|
| |
WASHINGTON STATE WINES
- WOODWARD CANYON
 With its founding in 1981, Woodward Canyon started as an outgrowth of
the Small family's farming activities. They raised cattle and grew wheat.
Vineyards were planted in the late 1970s. The "winery" building (an old
machine shop) would never lead one to expect this place was the source of such
exceptional wines. This is proof of the old adage "Never judge a book by its
cover." Winemaker Rick Small is a big proponent of locally-grown, Walla
Walla-area fruit.
Over the years, Woodward Canyon has been one of the leaders in Washington
State wines and the quality of their products has remained consistently
good. We always look forward to tasting (and drinking) Small's wines.
Today the winery makes quite a range of wines, even dabbling in Piemontese
varieties such as Dolcetto and Barbera! But for the most part,
Cabernet and Merlot are the main items of interest.
-
Currently in the shop is the 2007 Artist Series Cabernet, this one having one
percent Petit Verdot in the mix. It's 79% from the Champoux Vineyard,
20% from the Sagemoor Vineyard and has one percent Woodward Canyon Estate
Vineyard fruit. Rick says he's used a bit less new oak for this vintage, but
we still find a terrific cedary quality and it's beautifully balanced.
You can open this tonight, if you like and it will last another decade, or
so.
-
This is a major, world-class property.
- Currently available:
2007 "Artist Series" Cabernet Sauvignon $37.99
- L'ECOLE 41
 Located in the Walla Walla town of Lowden, this
place was once called Frenchtown. The winery was founded in 1983 by the Ferguson family in
an old school. Marty Clubb, son-in-law of the Fergusons, is the winemaker. Early efforts
didn't impress us much, but in the 1990s this label has vaulted into one of the
top properties in Washington.
Clubb is a partner in a major vineyard project,
assuring L'Ecole No. 41 of a source of good quality fruit. The old school used to cellar all the production, but as the winemaking has improved, the
production has grown. A new winery facility sits behind the neatly-manicured,
immaculately-kept old school building.
They make a good, barrel-fermented Semillon. Three bottlings are
currently offered, the
"regular" one being our choice typically as it has a bit more fruit and just the right
amount of oak. We have the 2008 Semillon in stock presently, a
wine which has 11% Sauvignon Blanc in the blend. It's a lovely dry
white with medium-body and it has some nice character...a touch of the waxy
notes we look for in good Semillon wines.
Also very fine are the Cabernets and Merlots. They make a proprietary red called Apogee, a
blend of Merlot and Cabernet. These wines easily compare with top California wines.
We have the 2006 Columbia Valley Merlot in stock presently. It comes
from a number of vineyards, including a bit of their estate-grown
fruit. The blend is 80% Merlot, 11% Cabernet Franc, 3% Cabernet
Sauvignon and 6% Petit Verdot. One-third of the barrels were
new. This is a rather smooth, soft Merlot and the acidity is a shade
or two lower than normal. While it may not be a wine for drinking in
ten years, it is rather nice presently and likely to remain in good shape
for 3 or 4 more years.
Currently in stock: 2006 L'ECOLE 41 Columbia Valley Merlot $29.99
2008 L'ECOLE 41 Columbia Valley Semillon $13.99-
-
-
WALLA WALLA VINTNERS
 Two
former home winemakers say they tried every trick in the book before
embarking on a commercial wine adventure.
Gordon Venneri's background is in accounting, while his pal, Dr. Myles
Anderson, is a professor of psychology. You might expect someone with
the name of Venneri might be of Italian heritage and you'd be correct.
After a trip to Italy in the early 1980s, Venneri and Anderson embarked on a
home winemaking project. -
- Armed with Philip Wagner's guide to winemaking, the pair did their best to
create satisfying wines for their own amusement.
