is made from Pinot rather than the Gamay that is traditional in Beaujolais. The traditional carbonic maceration of 69% of the Pinot grapes produced the most beautiful wine to have with salmon. "Ey, va-va-va-voom" - Light pie cherry, cranberry and strawberry - very fruity light, round and soft - a great quaff! Now on to the bigger guys and gals. "Becky's Cuvee" 2007 is still fairly light with a walnut or Hazel nose. A well known psychoanalyst once sagely said, " A man is a man and 'v'oman is a 'v'oman." Winemaker Peter Rosback made Judith's Cuvee Pinot and Cuvee Alexandrine was made by French winemaker Alexandrine Roy. Boy, are these wines different! The difference between a man and a "v"'v'oman? Not at all! The difference between France and the U.S. Using Oregon grapes Alexandrine managed to make a Pinot that tastes more like a Bourgogne than an Oregon Pinot Noir. With the exception of Richebourg and a few other Burgundies, I almost always prefer Oregon Pinot Noir. My winner? Judith's Cuvee. Altogether an interesting experiment. Phelp is the standout winery on the Oregon side of the river - proof that outstanding wine can be made in the Gorge. Tune in next week for the Washington side of the Gorge.

La Tour Des Favorites En Woodinville

A few weeks ago I took some friends on a tour of some my favorite wineries in Woodinville - La Tour des Favorites in total Franglais. They had originally wanted to go to Walla Walla, but not in August, so we saved 250 miles and five hours of driving by visiting Woodinville only half an hour to an hour from anywhere in the greater Seattle area (nothing against Walla Walla which I love). On my list were ten wineries including Ponum, Sparkman, Gorman, Darby, Mark Ryan, Brian Carter, Novelty Hill/Januik, Hestia, Adam's Bench, and Barrage. Unfortunately, we had to limit ourselves to only five wineries and even this was too much. We went to the wineries that responded quickly, offered discounts and waived fees.


We started off at Novelty Hill/Januik where we tasted at least a half a dozen wines including two Chardonnays, Viognier, Syrah, Sangiovese, and Mike Januik's big Red. All the wines were fabulous. "Never a bad one in the bunch." We shared six delicious thin-crust pizzas on the patio with the Sangio. One member of the group said he didn't want to go to the other wineries - he just wanted to stay there on the patio of Novelty Hill. All of the staff were wonderful to us. Special thanks to Diane.


Off to Adam's Bench where winemaker Erica Blue tasted us on two vintages of Reckoning, a bottle of Myth, and the very successful Sangiovese. Fabulous dark, rich wines of substance. Erica is a physician, chemist and wine "alchemist." One of the top new wineries to watch. Get on their mailing list or join their wine club while you still can.


On to Shannon at Hestia where he has expanded his offerings to include a Rose and a Chenin/Viognier blend among other. The Cab and the Syrah were faves of the group. This is another new winery to watch. Sign up, don't wait.


Kevin at Barrage had a groaning board of food that the group fairly lunged at. We were a few hours late and felt we had to move on. The Trifecta is a winner and you can expect a barrage of good wines from this newcomer.


We wrapped at Brian Carter winery. We arrived ten minutes before closing but the good ladies of the tasting room accommodated us pouring Brian's outstanding magical kitchen sink blend called Abracadabra - Poof! Great "everyday" wine followed by L'Etalon Brian's excellent Bordeaux style blend.


The group was amazed at the collection of outstanding wineries hidden away in a warehouse district just slightly north of downtown Woodinville. There are so many other fabulous wineries to visit you could spend days checking them out. BTW, those of you Wine Bloggers coming to Walla Walla next June should plan to arrive in Seattle early and stay a few days. I would be happy to take you around to Seattle's fabulous wineries. As most of you know the grapes are grown in Eastern Washington with the "perfect climate." The grapes are shipped to Seattle in small lugs where Boeing Wine Club grads and former Ch. Ste. Michelle winemakers make some of the best wine in the U.S. Why fly to France or even California, when you can get the best of both right here in Washington (no, The Washington State Wine Commission did not pay me to say that). If any of you would like to tour the wineries of Woodinville, South Seattle Artisans, Vashon wineries, Yakima wineries, the Columbia Gorge, Red Mountain, Walla Walla leave a comment with your email address and I'll get back to you.

Get Zapped!

Late last month, a posse of Zapatistas rode into town following the Rhone Rangers. Since Zin requires heat, it seems they brought some heat with them. Since many are from places like Paso Robles, they seemed unfazed by the 90s temps that could make Zin grapes appear to grow out of the bottle before your very eyes and the wine bubble, bubble. The posse was only a small cadre of the 300 some odd Zinfandel Advocates and Producers almost all from California. Zin is grown all over California. My favorite region is the Sierra Foothills including the Amador and El Dorado AVAs. Paso Robles produces some excellent Zins and the Russian River area of Sonoma produces the most elegant Zins. If you really want to get down and sin, try Seven Deadly Zins from Lodi.

It really was too hot to enjoy red wine, but it was great to get to taste so many wines in one room. In fact, for a change, it was the right amount of wine in the right amount of time in the right amount of space thanks to the event planning skills of wine impresario David Le Claire. There were many small wineries and most of the biggies you can find on the supermarket shelf. Bogle was there as were Rancho Zabaco, Peachy Canyon, Four Vines and Ravenswood. At the higher end Rosenblum and Ridge were represented as well as Opolo, Renwood and Sobon. Among smaller wineries were Hendry, Proulx, and Quivera.

Virtually all of the wines were good - not a bad one in the bunch, but there were very few standout wines. The good thing is, with that kind of consistency, you can almost buy any Zin and have a good quaff. The bad thing is the really exciting wines are reserve and vineyard designate wines that are pricey. Some of the best wines were made in small quantities by big wineries and mostly available only at the winery. I keep telling you the best way to to buy wine is to taste it at the winery and bring it home with you in your air-conditioned car. Happily, very few wines were big and jammy and in-your-face. Almost all the wines had a consumer friendly profile of good fruit with a hint of "sweet" feel in a light to medium bodied style. My bias is toward big brambly Zin with "garrigue" and enough tannin to stand up to any roast, stew, or steak. Many of the wines I tasted seemed more suitable for Pizza, burgers or a picnic. Not too long ago, Sobon Reserve or Renwood Grandpere fit the bill. Now they seem like big brothers to their more common sibs.

Something was missing? My favorite Zin profile, yes, but also, where was the Washington State Zin? Yes, Washington State Zin! Washington winemakers and grapegrowers are adventuresome, on the edge, experimenters. You can get almost any grape you want in Washington, even Pinot Noir. Among others, Paul Portteus grows Zin, makes Zin, and sells Zin to others. From California Turley Zins were absent, although I must admit that I prefer her Petit Sirah. Maybe I'm just a crotchety old Grandpere, but I expect more character from 90 year old vines. On the other hand, if you are having pizza, burgers or a picnic, you can pretty much grab a Zin off the shelf and count on a good quaff.

Picnic In The Rain

What better way to launch the 2009 Auction of Washington Wine than in a partly cloudy partly rainy field outside Chateau Ste Michelle. Eric Dunham's beautiful Starry Starry Night painting didn't quite capture the scene. Falling Rain Cellars did. But Northwesterners have webbed feet and the staff were prepared so most of the event got moved under the at-the-ready big white tent. The evening seemed subdued between the weather and the economy, but the wine and food were great. I ran into lots of friends - Mary McWilliams and Bill Getz to name just two and lots of winemakers, Trey Busch, Chris Sparkman, Marty Clubb, Brian Carter, and Kevin Correll of Barrage Cellars.

There were all the usual fun events - ring toss, etc and you could bid on a barrel of wine. The winemakers who had donated barrels offered tastes of the wines in the barrel. There was a silent auction and best of all the opportunity to taste lots of wine. The wines were organized by varietal. The varietal tables were fun because you could compare and contrast, say, all the Rieslings.