-
 They
had a small press, designed for making tiny quantities of apple cider, to
help them make wine. Yeasts and other bits of chemistry came from a
local pharmacy. And necessity being the mother of invention, these
fellows use old Coke syrup kegs, plastic buckets and old beer kegs to
ferment and age their wines. They dabbled with oak chips and old,
discarded barrels in making their wines.
Eventually they purchased a brand new oak barrel...a 30 gallon container
and, Voila! Or, Walla! (as some people say it)...the results of aging
their Cabernet in a brand new oak barrel were encouraging and they bought
more cooperage and finally, things spiraled out of control until one day
they opened their own commercial winery.
They credit all their trial-and-error enological experiences with providing
a good winemaking background for producing wine today.
Dr. Anderson founded the wine school at the local community college.
It's called the Institute of Enology and Viticulture and it's part of the
Walla Walla Community College. -
- With the 1995 vintage, Walla Walla Vintners was born as a professional,
commercial winery. And the winery is a "red wine"
winery. They do not produce any Chardonnay (and probably deserve a
medal for that).
We have limited experience with their wines. A recent taste of a 2007
Cabernet Franc was pleasantly shocking. This is a wine we seldom find
to be exceptional. Sure, we like Loire Valley Cabernet Franc wines,
but they're balanced (as a general rule). Most American attempts with
this grape err on making a wine that's too big and attempting to be
"too important" (meaning too much like Cabernet Sauvignon).
These, for our tastes seem unbalanced, so we we delighted to taste this wine
and it's a beauty!
The 2008 vintage Cabernet Franc was tempered with 12% Merlot & 3%
Cabernet Sauvignon and it's a
delight, showing dark fruits and some woodsy, cedary oak notes. The
wine is medium-full on the palate and the tannin level seems just
right...drinkable now and you can probably hold onto it for a few more
years. It's a fine stand-in for a Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot with
grilled or roasted red meats.
We included a Cabernet Sauvignon from this estate into a July blind-tasting
of Washington State wines and it finished in first place. I liked the
Leonetti better, though it's two-and-a-half times as costly! Anyway,
these guys are now on our "radar" and we'll keep tabs on them.
-
- Currently in stock: 2009 WALLA WALLA VINTNERS Columbia Valley
CABERNET FRANC $27.99
-
POET'S LEAP
 This is a label
from the Long Shadows project, a series of wines made by vintners who do,
indeed, cast a long shadow.
Allen Shoup, who used to head Stimson Lane (the Chateau Ste. Michelle group
of wine brands), has a stable of famous winemakers collaborating to produce
Washington State wine. These include Michel Rolland from Bordeaux,
Randy Dunn from Napa, Australia's John Duval (he's been making a wine called
Grange for a little winery called Penfolds--see below) and Augustin Huneeus &
Philippe Melka who are based in Napa these days.
Poet's Leap is the work of Armin Diel, a famous German winemaker and wine
expert. Diel co-authors the guide to German wines,
Gault-Millau's annual  WeinGuide
Deutschland.
Of course, his own wines are not critiqued, but all the top estates in
Germany are profiled and their wines assessed.
Diel's own wines are excellent...he has to set a good example for others, of
course. And in years of visiting German wineries, I have never heard a
bad word about Diel as a critic or winemaker. (Unlike the lambasting one
hears from California vintners about the likes of American wine critics!)
The 2009 vintage Riesling is in the shop, an excellent American Riesling by
any measure. The wine comes from three vineyard sites in Washington
State. The wine captures nice fruity, floral tones along with a bit of
a citrusy tang. There's about off-dry with less sweetness than
previous vintages, though the wine is
balanced so that it finishes crisply and is not cloying. -
- Currently in stock: 2009 Poet's Leap Columbia Valley Riesling Sale
$19.99
-
- SEQUEL
 Allen
Shoup enticed Australian winemaker John Duval to come to Washington State
when he's not busy making Penfolds' "Grange" and make a wine in
the States.
Duval's wine is dubbed "Sequel" and while it would be tempting to
say it's the equal of Penfolds' Grange, that would be building up one's
expectations to nearly unreachable levels.