I arrived early, so they wouldn't let me in. I hadn't tasted Ste. Michelle wines in a while so I went into the tasting room where I was lucky enough to meet the very fair and able Bridgette who provided me with a private tasting of Cold Creek Vineyard designate wines all of which were excellent. The 2007 Cold Creek Vineyard Chardonnay was just as good as usual with that wonderfully European minerality that I love so much. The 2006 Cold Creek Vineyard Merlot was smooth and soft with great berry fruit. Friendly and easy, but still interesting. The 2006 Cold Creek Cabernet Sauvignon was soft round and fruity, too, with good cherry vanilla flavors.The 2005 Col Solare was like a pillowtop mattress, soft on the top with a firm underpinning. The 2006 Ice Wine Chenin Blanc smelled of honeysuckle and was intensely sweet, but not cloying and annoying. And Lagniappe was the current bottling of the Eroica Riesling which was open because the good Doctor Loosen was in the house and Bridget copped me a taste. Thanks, Bridget. What a great way to get off the ground.

I checked out the food tents and immediately realized there would be lots of good fare that I could eat. A good part of the Washington wine industry donated wine, so there were dozens of each varietal to taste. After tasting through virtually all of the Rieslings the Gilbert stood out as just right for - full of flavor, but dry and crisp - perfect. Riesling is soooo much a matter of taste, of sugar really, it's all about how sweet you like your wine. Among straight Merlots, Barrage Trifecta was the winner. Among whites in general, the Roussanne /Viognier blend from new winey Tranche was a winner. As usual, all of the Syncline wines were wonderful. Mark Ryan's Deadhorse was a killer wine.Elsom Red was , good and Falling Rain winemaker, Judith Papeesh was full of Mischief blending a brew of Merlot Cab Sauv and Malbec. Here come the bests:

Best Reisling - Gilbert

Best White - Tranche Roussanne/Viognier

Best Syrah - Syncline

Best Merlot - Barrage Trifecta

Best Rhone Style Blend - Syncline Cuvee Elena

Best Bordeaux Style Blend - Falling Rain Mischief

Best Winery Name - Falling Rain

Best New Winery Name - Tranche

Best New Winery - Elsom

Best Of Show - Nicolas Cole Dauphine

Slouching Toward Intiman

Joan Didion, Goddess of the Santa Ana winds, describes her agony of grief at the sudden loss of her significant other in The Year Of Magical Thinking. Ease the pain, in the true tradition of an Irish wake, a little of the old whiskey, well, in this case wine at the Wine Wednesday wake for Didion's spouse on Wednesday, September the 9th at 6:30 p.m.. Okay, so you are already bummed out enough. Think about it, that's where we are all going. Slouching toward the grave. "Et Satan conduit le bal, conduit le bal." Get out of denial, face reality or try some "Magical Thinking" with Didion and wash it down with some wine from Maryhill Vineyard. That's where I'm gong on the ninth. See you there!

Go South Young Women!

Now, y'all listen here. These two girls from Portland actually went east to be where the boys go. The good ol'boys have known for some time now that some of the best vineyards are down south Oregon way. That's why the Walla Walla AVA is a bi-state grape growing region, that's "bi" as in bi-state. Anyway, winemaker Tanya Woodley and manager Elaine Jomwe founded SuLei Cellars just off state line road. They are truly garagistes, having converted a garage into a winery. We tasted three of their wines. The fine rose is sold old. The 2008 Roussanne was a little too leesy for us but tasty never the less. The 2007 Beet Red blend will make you turn red with pleasure - a good buy at $20.


Farther south down in Oregon, you will find Zerba Cellars as you approach Milton Freewater from the stateline. Though they grow their own grapes, most of the wine is made from grapes sourced from Washington.The Wild Z Red Table wine is still a wild thing. A fabulous red for the price 9$20), it is a curious melange of Merlot, Cab Sauv, Syrah and Petit Verdot.The 2006 Sangio was our favorite - round soft fruity and friendly, rounded out with a little Syrah. We also loved the Merlot and the Malbec. All the dry whites were good buys at less than $20 per bottle. The NV Wild White is a blend of Chardonnay, Viognier, Semillon, and Roussanne a little to fruity for my taste but a wine that you might love if you are a Riesling drinker. And if you like really sweet dessert wines , you are in luck. The 2008 Semillon Ice Wine is bronze in color (like a well aged Sauternes) with fabulous nose and taste of peaches and hazelnuts. Zerba has pretty much figured it out. Virtually all of their wines are very good and many of them are priced under $20.

Tune in for more Walla Walla South II...

Go East Young Woman - II

Winemaker Anna Schafer and her family migrated east from the Seattle area to found aMaurice winery out on Mill Creek Road near the excellent Abeja winery. We ran into her father Tom who was pouring the libations in the tasting room. Tom told us what an emotional experience it was to finally make wine from their very own estate grown grapes. The 2006 Chardonnay was round, fruity and balanced, but lacked that incredible stoniness and minerality of the first Chardonnay bottling. The 2006 Syrah is somewhat schizophrenic in style. Perhaps this is because of its parentage with grapes coming from Lewis and Boushay vineyards. It appears there is a step-father involved, too, 15% Grenache from Minnick Vineyard. This androgenous combination is smooth on the one hand and a little rough on the other. It will be interesting to see how it evolves. The 2006 Malbec is a beauty with a deep rich color and and great fruit. The 2006 Red Blend, named after artist Tsutakawa is a masterpiece - a totally awesome blend of the cinq cepages of Bordeaux - Cab Sauv, Merlot, Cab Frnac, Malbec and Petit Verdot.

Just up the hill is Walla Walla Vintners a consistent producer of reliable wines. The wines seem to be a little more tame than in the past. The Cab Franc used to be my fave, but this time around the 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Vineyard Select took the prize. The '07 Sangio blended with 14% Syrah and 9% Malbec was not bad either.

Even farther east is Spring Valley Vineyard, but they apparently have decided that they are too far out, so they have opened a tasting room right in downtown next to Trey Busch's Sleight of Hand winery. Spring Valley manages to turn out more than 5,000 cases of wine and still maintain consistently excellent quality. Uriah is usually my favorite from this winery, but this time it was surpassed by the deep dark, purple 2006 Frederick, a blend of the Bordeaux five. The 2006 Muleskinner, 100% Merlot, had a slightly too acid finish for my taste and the 2006 Nina Lee left me unmoved as it usually does.The 2006 Derby, 100% Cabernet Sauvignon,had a wonderful nose with round berry fruit flavors - delish. Winemaker Serge Laville makes fabulous wines, but one wonders how Spring Valley will sell five thousand cases at a $50 price point.

Back at the airport, we visited a French Chateau. Le Chateau Winery has a very impressive "Trompe d'Oeil", faux facade spread over a particularly long wall of an airport building. What fun! Unforunately, the winemaker seems to have achieved the same effect with his wines. With chateau level prices, they just don't seem worth it. The 2007 Castle White, a Sauvignon Blanc /Semillon blend was not bad. The 06 Sangiovese had a green quality I found unappealing. The 2005 Castle Red was not really fit for a king with it's hot finish. One questions the provenance of the 2006 Red Masterpiece. Was it really a Titian or just a copy. The giveaway? A hot finish. I don't believe these are remediable defects that will go away with ageing - too much acid and astringent tannins. The whole facade is enough to make you believe that the Emperor is wearing clothes, but is he? Well, yes, in one instance. The 2006 Cabernet Franc was well balanced with good fruit. This time Cab Franc was King instead of Cab Sauv.

We ended our trip East with a stop at Sygygy where Zack, a fellow New Yorker, still has all his astray bodies lined up in a straight line even though he no longer sell the thongs to put on those bodies. The three reds we tasted were all excellent with good fruit and lively interesting flavor profiles. The 2006 Columbia Valley Red, a blend of 56% Syrah, 20% Merlot, 13% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 11% Malbec was very smooth , friendly, interesting and a good value at $24.

Next up we go south to visit some old friends and two girls from Portland.

Wine Wednesdays At Intiman

I got an invite from fellow blogger, Lisa Halpern inviting me to experience Wine Wednesdays at Intiman this Wednesday the 22nd. I couldn't go, but you can! I get to go to the next one on September 9th - The Year Of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion. You can beat me to it! Don't miss the held over New York-acclaimed production of Othello and for a mere fifteen bucks extra you get to taste four wines from Washington winery Maryhill and hors d'oeuvres from Center House Bistro. You can probably make a pre-theatre meal of it. I 've always said that wine and the arts go together. Taste the art of the playwright and the winemaker in the same evening. To get tickets call 206-269-1900. Plan to arrive at 6:30. Let me know what you think.

Go East Young Man - I

Where did all those wineries west of Walla Walla come from. They came from the incubator, No, I'm not saying they are chickens. I'm saying some of them came from the "incubator" at the Walla Walla airport. The Port of Walla Walla has been offering space to new wineries for quite some time. Just east of where commercial flights actually land, most of the Quonset huts have been occupied by pioneering new winemakers. This is very convenient as you can get off a Horizon flight from Seattle in the morning head over to the wineries and fly back the same evening, but why wouldn't you want to linger to check out the more than one hundred wineries in Walla Walla. Recently, the Port decided to build a special new incubator putting up five new attractive wineries facing an open field at the end of the Quonset huts. Who are the special five? Cavu, Adamantine, Lodmell, Trio, and Kontos clockwise in the semicircle. The quality varies, but the spirit doesn't.

Cavu Cellars, as distinguished from Cavu Winery, a start up in California, appears to be a father/son operation. The '08 SB is balanced and well made, the '06 Horizon a blend of Cab Sauv juiced up with 7% Petite Verdot is fairly big and dynamic. The Barbera will not be released until August 2009. It is deep and dark, definitely a food wine, nowhere near as rough as some of the Italian versions can be - very appealing. The Cab Sauv will be released in 2010. The fruit comes from the Les Collines Vineyard in the Blue Mountain foothills. It's a real winner.

Adamant has lost its baby fat and is now a healthy two year old. It has become even more shapely and Adamant wines are selling out like hotcakes. I seem to have lost my notes on the wines, but trust me, you can't go wrong with one of Devin's wines. Devin's wife Deborah is a very talented artist. It appears they are both artists. Last year I said this was a winery to watch. You had better get on their mailing list.

Lodmell Cellars offered three wines - a balanced 2006 Sauv Blanc, a round strawberry-rhubarb flavored Rose, and a deep dark squid's ink 2006 Syrah with fruity, round ripe flavors and hints of spice, everything a Syrah should be.

Trio Vintners was founded by three winemakers who somehow seem to cooperate. This the best new kid on the block. We were introduced to Trio by our friend Mary who brought us a bottle of the 2006 Mourvedre - an authentic wine that reminded us of the Rhone and the south of France. All the other wines we tasted were of high quality. The 2007 Riesling was classic with striking peach flavors. The 2007 Rose was sweet tasting and pretty.The 2006 Sangiovese was round soft and very appealing. The 2006 Zinfandel was round and fruity. Altogether a winery to watch.

Kontos at two o'clock on the semi-circle offered four wines. Our favorite was the 2006 Boushay Syrah. Boushay Syrah is almost always more elegant and refined than most other Washington Syrah.

There are many more wineries at the airport. Eric Dunham, for example, has just not not been able to tear himself away. Next time we will visit other airport wineries including a chateau and then drive out east to aMaurice and a few others.

The World Is My Oyster

Living in Washington state, we are so fortunate to have such an abundance of fresh seafood, especially oysters. Once again the Taylor Shellfish Company announced the results of its annual Pacific Coast Oyster Wine Awards and, guess what, five out of ten wines were from Washington
and roughly two thirds of the judges were from California, San Francisco and L. A. to be specific. One hundred thirty-two wines were submitted, so one out of thirteen winners is not a bad ratio. The Taylor Shellfish Company itself is a winner with it's Totten Oysters and Kumomotos. The poor judges had to suffer only having Kumomotos to taste with the wine. Here are the 2009 Washington State winners.

2008 Airfield Estates Thunderbolt Sauvignon Blanc

2007 Cedargreen Sauvignon Blanc

2008 Ch. Ste. Michelle Pinot Gris

2007 Covey Run Pinot Grigio

2008 Hogue Pinot Grigio

What is an oyster wine? It seems that dry crisp, tart whites go best with the briny little bundles of flavor. That's probably why even California judges preferred the Washington State wines. With longer days, and less sunshine, it is easier to produce dry, crisp wines in Washington than in the sunshine state. We are talking here about raw oysters, an acquired taste for many of us, but worth acquiring. I think that a wider variety of white wines go with cooked oysters such as Oysters Rockefeller. Red wines with oysters seem to yield an unpleasant metallic taste. The good thing is both the Ch. Ste. Michelle and the Hogue wines are widely distributed around the U.S. and may even be available overseas. The bad thing is that they are not dry enough for my taste. Just to show that I am not a chauvinist, my favorite oyster wines come from France, Italy and Spain. Muscadet and Entre-Deux-Mers are my faves from from France. They are Sauvignon based and generally of good quality. Wines made from the Albarino grape in northwest Spain are also perfect with oysters, and the "real" original Pinot Griglio from Italy works well, too. The widely distributed Bella Serra Pinot Grigio is searingly dry for those who want something to rough up that oyster. BTW, as most of you know, Pinot Gris and Pinot Grigio are that same grape, although I think I've noticed that wines named Pinot Gris are less dry. As always you can drink anything you like with oysters. Buty or Amaurice Chardonnay are not bad with Kumomotos, for example. My favorite oysters, apart from Kumomotos, are our local Quilcenes, pleasure in a shell.

Jasnieres On Vashon

July 4th we had a great time with Maxine and Al. We started by visiting one of our favorite wineries - Palouse. Linda tasted us down the entire list starting with the '07 Viognier, an appealing wine with a hint of butterscotch added to the profile. Great with summer fare, fish and seafood. The '07 Riesling is classic off dry with a little more body than typical and the usual suspects in the flavor profile. The "Dynamique" name for the Cab Franc is clever pun combining the names of the two vineyards, Dineen & Meek from which the grapes were sourced.
Unfortunately, this bottle had a hint of that "prune" quality in the nose - a tip-off that the bottle has been open too long, but in the mouth there was good fruit accompanied by a hint of tobacco and chili pepper. The '05 Eclipse was it's usual good self, full of beautiful fruit. The '06 Solitaire was a little too bright for my taste, but good nevertheless. The "06 Ahh Syrah is sourced from three Yakima Valley vineyards - Portteus, Dineen, and Meek. One sip of this deep dark beauty will evoke oohs and ahhs. Although deep in color and big in the mouth, this is no monster, having that certain smoothness associated with Yakima Syrah. The 06' Cab Sauv is Linda's fave. She sure got it right! It's our fave, too! Sourced from Dineen Vineyard it another deep dark beauty full of exciting black fruit. With these two, George more than achieved his goal of "smooth, round and voluptuous." The '06 and '05 "Black Pearl" Petite Sirah are excellent, too, George's favorites, but they suffer by comparison with the outstanding 2004 Black Pearl. I guess Linda wins this round. The 100% Cabernet Sauvignon seems to be this year's winner.

What about Jasnieres, you say? What is Jasnieres? What's Jasnieres got to do with Vashon? What's the rolling hills of the Palouse got to do with Vashon, for that matter? Instead of checking out other wineries, we went to Vashon Thriftway which has a spectacular wine selection. This destination supermarket is worth a trip to the island, just to check out the wine. Of course, you might want to take your bike, too. Then you will save almost enough on the ferry fare to buy a bottle of Jasnieres at Thriftway. Since the 2006 Jasnieres from Pascal Janvier is a Kermit Lynch Selection distrubuted in the Seattle area, you can probably find it without the ferry trip. How fortunate, though to find it on Vashon. It was perfect with the beautiful salmon dinner Maxine prepared.

Ever since tasting Jasnieres at the font, at the Hermetagerie, near Grand Luce, in the Loire Valley, I have been searching despairingly for it in the states, and while the Jasnieres by Janviers isn't exactly Jasnieres by Gigou, the best IMHO, it is still quite wonderful. Made from the Chenin Blanc grape, it is so much drier than its more famous and flabbier cousin, Vouvray. The unusual combination of fruitiness and dryness is fascinating by itself and perfect with salmon. The Janviers finishes with just a hint of citrus which picks it up and will pick you up on a summer afternoon.

What ever happened to the rest of Walla Walla? Look for posts on the airport, the stateline area and others. Look for Back To The Future - Paso Robles, Foxen Road etc., in coming posts.

My Dinner With Catie

Dear Catie,

Thank you so much for a wonderful dinner at Brasserie Four. It was so good to see you. As usual, the conversation was great, the food was delish, and the wine interesting. Better to be at a simple bistro, than a pretentious wannabe like 26 Brix. You seemed to love your Croque Madame and although I craved the Duck pizza, it was not to be. The salad Nicoise was excellent although with my carb fears, there were too many potatoes. The Spanish Barbadillo was such an excellent dry white, and so inexpensive. At first I thought I was hallucinating, back at the old Nick's in McMinnville where wines were marked up only $8. Imagine - an $8 corkage fee. Well, Bistro Four actually seems to have reasonable prices and if you purchase to take home, you get ten per cent off, so , in effect, a ten percent corkage or markup in the restaurant - very reasonable! The service by Nathaniel was great, and while the menu is somewhat limited, this is a great place to eat at reasonable prices, don't you think? Christophe tells me that the owner is a single mom. She bought the place from the owner of Grapefields which was the previous incarnation of this venue where she had been chef. Great to see such entrepreneurship and guts, yes?

So, despite the good wine and food, the most interesting thing was our discussion of the next venue for the third annual Wine Bloggers Conference. This year is a repeat of Sonoma. Much as I would like to see my wine blogger friends, a return to the same old venue seems boring and why would I want to leave Seattle at the end of July which is the perfect time to be here. So you told me that there seems to be some sort of contest between Walla Walla and Woodinville for next years conference. I have to say, that, while there are excellent wineries in Woodinville , this would be a very limited sampling of Washington State wines and I don't actually know of a venue that can support a conference of 200 some odd participants in Woodinville, other than the Willows Lodge, but I don't believe they have the accommodations for 200 participants. Limiting the tastings to Woodinville would be a shame since that would exclude Quilceda, the South Seattle Artisan group, Yakima, Red Mountain and Walla Walla to say nothing of Snipes, Horse Heaven Hills, the Gorge, and Lake Chelan.

My first intro to Walla Walla was a Society of Wine Educators conference held at the Hilton in Bellevue, but there was a pre-conference trip to Tri-Cities and Walla Walla that was great. I think the best plan would be similar. A Bellevue or Seattle conference venue, but with extensive pre-conference side trips to SSAW, Yakima, Red Mountain, and Walla Walla. The Marcus Whitman in Walla Walla would be a great venue for a conference and there are more than enough motels for overflow. Maybe Christophe would volunteer to knock their socks off! There are so many great Walla Walla wineries, and besides, no one would get to see our fabulous Eastern Washington vineyards. After all, while there are close to a hundred excellent wineries in the Puget Sound area, all the the grapes come from eastern Washington. Holding the event in Woodinville would be like holding an event in Paris or a Bordeaux suburb without visiting the Medoc, St. Emilion, or Pomerol, for example. I look forward to a Wine Bloggers conference in Washington, but I do hope it won't be limited to one narrow corner of the state. Have fun at the second annual Wine Bloggers Conference in Sonoma and say hi to Joel for me.

Cheers,

Gene

The King Of The Stones

The king of pop may be dead, but the king of the stones lives. In fact, Christophe Baron rules both in his domain at Cayuse and in the surrounding cailloux ( French for stones). I must admit to a certain amount of skepticism about all the apparent hype and spin around Cayuse. Commenters on the Seattle Wine Blog argued that Les Cailloux and other Cayuse vineyards should be included in The Top Ten Washington State Vineyards at the same time complaining that Seven Hills is in Oregon. As Bob Tovey would say, common folks, which is it? All the Cayuse vineyards and the studio/atelier/winery are in Oregon even though Cayuse maintains a downtown Walla Walla presence and Christophe lives in Walla Walla, Washington.

Christophe very graciously received us at the studio, and finished regaling us with the official story already started by his able assistant, Trevor. Christophe comes from an old winemaking family in Champagne. Unfortunately, this Champagne is not available in the States. Christophe earned his stripes in Burgundy and came to the U.S. planning to make Pinot Noir in the Willamette Valley. He visited a friend in Walla Walla and "on his way" to the Willamette Valley, " just happened upon" the stony soil in the southwest quadrant of the Walla Walla AVA.

"Cailloux!", he exclaimed excitedly upon seeing the stony soil of the apple orchids along Sunneyside Road (Actually there were already plantings of grapes in the stones when Christophe arrived. The old Seven Hills vineyard, now called Wildrow was there along with some others). That was the beginning of the end for Christophe - no more Willamette Pinot for him. Roughly thirteen years ago he set down roots among the stones of Walla Walla AVA and has never looked back. I asked him if regretted not going on to the Willamette. His answer - not at all. I would have been just one of many Frenchmen making Pinot Noir in the Willamette Valley and here I am unique." Kathy Tovey remembered Christophe as a somewhat scrawny young man peddling his wine at a country fair in Oregon in the mid-90s. Christophe has come a long way since then.

Now, Christophe has a domain consisting of many vineyards, and has recently discovered "biodynamique." This suits him perfectly, since in its purest form, biodynamique is about an ecological microcosm, a self-sufficient domain. Christophe took us on a tour of his home base,
Armida Vineyard. He told us that he has 25 full-time permanent employees to maintain the vineyards and in the winery. Most of them probably work in the vineyards and in keeping with the sustainability ethos of Oregon they have health insurance. My guess is that, as usual, they are Hispanic , and to produce my own stereotype, hard-working. conscientious and productive. Walking on "cobblestones" trodden by others, one still has a wondrous sense of something "sauvage" and yet "pastorale." As we walked among the stones, Christophe regaled us with tales of his conquests in Walla Walla. Christophe told us that others had said he would break his machinery on such rocks, but the "Bionic Frog" persevered. Finally, we arrived at a plot of Grenache planted 3ft.X3ft. Rows with spaces not wide enough for most overweight Americans, let alone a motorized cultivator. Horses! Christophe will cultivate this plot with the help of several Belgian horses. Beyond this plot, piles of manure, excuse me, organic fertilizer.
And then, the producers of this fertile pile - les vaches (the cows). To the south, an organic cherry orchid rejected by commercial buyers because the cherries didn't conform to grade. Perhaps this is the best description of Christophe. He doesn't conform to grade. This non-conformist thinks and lives outside the box.

Back to the studio/atelier/winery. As we entered the "studio" we had a lively discussion of order and disorder. This was triggered by the incredible flying pig hanging from the ceiling of the winery. Starting with a pinata purchased by Christophe, his artist friend painted it over, adding two jet engines and other paraphernalia. Christophe insists they are Boeing engines and not Airbus. My guess is that Airbus represents the uptight, buttoned up, stultifying cadre of France with their inhibiting rule-bound society as opposed to the fresh air of America for a French person. Disorder is "necessaire" for creativity, originality and limnality. On the other hand, order is a necessary foil for disorder and it is necessary to define "a thing." So we enter the inner sanctum - a frigid place of order! Rows of barrels, "eggs," cement fermenters, neatly laid out. But many of the barrels are turned with their provenance and stats unavailable to the naked eye. Christophe is both ebullient and charismatic, on the one hand, and private and secretive, on the other.

As he explained early on, "terroir" is everything. He described himself as primarily a "vigneron," a grapegrower, but the implication was of an artist united with the soil (see my D.H. Lawrence quote on the masthead). Christophe, the artist, reminded me of Picasso and Gauguin. I asked him if he was a guardian of the vineyards. "Not at all! Maybe in a hundred years, in a thousand years." Now he is a pioneer, a discoverer, an explorer, an experimenter, an adventurer. Christophe has the personality of Lewis Hyde's "Trickster." Hermes, he is! Egoist, narcissist, yes, but his charisma is real, not some put-on persona. I once heard a French teacher describe her job as "seduire." To seduce, is to teach. Christophe is very seductive, very charismatic. A seller of Gentiane at a market in southwest France, once told us that his product would make anyone "drop his pants" or was it "her pants." That's Christophe!


You were wondering about the wine? Exceptional! These wines are giants. Bigger than most California wines, yet not jammy. Bigger than most Australian wines, yet not linear. Bigger than most French wine, yet not classic. Bigger than most Washington wines, yet not soft. These are big wines in big bottles, but really they are amazingly over the top, really nothing like them in intensity. Huge expansive wines, just like Christophe! How does Christophe do it? Apparently he has many secrets, but the most obvious trick is in the vineyard - keeping the yields low, dropping clusters down to five or six per vine, or in the case of the 3x3 Grenache maybe three per vine resulting in yields of significantly less than two tons per acre, like 1.2 or 1.5 tons per acre. This is amazing when you consider that three tons per acre is considered low by the mere mortals growing grapes in other vineyards.

From the cask - '06 Grenache - Armida, '06 Syrah -Armida, '06 Syrah -Cailloux, '08 Bionic Frog. The 2006 Armida Grenache is big, dark and inky, smelling of spices and tar, tasting of rhubarb and strawberry. A huge, smooth, seamless wine -plus d' agreable. 2008 Armida Syrah - incredibly dark, perfection in a bottle, deepest, darkest Walla Walla. The flagship Cailloux vineyard was founded in 1997 - super-intense, liquid tar, somewhat like the tar and roses of a traditional Barolo, but so much more intense. This is not your average aperatif, maybe an acquired taste. For me, incredible! The 2008 Bionic Frog blend is from the Coccinelle vineyard and has a pretty nose - complex, spicy and herbal, in the mouth - round, soft, seductive and approachable - closest to the gout Americain, thus very popular. BTW, Coccinelle means ladybug in French, but also is the name of a pioneering transsexual and a line of handbags.

From the bottle - 2007 Widowmaker, 2007 Bionic Frog, 2007 Impulsivo. The 2007 Widowmaker is a killer Cabernet Sauvignon from the En Chambertin vineyard. Once your man drinks this liquid cassis and blueberry pie that tastes like a spice rack, it won't be long 'til you get to finih the bottle in peace and quiet by yourself. The 2007 Bionic Frog is big, spicy and complex. The 2007 Impulsivo is 100% Tempranillo from the En Chambertin vineyard. Deep, black, incredibly intense, without being jammy. The beautiful image on the label says it all - the last tango, to die for, or from! Truly a tour de force.

Are the wines representative of the terroir. Without a doubt! They are so different from each other.. This was especially illustrated by four different Syrahs from four different vineyards. Are they only terroir? I don't think so. As usual, the winemaker has left his stamp, his signature, on the wine. Christophe is both a terroiriste and an artiste - a "vigneron!" Christophe's wines are gigantic like Christophe who is un geant de la terre. I was forced to read Giants In The Earth in high school and hated it. Now the name has served me well in describing this amazing French winemaker who has spread his seed in the fertile soil of Walla Walla. The "Rock" Star exceeded my expectations and his reputation. Stones R Us, or rather, Stones R Him.

Christophe tells me he has 4500 people on the waiting list, but I have a feeling people are dropping off the mailing list like flies due to the horrendous economy. Sign up, you never know, you might get to the head of the list faster than you think, and by that time maybe your finances may have recovered enough to be able to pay the price for a bottle paradise (or is it hell?) in a bottle. Trust me, it's worth it. Spend your last red cent on an impulse and die happy. Despite my reticence I was totally seduced by Christophe and his incredible wines. Cayuse rocks!

Go West - II

Okay, so this isn't so real-time, but it's still the latest poop on Walla Walla West. Graduates from the Walla Walla Airport incubator, tend to end up on Highway 12. Reininger and Cougar Crest are classic examples. In fact, it has seemed to me that Reininger went downhill when they moved, but recent evidence suggests a recovery. Cougar Crest seems to have made the move without ill effects. Waterbrook was never in the incubator and came up with some wonderful surprises - great values.

In the recent past, Reininger seemed to me to have lost its way. Apparently, highway 12 is disorienting. You can get wound up and twisted into a double helix. The Helix wines used to be great values, but at $30 a throw, that is no longer an accurate description. Nevertheless, many of Chuck's regular bottlings are quite interesting and delicious. The 2003 Cima, tasting a little old (or had it been open too long), was quite beautiful. The 2005 Merlot, despite the grapes from Pepper Bridge and Seven Hills vineyards, was light - enough to confirm "Miles" opinion of Merlot. The 2005 Cab Sauv had great fruit and tasted a little like what a Merlot should taste like. The 2008 Ash Hollow Syrah had nice tobacco and pepper notes. The 2006 Carmenere was probably the most interesting wine. As I read over this paragraph, it appears that I had a negative impression of Reininger wines. This is not true. Most of these wines had character and interest. Reininger survived the jinx of route 12 and Codi ably poured all these wines with a great running commentary on each. It was obvious that she is really into wine. She is a student at the enology program at the community college and I predict she will become a great winemaker in her own right in just a few years.

Deborah and Dave Hansen survived for the longest time in a "Quonset Hut" at the airport. So far, their move to route 12 seems to be liberating. Sooo much more space! Both have deep roots in Walla Walla and, in fact own several vineyards. They tore up apple orchids and own vineyards in the stones just over the border in Oregon to the west of highway 125. They sold a vineyard to finance their beautiful new winery on highway 12. Dave is a farmer, a vineyardist who is happiest on a tractor or a forklift. Deborah is an outstanding winemaker. Cougar Crest is one of the most consistent labels around. This is a great help in a restaurant when you are unsure what to order from the wine list. The 2006 Walla Walla Viognier is an outrageously good wine. Viognier at its best - dry, stony, with good subdued fruit - to my gout. The Grenache Rose is pleasant, a cut above most American Roses. Dedication is a delicious wine dedicated to the hospital that saved the life of Dave and Deborah's daughter after near fatal injuries. The 2006 Walla Walla Valley Anniversary Cuvee is fairly light , but totally great for chocoloholics. The 2006 Walla Walla Valley Cab Sauv is a delicious blend and the 2005 Walla Walla Syrah is an outstanding wine. Virtually all Cougar Crest wines are made from estate grown grapes. Since moving into their new digs on highway 12, Dave and Deborah couldn't quite let go of their original hut at the airport, so they've started producing a new line to sell there - Walla Walla River Winery. This is their opportunity to explore various varietals from grapes sourced from all around the Columbia Valley. I didn't get to taste these wines, but I'll bet they are good.

Waterbrook just opened a new winery on highway 12. This high tech building is spectacular and is home to Precept Brands in all of its manifestations. I must admit to not expecting much, but I was pleasantly surprised by the Melange Noir and White, to say nothing of the Sangiovese Rose and a perfectly typical, classic Riesling all at very reasonable prices. I found the higher priced wines to be somewhat disappointing for the price, but Waterbrook is producing some fabulous value with great price points.

So the western entrance to Walla Walla is a good introduction to Walla Walla wines, but the best is yet to come south of town and at the airport.

Go West Young Man!

Amazing! This is almost real time blogging from Walla Walla. Today we checked out wineries West of Walla Walla on Highway 12 as you come into town from Seattle. One could imagine a game of hopscotch among wineries trying to be the first to greet wine tourists on the road into Walla Walla. Such a game of musical chairs would be so 1990s, so California, but I can hardly imagine the down-to-earth folks of Walla Walla playing such a game. As it turns out Woodward Canyon is first and they have been there for quite a while, founded in 1981 by Rick Small.

Next up is L'Ecole #41, founded in 1983 by Marty Clubb. I got to talk with Marty about his newest interest - Ferguson vineyard, 18 acres above Pepper Bridge or was it Seven Hills. Like so many other winemakers he has been bitten by the "sustainability" bug.
As I tasted through L'Ecole wines, they all seemed lighter and friendlier(too friendly?) than they used to be, but it seems to me they used to have more character. The Semillons are less intense, the reds less deep. The Fries Vineyard Semillon goes with tuna. The 2008 "Walla Voila" Chenin Blanc shows lots of interest with a floral spicy nose, round and fruity body, and a hint of spice and citrus in the finish. Much more enjoyable than 99% of Chenin Blanc based Vouvray from the Loire Valley. The 2006 Walla Walla Cab has great fruit in the nose an is an altogether satisfying wine. The 2006 "Apogee" is the apogee of the the L'Ecole line up. Fortunately, the Perigee is not the perigee but not as wonderful as the Apogee. The 2006 Columbia Valley Syrah was pretty good, too.

Moving right along, we come to the new kid on the block - Glencorrie, owned by Ronn Coldiron and ably managed by Heidi Harrison. Wow! Awesome! Ronn is a geologist who runs a consulting firn in California. With the help of Charlie Hoppes, Glencorrie has fashioned it's first wines from Stillwater and Gamache grapes. The 2006 Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is a medium bodied wine with very appealing fruit and lots of character. It gets your attention. It stands out from so many ever so pleasant wines. As usual the Walla Walla version of Cab ( Widrow & Dwelley) is more upright, more serious - a good food wine. The 2006 Cuvee Marquis is the gem in the show - round, soft, but exciting! Sourced from multiple vineyards around the Columbia Valley. This is an up-and-comer. A winery to watch! The next new thing! Get on their mailing list. BTW, they are having an Open house June 29th in the evening. Call 509-525-2585.

Retailers Wake Up!

Retailers of the world, more specifically, of Washington and Arizona, wake up, you have nothing to lose but your sales. We have heard many reports of wineries increasing sales out of their tasting rooms, consumers ordering direct from the winery, because you are not carrying Washington state "boutique" wines that consumers want. It is time to think outside the box instead of hunkering down and folding up the tent. Follow in the footsteps of Kent Jeppesen at "the wine station." You are the bottleneck between eager consumers and eager wineries. Where are those Washington wine end displays? Right out in front of Australia? If you don't lower your prices and offer the wines that consumers want, you may be cut out of the loop. Cheers!

The Wine Station

Move over Trader Joe's, Costco, Total and Bevmo. Here comes the Wedgewood Shell Station! The what? Yeah, it's a gas station in northeast Seattle. What's a gas station got to do with wine? I told you you could find one of the best buys in the world, Columbia Crest "Two Vines" Chardonnay and Merlot, at gas stations all over Washington state, but Kent Jeppesen, owner of the Wedgewood Shell station (9501 NE 75th Street, phone 206-384-48440), has taken gas station wine sales to the next level. He had the business acumen to realize that wine has an excellent markup and that people want wine for under $10. When it comes to wine, you can get get anything you want, almost, at the Shell Station. Washington, Australia, France, Chile, you name it and chances are they have it. You may not be able to find the pepperoni or the chips, but you can find a decent quaff for the night at less than ten bucks. Kent keeps his prices right. He buys closeouts from distributors and sometime has a lower than normal markup to give you a good value. Soon, or maybe already, wine may contribute more to gross revenue and profit than that other necessity, gasoline, at the "Wine Station."

Best Strawberries

Living in Washington state, you can't help but become a strawberry lover. Of course, the best strawberries are local ones from places like Spooner Farm and Sakama farm. The season for these is a few scant weeks in June, but good strawberries can be had at other times of the year. When I am desperate for a strawberry, the overly firm, last forever, simulacrum from Watsonville will do, but if you want something with real flavor look to Mexico and other California venues. IMO, Santa Maria produces the most flavorful commercially grown fruit, followed by Santa Ynez, Oxnard and Salinas.

Strawberries are great by themselves and, of course, dipped in chocolate. Try strawberries with prosciutto or cold smoked salmon. Strawberries and semi-soft cheese are the perfect accompaniment to wine. Semisweet wines such as Riesling and Gewurztraminer work well, as do almost any dessert wines. I've never had a bad match with red or white wine, but a real Northwest eyeopener is Washington Strawberries and Oregon Pinot Noir, though I wouldn't object to a California Pinot or a Red Burgundy.

Best Airplane Wine?

Thunderbird or MD20/20? Well, not quite that bad. How many times have you ordered wine on a flight only to be disappointed? Even in First Class? The last wine I had in First Class was a not so first class Viognier from California. I vaguely recall having some good wine in Business Class many years ago. At least in steerage you can buy those little six ounce bottles. Water is probably a better choice and sometimes offered free on some airlines. Anyway, I decided to see which of those 187ml bottles offered the best chance of a decent quaff on a plane, not that you really have a choice on a given flight. We only tasted Chardonnay. Sutter Home was sweet and flabby. Gallo was acceptable. Delicato anything but delicate, but workable, Stone Cellar from Beringer was not bad at all, well balanced with a (oh, no!) slightly stony quality, and good fruit. BTW, This is available at Trader Joe's for only $3.99 ( four buck chuck ?) and it is a lot better than Charles Shaw Chardonnay. Too bad you can't BYOB. I am so far behind on my posts that I thought I would send this little post along just to remind you that I'm still in the game:)

FWC To Bailout Wine Industry

BULLETIN: FWC (Federal Wine Commission) to bailout wine industry. The FWC is a little known division of the Federal Reserve. Fiat will take control of Deageo and the Federal Government will own 60% of Constellation Brands. Deageo and Constellation will let go of over 50% of retailers and restaurants. Constellation will sell a significant portion of it's portfolio of wineries to buyers in China and Japan. Congressmen have complained of a lack of oversight, arbitrariness, unregulated rule by fiat, lack of clear and sound guidelines and criteria, and the impact on local communities. Some may have to drive more than 100 miles to get some wine. This will be beneficial to state budgets as the number of DWIs will increase. Goldman Sacks has indicated an interest in securitizing these debts (DWIs & DUIs), even under the regulation of the Federal Reserve (too bad Hank ain't around no more). A certain amount of wine in large formats with be held in Reserve for the Feds' own use. Already there has been a populist outcry over these outrageously oversized last minute bonuses.

On Wall Street there has been a huge rally in the stocks of American bucket manufacturers. In pre-market trading American Bucket(ABC), Kick The Bucket(KICK), and Bucket List(LIST), have risen 24%, 39%, and 103%, respectively. A little known earmark in fine print specifies that only American buckets from Arkansas and Kansas are to be used to drain the lake of wine in the U.S. resulting from excess inventories of cult wines and and wines priced at $14 and up. Like housing, there has recently been noted a slight increase in consumption by entry level buyers and those who have had to scale down during the "worst Recession since the Depression of the 1930s". Wines priced at the high end have suffered the greatest drop in sales and anyone who has a few bucks left can get on virtually any "list". "Allocated" wines can now be allocated to YOU, if you want them. Overseas, Asian and European bucket makers fell on the news. Several Asian CEOs and one French CEO kicked the bucket on the news. Interestingly, very few top level bucket makers had the decency to kick the bucket. Instead they seem to have taken out their bucket lists and are flying around the world checking off items at a rapid rate.

President Obama made it perfectly clear that he had no intention of nationalizing the wine industry or the bucket industry. He stated that it was necessary to bailout the wine industry because the country is drowning in a lake of high-priced wine. At his speech in Napa, he noted that roughly half of the countries in the world, including many Muslim countries, produce wine. He stated, unequivocally, that countries must abide by the Non-Proliferation Treaty and that, while no country could or should dictate the wine-growing behavior of another country, non-producing countries must sign the treaty and abide by its provisions. He also pointed out the absurd maze of state regulation and the intra-state attempts to coerce the behavior of individuals living in particular regions. He called for an end to the checkerboard of dry and wet counties found in some regions. Conservative Senators accused Obama of being unduly influenced by what they called a special interest group - Free The Grapes. Former Vice President Cheney virtually accused Free The Grapes of socialism and terrorism

Returning to the international arena, he said that the peaceful use of wine for domestic consumption enhances the GHP (Gross Happiness Product) of individuals and countries, but that threats of overproduction from rogue terroiristes are unacceptable and will be met with firm opposition by the international community. Terroiristes who turn in their plows will be welcomed into the community of nations. He expressed optimism that in the long run, the American wine industry could recapture it's lead by cutting prices and increasing innovation. He said that he understood the long suffering of the followers of Bacchus and Dionysus and history of hostility between them. He acknowledged how difficult it will be to overcome decades of cultism, but said that we must, and will, be guided by our moral obligations to do the right thing. While acknowledging the rights of teetotalers, he asked the world to unite in celebrating diversity, and asked us all, within the bounds of our various values and religious beliefs, to eat, drink, and be merry which is a universal human desire and a human right!

Conserve Water, Drink Wine

We were back to the old stompin' ground in Santa Barbara County, Los Olivos. We wanted to leave some time for the Foxen Santa Maria area, so we skipped Santa Ynez, Lompac/Buellton, and Solvang. We couldn't resist Los Olivos, but we really wanted to get to Foxen Road. No toilets, no water, just wine - that's Los Olivos. We skipped some old friends such as Consilience and Andrew Murray(rude reception). We always have fond memories of Andrew Murray Esperence, but wonder what it is like these days.

We started at Arthur Earl where the 2006 Viognier tasted like a peach tree with a little bark thrown in. Altogether a fruity, friendly wine, but, like most of its Olivos cousins, too fruity for my taste. I need some minerality and stoniness. The Rhone blend of Grenache, Counoise, Cinsaut and Syrah had a great nose with nice hints of vanilla in the flavor, but ultimately the lean mean taste of Counoise came through. The 2006 Tempranillo was a winner with a nose of cherry and Havana cigar.

Next a stop at Stolpman to pick up a wine club allocation for a friend. How agreeable the little red house just off the main street of Los Olivos . What a relief from the claustrophobic feel of the tasting room in Solvang surrounded by Scandinavian bric-a-brac stores - a Danish mortuary for great wine. The 2006 L'Avion has a deep golden color, almost russet, reminiscent of a big white Burgundy in style, structure and color, although, of course, the flavor profile is different since this is no Chardonnay, but a Rousanne with a touch of Viognier. The 2006 Grenache is beautiful, light and elegant - a good example of this style. We tasted two Syrahs, but the most interesting wine was the 2006 "La Croce" a cross between Syrah and Sangiovese. This seems to be a new trend in Los Olivos, the first of three such crosses.

Across the street at Carina Cellars we tasted wines created by winemaker Joe Tensley who also has his own line of wines. The 2007 Viognier had a subtle nose, followed by a round fruity peachy wine. Another fruity Viognier from Los Olivos. It's a style! We tasted several Syrahs - our favorites were the 2006 Terra Alta and the co-fermented 2006 "7 Percent" Syrah, that is, 7% Viognier, 93% Syrah.

At Coquelicot (kok - li -ko) Kerry very ably served up the offerings. The 2006 Estate Chardonnay was very light and perfumed - a good patio wine. The 2006 Estate Chardonnay was more classic, but still very fruity - flowers in a glass. The 2006 Estate Syrah tasted of roasted coffee. The very good 2006 Black Oak Vineyard Syrah was round balanced and flavorful. The 2006 "Mon Amour" Estate Bordeaux Blend was very lovable, round, fruity and perfumed - a come hither wine. The 2006 Estate Cabernet Franc was an odd C. F. with spice that might lead one to think of Syrah. The winemaker's notes say it tastes of roasted pasilla pepper, still an unusual , if not unpleasant, taste profile for a Cab Franc.

Qupe recently opened a new tasting room at the entrance to Los Olivos from the north. Stealthily manned by Ethan, one of owner Bob Lindquist's able winemaker sons, Ethan, quietly poured wines from Qupe, his father's wines, from Verdad, his step-mother's wines, and "Ethan" his own wines. He quietly recommended his brother Luke's wines at Tres Hermanas. The 2006 Verdad Rose was, good, but truly, the 2007 Verdad Albarino was even better. Fruitier than a Spanish Albarino, but still recognizable. The Qupe Roussanne was round and fruity, the Qupe Los Olivos Cuvee, a Syrah/Mourvedre blend, was light to medium-bodied, round, with good fruit. I have spent years searching for this wine in San Francisco ever since my son-in- law had a bottle and loved it. Ethan's 2006 Sangiovese was round, medium-bodied, and spicy - no lean mean Chianti, this one. Ethan's Cuvee Los Alamos Syrah was excellent, too. His father's Qupe 2006 Syrah from the Stolpman vineyard was really good, too, with a nose of black fruit and toast. In truth, this is a family of very talented winemakers. Es verdad! Truth telling even extends to the tasting notes offered. Just the facts, ma'am! Vineyards, grapes and ageing. That's it. No hype about "lead pencil and cassis." Just the data. They're not going to tell you what you "should" taste or try to influence you. You decide how it tastes to you and whether you like it or not. This is truly rare.

Since Longoria was just next door, I couldn't resist the opportunity to revisit an old friend. The 2007 Pinot Grigio was pleasantly balanced, the 2007 Cuvee June Rose was pleasingly dry. The nose of the 2006 Pinot Noir Bien Nacido, put me off, the nose of of the 2006 Clover Creek Syrah was toasty and appealing. The "06 Blues Cuvee was complex and jazzy. The 2006 Clover Creek Tempranillo was round, balanced and delish, but all of this was just a prelude to a mind-blowing wine - the 2006 Fe Ciega Vineyard Pinot Noir. This is from Rick Longoria' only estate vineyard. I had only one thing to say about this wine - "Fantasic!" Like Miles in "Sideways," I have spent years searching for truly great Pinot and have only found a few bottles in Burgundy and a few more in Oregon that satisfy me. This one is spectacular and worth every penny of its $54 price point. Well, it looks like we only left a few hours for the Foxen Santa Maria area but that's better than last time.

Best of Taste Washingon

• It's really unfair to name "Bests" of Taste Washington without tasting all of the wines, but who can taste through 800 some odd wines in four hours. Wines from many of the following outstanding wineries surely would have made the list: Amavi, Andrew Will, Baer, Barrage, Betz, Brian Carter, Buty, Cadence, Camaraderie, Darby, DeLille, Fall Line, Gorman, Hightower, Isenhower, L'Ecole, Nicolas Cole, Note Bene, O-S, Pepper Bridge, Reininger, Sheridan, Soos Creek, Spring Valley Vineyards, Syzygy, Willis Hall among others. So as usual these are really my faves among wines tasted:

• Best Of Show - Saviah "Une Vallee"
• Best Winemaker - James and Poppie Mantone
• Best Winery - Quilceda Creek
• Best New Winery - Barrage, Martinez & Martinez,
• Best Winery Name - Falling Rain
• Best Winery Architecture - Tertulia
• Best Wine Name - Recession Red
• Best Overall Quality - Januik, Novelty Hill
• Best Value - Gordon Bros.
• Best Puget Sound Winery - Palouse
• Best Woodinville Winery - Hestia
• Best Yakima Winery - Airfield
• Best Walla Walla Winery - aMaurice
• Best Cascade Winery - Vin Du Lac
• Best Riesling - Palouse
• Best Gewurztraminer - Sleight of Hand
• Best Chardonnay - Amaurice, Sparkman
• Best Viognier - Cougar Crest, Amaurice
• Best Red Blend - Adam's Bench, Balboa, Quilceda Creek
• Best Rhone Blend - Rotie Cellars
• Best Malbec - Amaurice, Beresan, Gifford Hirlinger
• Best Syrah - Hestia, Palouse, Saviah, Syncline, Walter Dacon
• Best Mourvedre - Syncline, Trio
• Best Cabernet Sauvignon - Dusted Valley, Hestia

Taste Washington Seattle

Back to Taste Washington. Let's try doing this in alphabetical order. Airfield Estates has been growing grapes for a while. Recently Marcus Miller has started making wines that are appealing and reasonably priced. Anna Schafer, continues to make outstanding wine at aMaurice Cellars. Both the 2006 Viognier and Chardonnay have a stony European quality. The Malbec is fabulous. Balboa wines have been friendly "value" wines, but now they are going upscale with "Mith" the outstanding Sayulta from Walla Walla grapes, but is this the time to start offering $40 bottles. I guess we will see. It seems to me that Beresen wines fell off a little this year, but not the 2006 Malbec. Everyone seems to be hitting home runs with Malbec. Caderetta had a nice Merlot. Chad at Dusted Valley ventured into the high end with an outstanding '06 Reserve Cab for $45. The 2007 Stained Tooth Syrah is always good at $24. Gifford Hirlinger came up with another really good Malbec. All of the wines from newcomer Gilstrap were excellent.

The 2007 Riesling from Palouse was light and balanced. The 2006 "Ahh" Syrah brought "oohs and aahs" as did the Cab Franc and the Cab Sauv. All of the Ponum and Ponder wines were excellent. Quilceda Creek 2006 Red Wine - "That's really good!" The Saviah 2006 Reserve Syrah was excellent, but the 2006 "Une Vallee" Red Wine was outstanding - velvety and smooth! Once again, Trey Busch worked his magic with the 2007 "The Magician" Gewurz and the "Spellbinder" Red Blend. Chris Sparkman's 2007 "Lumiere" Chardonnay will light up your life and lighten your burdens. The 2007 Syncline Mourvedre from Horse Heaven Hills is heavenly and since Syncline is biodynamique should help you get centered in your life. The trio of winemakers at Trio Vintners made an outstanding Rhone Style Mourvedre that is delightfully rustique and reminiscent of southern French wine. It appears that virtually all of Larry Lehmbecker's wines have won awards for their friendly unoaked style. Newcomer Ward Johnson's Cab Blend was worthy and of course, Lloyd Andersen's Walter Dacon Syrahs were all big fruity, jammy and delish as always. I alway seem to prefer to prefer the C'est Syrah Belle.

Four hours is just not enough time to do justice to so many outstanding winemakers, wineries, and vineyards, but Taste Washington is a great way to discover new wineries and find out which wines you really like. I've often said that the only way to buy wine is to taste it yourself at the winery. At Taste Washington the wineries bring the wine to you all in the same place making it easy to choose your faves for the year.

Woodinville Passport

This year we did Passport in a day. To do this, we had to skip some good ol'boys, some old new wineries and lots of good friends. Brian Carter was mobbed as were Red Sky and Edmonds. DeLille, Betz and Gorman were closed. We tasted Sparkman and Efeste at Taste Washington Phoenix. We tasted Ponum and Pondera at Taste Washington Seattle. So we sandwiched everything else between two truly outstanding new wineries. We started early at Adam's Bench and finished late at Hestia. In between we checked out wineries with great wines, great wine names, and great marketing.

We also got greater clarity about some complicated relationships among winery names and product lines. Smasne, for example, also produces Alma Terra, Gard and Farmer Boy wines. Alexandria Nicole has a second line called Altered States Of Wine. Their unoaked Girl Next Door Chardonnay was quite good. The John Pattersons, father and son, seem to be shifting their winery name from Washington Wine Company to Patterson Cellars. They had cool music ( lots of people dancing), cool names like Big F'n Syrah and Recession Red. The Syrah was F'n Amazing and so is the price. In addition to Recession Red they are offering a "stimulus package". They have yet to offer "Crash", "Crisis", "Flaw", "Bailout", "Bonus", "Made-Off", "Greenspan Grenache", "Geithner's Unpaid Tax ", or "Bernacke Bordeaux Blend", but they are off to a good start.

Guardian Cellars offered their 2006 Syrah with pleasing soft cherry flavors. Darby English offered Chaos and Purple Haze. I was particularly fond of the Purple Haze. I sorely missed the Deuce Viognier/ Chard which will be released in a couple of months. Steve Snyder is having trouble with his plantings of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, but made fine light, tart, Roussanne from Horse Heaven Hills grapes. XSV wines were better this year. The 2003 Chardonnay seemed overoaked, but very French. the '03 Syrah from Horse Heaven Hills was unusually spicy and interesting. the '03 Cab was balanced, soft with good fruit.

The only new winery for me was Barrage a cross between barn and garage. Kevin Correll started making wine in a garage, thus earning his "Diplome Garagiste." He also has a certificate from U.C. Davis. In keeping with the style set by the gang in the hood, Kevin has a barrage of quirky, explosive names such as Nuclear Blonde, Trifecta, Secret Weapon and Alias. The wines are excellent with lots of character. Kevin figures with so many excellent winemakers around, he needs to do something a little bit different.

Adam's Bench, last year's next new thing, is still going strong thanks to the winemaking skills of owners Tim and Erica Blue. You had better get on their list before they are discovered. It is no myth that the 2007 Myth is an excellent wine. The barrel sample of this 50/50 Cab Franc & Merlot that we tasted was loaded with fruit, but had a slightly hot finish that should go away with bottling and a little age. I preferred the 2007 Reckoning, a blend of 48% Merlot, 38% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Cabernet Franc, in other words, a Bordeaux style blend. Beautiful black berry fruit. The 2006, being a year older is rounder and softer. Love them both! The 2006 Reserve Cab, aka, "The V", is another beautifully balanced Bordeaux style blend predominantly Cab Sauv(75%) with 23% Merlot and 2% Cab Franc blended in, more in the style of a left bank Paulliac. There also are a 2007 100% Red Willow Cab and an '07 "V" still in barrel. The '07 "V" has an incredible pedigree with fruit from Stillwater Vineyard and Discovery Vineyard. Discovery provides fruit to some of the best wineries in the state - Quilceda Creek and Andrew Will. Did you miss the Leonetti and Quilceda mailing lists? Here's an opportunity to get great wine at reasonable prices. You would pay twice as much for comparable Napa wine and moreyhan three times as much for Bordeaux.

We closed our session with an after hours visit to Hestia Cellars. Hestia is the Greek Goddess of home and hearth, but, trust me, there is nothing homely about winemaker Shannon Jones's wines. Shannon has acheived that magical trick of creating a wine both smooth and seemless, but big and full. Most of his wines are marked by deep purple colors followed by big rich fruit. Perhaps the winery should have been named after Hermes, the trickster, rather than placid Hestia. In any event this is definitely a "go to" winery, My faves are the Cab and the Syrah which would have getten scores of 91 and 93, if I were into scores

The boys and girls in the hood are doing a fine job. The whole hood is just F'n amazing. And so close to Seattle. Just think, you can save hundreds, if not thousands of dollars by just driving a few miles to Woodinville, instead of the Napa Valley. Then you can use your savings to buy wine instead :)