Coming over to visit the vineyards during the growing season, Duval sized up
various vineyard parcels. The sources seem to have changed quite
a bit from 2004 to 2005...and
they're a bit coy in
revealing information about the vinification, but then the wine was matured
in both French and American oak. Duval was then able to select his
favorite barrels and assemble the final blend. The wine is 96% Syrah
and 4% Cabernet.
We find lots of nice dark fruit notes to the wine. It's certainly not
a ringer for a French Rhône wine, but nor is it particularly reminiscent of
Aussie Shiraz. There's a nice bit of wood here, but I don't find it as
hugely oaky as a Grange, for example. It's also not as ripe as some
vintages of Grange, either. Still, it's pretty nice West Coast
Syrah.
Currently in stock: 2005 Sequel Washington State Syrah SALE
$55.99
-
-
CHESTER KIDDER This is
another wine in the Long Shadows' portfolio (see Poet's Leap and Sequel,
above)...
The venture features "celebrity" winemakers, hoping they can
produce some of their "magic" on foreign turf in Washington state.
While other wines are produced using the names of Michel Rolland, Philippe
Melka, Armin Diel and Randy Dunn, the Chester Kidder wine is made by a
fellow who's not regarded as an "eno-celebrity," but who's making
wine which may be superior to those of the various luminaries.
Gilles Nicault attended the University of Avignon in France's Rhone
Valley. He came to the US and took a job at Staton Hills in the Yakima
Valley. We met him years ago when he was working for Rick Small at
Woodward Canyon (aha! So that's where he learned how to make Cabernet
and Merlot!!). These days he's in charge of the cellar at Long Shadows
and we surmise it's Gilles who casts the longest shadow.
The Chester Kidder wine is a brand dreamed up by winery owner (and former
Ste. Michelle bigwig) Allen Shoup. Shoup's grandpappy was named
Charles Chester and granny was Maggie Kidder.
The stated goal is to "make a wine illustrating how good a Washington
State red wine can be." I'd say "yeah, yeah, yeah" in
my usual skeptical fashion. I'm not from Missouri, but I still always
say "show me."
The 2006 is gorgeous. It's a marvelous blend of 45% Cabernet
Sauvignon, 36% Syrah and 10% Petit Verdot and 9% Cabernet Franc. The wine
spent more than two years in oak, mostly French. We like the dusty
cocoa notes and the gorgeous black fruit elements. The wine is
full-bodied and complex...great nose as it's developing beautifully in
bottle. If you have fifty bucks to splurge on a bottle of Washington
Red, I'd either go with a Woodward Canyon Cabernet or this beauty.
Currently in stock: 2006 CHESTER KIDDER Columbia Valley RED
WINE $49.99
2006 CHESTER KIDDER Magnum Sale $99.99
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
SEVEN HILLS
 - The Seven Hills winery has been around since the late 1980s. It's
not one of these new start-ups, founded by a wealthy industrialist,
recording industry mogul or high tech, internet geek.
Casey McClellan was actually raised in Walla Walla, Washington and he's the
fourth generation of the family. His father planted the Seven Hills
vineyards and Casey went on to study at UC Davis before starting the winery.
We found their Viognier to be especially good, though Merlot is also a good
offering from Seven Hills. The Viognier is grown by the Talcott
Vineyards and the juice is fermented in oak, though you have to really
search for wood in this wine. The peach-like fruit comes up at the
start and there's a faintly stony note along the edges. It's dry and
reasonably crisp, avoiding the flat and ponderous characteristics of many
West Coast Viognier wines.
And while many vintners view Viognier as a bit of artistry and price the
wine accordingly, Seven Hills' wine carries a sensible price tag.
-
- Currently in stock: 2009 SEVEN HILLS Columbia Valley
VIOGNIER $17.99
-
MORE WASHINGTON WINES
 |
TO
INQUIRE ABOUT A WINE: