Sauced

Washington Gets Fifth Master Sommelier

Thomas Price passes Court of Master Sommelier master exam.

Posted by: Julie H. Case on May 23, 2012 at 03:45PM 0 Comments

Photo by Courtney Perry

The Metropolitan Grill’s Thomas Price got some fancy new bling today when it was announced he had passed the exceptionally rigorous Court of Master Sommeliers master’s exam. The gold pin he’s now sporting signifies he’s among fewer than 200 other men and women around the world to earn the title of Master Sommelier. Nearly 600 have tried.

Before today only four other Washingtonians—Gramercy’s Greg Harrington (who also serves as chairman of the Court), Canlis and Washington Wine Commission alum Shayn Bjornholm, the Fairmont’s Joseph Linder, and Pasco’s Angelo Taverno —held the distinction of Master Sommelier.

In order to even sit for the master sommelier diploma exam, candidates must have first completed an introductory course and passed the certified and advanced sommelier exams. The master’s exam consists of three parts: an theory examination, a practical wine service examination, and a blind tasting of six wines. During the tasting, the candidate has 25 minutes to identify the vintage, grape variety(s), country, region and appellation of the wine. From 2003 to 2011, the pass rate for the exam has been as low as 3.5 percent and as high as 16 percent. Averaged out, fewer than 12 percent of candidates pass the exam.

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Tags: Wine, Behind the bar, Sommelier stuff, News You Can Drink, Awards and Accolades, Wine Wednesday, Metropolitan Grill, Thomas Price,

Crush and Blush

Everything’s rosé when Washington puts the squeeze on some typically Italian varietals.

Posted by: Julie H. Case on May 23, 2012 at 09:00AM 0 Comments

So pink…

On the heels of last week’s massive tasting of grenaches, cabernet francs and malbec rosés come some versions made with locally grown grapes traditional to Italy—namely one barbera and a handful of sangiovese—as our monthlong celebration of rosé continues.

And if I said that I doubted a sommelier in town could identify multiple different varietals in a blind tasting of rosés, I may have proven myself wrong this week. First off, with the exception of a renegade or two, the wines were primarily all the same color—some shade of 1980s pink. Also, these wines tended to be a bit leaner, a bit less fruity but much more floral.

2011 Barbera Rosé, Alder Ridge Vineyard (Horse Heaven Hills)
Cavu Cellars (Walla Walla)
Some wines are like little crushes that you don’t want to inspect too carefully for fear you’ll find a wart, some inconsequential little tic, a bad habit, perhaps, that will force you to abandon the flicker of hope playing itself out at the corner of your mind and face reality, warts and all. That’s how I feel about the Cavu that ends up in my glass on a rather dreary May day.
In the Glass: It’s girly pink—hedging toward cotton candy.
On the Nose: There’s a slight stony minerality and note of flower petals, as well as a hint of white flowers that conjures baby’s breath, although likely baby’s breath doesn’t smell like anything at all. Plus, there’s a hint of light raspberry and a little cherry.
On the Palate: Hold it in your mouth and you can absorb the light yet vaguely (very, very vague, like a wink you aren’t sure really happened) creamy mouthfeel that gives this wine a touch of weight. There are herbs here, too, and more flower petals. The wine has minerality and even a hint of graphite that all leads to tart cherries and a hint of melon, as well as violets.
Drink: In the sun, when you’re trying to impress a stubborn friend.
Price: $20

Sangiovese Rosé (Columbia Valley)
Waterbrook
In the Glass: Bright pink.
On the Nose: Slight matchstick, herbs, very light strawberry and watermelon.
On the Palate: Crisp, with a slight stewed fruit note as well as bright red fruits and a hint of tart cherry. Nimble.
Drink: Happily chilled.
Price: $12

2010 Rosé (Yakima Valley)
Skylite Cellars (Walla Walla)
In the Glass: Bright pink.
On the Nose: Herbs, lots of violets, slight orange zest, cherry, raspberry, slight lemon curd.
On the Palate: There comes raspberry, melon, violets, a little cherry, dried herbs and some minerality.
Drink: Chilled.
Price: $18

Terroir 2011 Sangiovese Rosato (Horse Heaven Hills)
The Hogue Cellars
In the Glass: Bright pink.
On the Nose: The violets here stand out, as do some lighter fruits—think pear—and hints of red fruit as well as dried herb, and a bit of licorice.
On the Palate: Again, lots of violets, as well as some dried herb, light cherry, and ripe pear.
Drink: At your leisure.
Price: $18

2010 Rosé of Sangiovese (Columbia Valley)
Maryhill Winery
In the Glass: Bright pink, headed toward orange.
On the Nose: Lime leaf, pink grapefruit, tart cherry, dried herbs, hint of raspberry, licorice.
On the Palate: This wine is well balanced. It’s accessible but not flat, but also not overwhelmed with fruit. There are herbs, here, lots of violets, tart cherry, melon, young raspberry and a bit of grapefruit.
Drink: While listening to a concert overlooking the Columbia River, or in your backyard with the music on, while imagining yourself at a concert with a view.
Price: $14

2011 Estate Sangiovese Rosé
Zerba Cellars (Walla Walla)
In the Glass: The wine hovered at Malibu, somewhere between pink and orange.
On the Nose: Strawberry, cantaloupe, violets. There’s a lot of herbaciousness here, as well as a slight bit of honey.
On the Palate: The wine was honeyed with melon, raspberry, white flowers, violets, herbs and dried grass as well as a hint of Rainier cherry and matchstick.
Drink: To convince the sun to come out.
Price: $20

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Tags: Wine, Washington Wines, Wine Wednesday, Rosé

Eight Ways to Make You Blush

Climbing in the glass with three varietals of Washington rosé

Posted by: Julie H. Case on May 16, 2012 at 02:15PM 0 Comments

On the heels of our declaration that May is rosé month here on Sauced, I sat down with nine blushing bottles of single varietals: This week we examine some Washington-produced malbec, grenache, and cabernet franc.

Before going deeply into what I discovered, a few things to note. After sorting the wines by varietal, I stuck them in paper bags, mixed them up, and poured. I wanted to taste these wines blind. Also, I served them at about 50 degrees on an 80-degree Seattle day.

One of the most interesting discoveries was how the higher acid level of the cab francs served as a balance for higher sugar levels, though none of these wines could be considered austere. And while this week’s tasting was dedicated to malbec, grenache and cab franc rosé, more single varietals—sangiovese, mouvedre, and syrah and such—as well as a host of blends will be tasted and featured in weeks to come. Here, a look at one malbec, two grenaches, and five cab francs currently hitting the shelves at local wine stores.

ONE MALBEC

2011 Malbec Rosé
Sleeping Dog Wines (Yakima Valley)

In the Glass: Cherry-juice red (likely because it spent 20 hours on the skins).
On the Nose: There’s a bit of raspberry and slight black cherry, as well as wet red fruit and a bit of acetone.
On the Palate: Luckily, there’s a fair amount of acid here, which almost balances the wine’s syrupy flavor. This is what you get when your cherry Jolly Ranchers bump into the tart acidity of a green apple Jolly Rancher.
Drink: On ice or with that bucket of sand.
Price: $16

TWO GRENACHES

2011 Grenache Rosé, Alder Ridge Vineyard (Horse Heaven Hills)
L’Ecole No 41 (Walla Walla)

In the Glass: I can’t decide if this wine wants to be orange, or Malibu pink.
On the Nose: There’s a delightful wet rock smell and minerality, maybe even a slight yeasty note, as well as a little black olive. The fruits here are red and slightly stewed.
On the Palate: Where the nose is exceptionally lean, the palate is full of young black cherries and some ripe strawberries, as well as a hint of lavender and other floral notes. The acidity balances the fruit.
Drink: With friends, not your grandma.
Price: $19

Vintage 2010 Grenache Rosé (Columbia Valley)
Apex Cellars (Prosser/Woodinville)

In the Glass: Copper River Salmon pink.
On the Nose: Raspberry and cranberry and strawberries meet (along with a little acetone) under a dusting of minerality, which disappears after the wine has been open a while.
On the Palate: The wine has a vaguely creamy mouthfeel and is full of barely ripe strawberry, a little cranberry, a hint of stewed fruits and some tart acidity, which balances the juicy fruits, though still cannot be considered lean or austere.
Drink: Chilled, with light foods.
Price: $12

FIVE CAB FRANCS

2011 Washington Pearlesent Cabernet Franc Rosé (Rattlesnake Hills)
Palouse Winery (Vashon)

In the Glass: The minute it spills into my glass I want to love this wine, for its elegant little color alone. This is the palest rosé in the group, a platinum pink that reminds me of the 14K red gold braided into a sorority girl’s ring There’s a bubble or two in the glass, though not on the palate.
On the Nose: Hello, watermelon! Hello, freshly fallen cool rain on green grass! Hello, barely ripe cranberry and under ripe raspberry. Hello again, watermelon.
On the Palate: The slight herbacous character here gives way to white flower, raspberry and rhubarb. It’s lean and tasty and the acidity balances the fruit nicely.
Drink: Without really knowing why, I am inclined to serve this with an avocado drizzled in olive oil.
Price: $25

2011 Walla Walla Valley Cabernet Franc Rosé
Amavi Cellars (Walla Walla)

In the Glass: Again, we have that Copper River Salmon color which here, really leans toward orange.
On the Nose: There’s wet stone here, as well as lead or graphite notes and a minerality, followed by just a whiff of rosemary. Then, it gives way to cranberry, under ripe raspberry, and watermelon.
On the Palate: The bracing acidity is balanced by a moderately rich mouthfeel. There’s that hint of smoke and graphite—some good minerality—as well as cranberry, slight vegetal notes, light raspberry, strawberry and watermelon. There’s a bit of perfume highlighted here, too.
Drink: Chilled, in the sun, with friends.
Price: $21

The Magician’s Assistant 2011 Blackrock Vineyard Cabernet Franc Rosé
Sleight of Hand Cellars (Walla Walla)

In the Glass: Coral
On the Nose: A slight whiff of exceptionally ripe strawberries and melon gives way to a hint of wet rock minerality and maybe even a trace of smoke before landing on raspberries.
On the Palate: The wine’s high acidity and lighter mouthfeel balance its raspberry and cranberry fruits. There’s a hint of lavender here, too.
Drink: Refreshingly chilled, but not ice cold.
Price: $18

2011 Cabernet Franc Rosé (Columbia Valley)
Trust Cellars (Walla Walla)

In the Glass: Malibu. Somewhere between orange and pink.
On the Nose: A balsamic nose is layered over überfresh watermelon.
On the Palate: Luckily, cab franc’s acidity is here, since this wine is packed with honeydew melon, Starburst candy, and raspberry. There’s a hint of herbaceousness, but it’s deep beneath that basket basket of ripe fruit.
Drink: Cold.
Price: $18

2011 Rosey Outlook Rosé of Cabernet Franc
Tefft Cellars (Yakima Valley)

In the Glass: Medium light pink.
On the Nose: I immediately want to love this wine for the bracing acidity on the nose. There’s fresh grass here, and lime leaf, followed by cranberry, under ripe raspberry and perhaps even a whiff of pith.
On the Palate: The nose belies the palate—which is all cherry Jolly Ranchers and candied fruits over lime leaves—and the acid isn’t quite high enough to balance the candied fruit, even though there’s that hint of green behind it. This is a sweet wine—even Tefft encourages you to “enjoy its sweetness” so if you’re looking for something sweetish to serve ice cold at your next picnic, this could be it.
Drink: If you wish a sauvignon blanc would marry two cases of cherry Jolly Ranchers.
Price: $21

A final note: Tasting these wines made me realize I’m drawn both by eye and by palate to the palest of rosés. The lighter the color, the more hope I have before opening the bottle.

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Tags: Wine, Wine Tastings, Washington Wines, Wine Wednesday, Rosé

In the Pink

Put down the preconceptions and get to know some rosé.

Posted by: Julie H. Case on May 09, 2012 at 09:30AM 1 Comments

The pale Château Pradeaux Bandol.

A lot of people are afraid of rosés.

“It’s too sweet,” says a friend, Yvonne. “You should serve it with a side of something dry. Like sand.”

Rosé may get its bad rap because for years the U.S. was associated with making sweet, pink wines with loads of residual sugar. There are a lot of winemakers working hard to dispel that myth, and with a flurry of rosés headed to shelves right now, it’s time to forgive the pink. Plus, rosés, are mostly meant to be consumed young, when the fruit is still bright and vivacious, which means, much like Copper River salmon, it’s time to get them when they come in.

Truth is, the beauty of rosés are many, not least of which may be that the wine screams summer and sunshine. And since rosés are primarily red wines made in a white wine style, good rosés can pair with everything from the most dainty of fish to a hearty pig roast.

Emerald City, it’s time to uncork something pinkish.

If you’re afraid of getting a “sweet” rosé, begin by exploring the Old World. France, where the wines are vinified dry, and where they are known for producing epic dry, terroir-driven rosés, is a good place to start.

Choose a Bandol-style rosé, for example, and you are principally getting a mouvedre, plus cinsault and grenache, wherein the maximum residual sugar—the amount of sugar that remains after fermentation—is 3 grams per liter of wine. Pretty much any wine under 12 g/l is considered a “dry wine.”

For example, the Château Pradeaux Bandol rosé, (which, according to Vinum Importing will soon be appearing across the city) is composed of cinsault and grenache as well as mourvedre, macerated on the skins briefly to produce a very light color, then aged in stainless steel. The nose is herbaceous, while on the palate the wine has a rich mouth feel, yet is dry. There are more herbs here, and a bit of rose petal, and light red fruits. No bubblegum or raisinated cherries; the wine is lean and delicate and does not need that bucket of sand.

Bandol is just one example, though. Travel to Tavel, in the southern Rhone, and you’ll discover the only commune-level AOC devoted entirely to dry, pink wines. No red wines and no white wines are produced in the region. (Ahh… the French and their terroir and regional style, and subsequent laws.) The rosés here are typically grenache-based, and have a maximum residual sugar of 4 g/l, and maximum alcohol of 13.5 percent. In Spain, where most of the rosés must adhere to minimum aging requirements, they take this style so seriously that winemakers call it by two different names, depending on the color of the wine: rosado for light pink, clarete for dark.

If you’re wondering why one rosé is salmon colored and the other looks like a Twizzler, it’s usually the result of different methods of making the wine. Champagne rosé, for example, allows for blending of a finished red with a finished white. Elsewhere, sometimes a red and white wine might even be co-fermented together to form a rosé. In the maceration method, the wine remains in contact with the skins until it has obtained the desired hue. Leaving mouvedre with the skins for two hours might produce the palest of pale dusty rose; half a day or a day and it’s cherry-juice red.

However the saignee technique is the reason a vast majority of roses are made. In saignee, one makes a red wine, bleeding off some juice to make the red darker, richer, and more tannic. That bled-off juice can be made into rosé.

Finally, because all rosés are not made from the same grape, you may have to cast some favorite single-varietal red assumptions aside. You can have a grenache rose, or a syrah rose, a tempranillo rosés or cab franc rosés, a mouvedre rosé, or a red blend rosé, to name a few, but you can’t just assume that since you love grenache then grenache-based rosé should be your first choice. Granted, some of the profile aspects will be the same—you might get tart red cherries in your pinot, for example—but I bet I’d be hard-pressed to find a sommelier in this town who can correctly identify each varietal in a blind tasting of a bunch of rosés.

So, go try some Old World rosés over the next couple of weeks, then prepare your palate to play along: In the coming weeks, Sauced will introduce you to some of the countless Washington rosés just hitting the shelves.

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Tags: Wine, Wine Tastings, Wine Wednesday, How to Taste Wine, Rosé

Tasting Notes: Make Way for Big Papa

Efeste releases a 2009 chip off the old block.

Posted by: Julie H. Case on Apr 25, 2012 at 09:40AM 2 Comments

The Wine: Efeste Big Papa Old Block Cabernet Sauvignon Columbia Valley 2009.

About the Wine: Efeste has been making the Big Papa—a 100 percent cab—since 2005; Brennon Leighton, has been making it for Efeste since 2007. The 2009 Big Papa is his third vintage of the wine, which earned 93 points in last year’s Seattle Met’s 100 Best Washington Wines in 2011.

This year’s Big Papa is different from past vintages in that while 2009 was cool early, then got lots of warmth in August and September, a mid-October freeze cut the season short, which made for a combo of big boldness but also restraint and high acid levels.

Tasting Notes: This is no juice bomb but rather a well-structured wine. In contrast to a different—albeit highly popular—rich, dense, high alcohol, fat bastard of a wine from elsewhere in Washington that I drank the night before, this wine is layered and has a sense of finesse to it.

On the Nose: The Big Papa was full of blackberry, black currant, black cherry and even a hint of plum, as well as some compelling non-fruit characteristics. There was a hint of dried blackberry vine there as well as a slight smokiness. Let the wine sit in the glass for a while and a bit of slight stewed fruit emerges, as well as a hint of baked green pepper, though it was ever so slight and not an indication that the wine was young or under-ripe.

What intrigued me most about the wine was that deep, deep in the glass there was a freshness, a scent reminiscent of the moment someone walks out of a snowstorm and into a warm room. That minerality—that sort of wet soil, wet rock essence—could be a result of the trace amounts of granite and basalt in the vineyards, though it’s one also typically associated with cooler vintages, which the 2009 was not. Except for the fact that there was an October freeze that year, which forced producers to pick mid-month.

That minerality is pretty deep in the glass though, and the moment is soon gone, at which point we’re back to those dark fruits again.

On the Palate: The Big Papa is ripe, with dark fruit—blackberry and black currant and black cherry—but without being overly ripe. This is not pie in a glass. This is not a big jam jar of stewed fruit with a stave of oak in the middle. In addition to the dark fruits and some planed tannins (which come from both the fruit and the wine being aged in 85 percent new French oak, but which are not so overwhelming you feel you’ll have to pry one side of your mouth from the other) there’s a hint of tobacco and cigarbox.

More importantly though, is the beautiful acidity in this wine. The wine deceives its 14.62-percent alcohol level with a rigorous amount of acid. We’re not talking tear-jerking, bracing acidity here, but we are talking the kind of acidity that comes as a result of Leighton’s use of old vines and old vineyards—the majority of which were planted in the early 1970s—and a season that ended early, all of which makes the 2009 Big Papa exceptionally balanced.

Don’t be surprised if you notice a slight siltiness to the wine. It hasn’t been fined so there may be sediment, the kind of thing that makes you think of volcanic dust, though the wine was raised on flood soils and sandy loam.

Drink This Wine If: You like Washington fruit with a complex but refined nature, yet still chomping at the bit. While buxom, this is no burlesque show, no trip to Deja Vu. Rather, the Big Papa is the lover who lets you undress her slowly and discover every curve. Also, this is a great wine to use as a means of introducing friends who only know the huge alcohol and jaminess of many New World wines to the more structured wines Washington can deliver.

Price: $49

Buy the Bottle: The Big Papa releases this Saturday. After that it can be found at Wine World Warehouse, McCarthy & Schiering, Pete’s in Eastlake and Bellevue, Esquin, and elsewhere.

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Tags: Wineries, Wine, Wine Tastings, Washington Wines, Wine Wednesday, Tasting Notes, New Releases, Washington Cabernet Sauvignon

Reds, Whites, and Rites of Spring

Release weekends pop up across the state.

Posted by: Julie H. Case on Apr 18, 2012 at 10:25AM 2 Comments

Beresan Owner Tom Waliser and patron Jeff Douglas talk spring release.

Spring is in the air, the grapes are growing, the sap is flowing, and at tasting rooms across the state, so are the wines. Wineries typically release new wines this time of year, and many take advantage of regional events to introduce them—and the dozens of others already on shelves—to patrons.

While many wineries are open for tastings year round, spring-release weekends and barrel-tasting weekends guarantee visitors a chance to sample at a winery, discover what’s new, and sometimes even taste yet-to-be-released wines directly from the barrel. You can also expect hundreds of other people to be doing the same. Here’s a roundup of some forthcoming spring events:

Passport to Woodinville
It’s been a weekend. It’s been a month. Now it seems Passport is back to being one weekend long.

In days of yore, it seemed virtually every Woodinville winery (of which there are now about 80) threw open its doors and nixed its tasting fees (the $65-or-so “passport” got you a free sample at every participating winery) for the month/weekend. These days the Passport list officially features 35 wineries. While fewer of the boutique and high-end wineries seem to be participating this year, it’s hard to imagine any of them will have doors closed for the weekend.

The event has become more of a booze cruise for wines, where it’s no shock to see a bachelorette party tottering around in stilettos and wine-stained veils. Still, there are reasons to go. You want to see and be seen, for example, or, you want to check out some of the newest tasting rooms, such as Bunnell Family Cellars, which opens this weekend.

Go If: You like pub crawls, but with wine.
When: April 21 & 22
Get There: By car, approximately 20 miles northeast of Seattle.
Cost: $75 Saturday, $65 Sunday

Yakima Spring Barrel Tasting
A full one-third of the state’s grapes are grown in the Yakima Valley, so it’s no shock that the area is hosting its own Spring Barrel Tasting weekend, during which 40 wineries let visitors sample what’s new and what’s still in barrel. And, if tasting isn’t enough, while you’re in town you can swing over to Los Hernandez in Union Gap, where they make what is perhaps the nation’s finest tamale, and where by late April, the owners also hope to have their world-famous asparagus tamale, Mother Nature willing.

Go If: You’ve never visited the new Naches Heights appellation, or a Yakima winery.
When: April 27–29
Get There: By car, approximately 2.5 hours east of Seattle. Take I-90 to I-82.
Cost: $40 for a premier pass that gets you a free tastings at 40 wineries, plus special tours and bites at various places

Walla Walla Spring Release Weekend
One of my most memorable Walla Walla spring release weekends happened years ago when, while standing outside Beresan and Balboa, winemaker Tom Glase came by and dragged my group back into Beresan and began barrel tasting us on a carmenere he was exceptionally proud of. That was the same weekend Jean-Francois Pellet ended up giving tours of the caves at Pepperbridge, too. Spring Release attracts enough of a crowd these days to make those moments less likely, but there’s still a lot of random fun to be had.

At some wineries—such as Abeja and Leonetti—being on the list is the only way to score a visit. But others, such as Tranche Cellars, will actually be open to the public. Chris Figgins, still winemaker for the family winery Leonetti, will sample and give a sneak peak of his new Figgins tasting room downtown, set to open later this summer; Bunchgrass will be open all weekend (versus just Saturday) and Long Shadows will be pouring library wines. There will be winemaker dinners from Waters and others, a grand opening for Canoe Ridge (which was purchased by Precept in 2011), a Friday night hot air balloon display at Waterbrook, and wine club members-only parties at a variety of wineries, including Dunham.

What else can you expect? Rock music to be blaring at K Vintners, food trucks to be dishing it up outside various wineries, and the chance to check out wines just being released to the public in general.

Go If: You want to be relatively certain you’ll get to explore a winery that might not always be open, but not if you’re looking for one-on-one time with your favorite winemaker.
When: May 4–6
Get There: By car, approximately 4.5 hours east of Seattle. Take I-90 to I-82 to Hwy 12. Fly Alaska Airlines and your boarding pass gets you free tastings at 70 wineries, and your first case of wine is checked for free.
Cost: Some wineries charge a tasting fee, always refundable with purchase.

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Tags: Wineries, Spring Release, Walla Walla Wines, Washington Wine Regions, Yakima, Wine Wednesday, Tasting Rooms, Washington Wines, Woodinville, Wine Tastings, Barrel Tasting

A Glimpse of Whites to Come

Taste Washington delivers some soon-to-be-released Washington wine discoveries.

Posted by: Julie H. Case on Apr 11, 2012 at 09:30AM 2 Comments

Courtesy Two Vintners

A week has gone by now and I’m still mulling over everything I learned at Taste Washington. One of those things, though, was the unusual direction some Washington wineries are taking on whites. Here are a few discoveries.

Grenache Blanc: Two Vintners
Few (like three) Washington wineries are making grenache blanc and Two Vintners—the “passion project” of Morgan Lee and Donavon Claflin, Covington Cellars’ winemaker and assistant winemaker, respectively—merits a serious look. The wine was showcased at the Boushey Vineyards table, where Dick Boushey was pouring it because, he says, he “wants people to know he grows other stuff besides syrah.” Truthfully, I think Boushey was also pouring it because he likes the wine.

For good reason. This grenache blanc had a bright, green crispness on the nose—one that makes you think you’re about to taste a sauvignon blanc—while on the palate it’s full of ripe fruit. There’s citrus there, and perhaps a hint of peach. Grenache blanc is a high-acid grape, and while this wine has enough acidity to balance the aromatic fruit, there’s not so much as to make you drool. Plus, the wine is 10 percent roussane, which Lee added to round out the mid-palate.

Two Vintners made just 150 cases of the 2011 grenache blanc, which is being bottled today. It releases at the end of April, and should be available at the Woodinville tasting room and at Seattle wine shops including Esquin, Picnic, and Wine World Warehouse, for $25.

About grenache blanc in Washington: it’s not grown widely. Boushey has just seven acres of it planted. McRea Vintners has a grenache blanc, which Lee admits he admired when he began making his wine, releasing around Labor Day. Rulo will release a 2011 later in the year.

A Viognier Blend: Smasne Cellars
Also being poured at a vineyard tasting table was Smasne Cellars’ Konner Ray White, which I confess I’d never heard of until I stumbled upon it at Upland Vineyards. As such, I wasn’t expecting what I put in my mouth. The wine was full of bright fruit and nice acidity, and the neutral oak it had been resting in brought more complexity to the wine. This is a Rhone-style blend with a preponderance of viognier grapes, as well as another unusual Washington grape or two: aligote, which gives the wine some of its backbone and morio muscat, which adds a floral, perfumy note.

The real selling point to the Konner Ray however, might be its price. At less than $20, it delivers more than expected from a Washington white. There were 275 cases produced of the 2010 Smasne Cellars Konner Ray White, which releases in early May; it should be available at most wine shops in Seattle, as well as at QFC, for $16

Bubbles: Syncline
The talk of Taste may well have been Syncline’s sparkly Scintillation. Bubbly isn’t always high on my priority list (I know, I’m the only woman in America not falling all over herself for Champagne; heck, it took me years to accept sparkling water). But I do appreciate good Champagne, and bubbles as a whole are growing on me. And this sparkling sure was growing on the crowd. Not one but at least three winemakers sent me in search of it.

Make no mistake: This is no sweet, sparkly, American wine designed to satisfy the sorority girl graduation crowd. The Scintillation was crisp and clean, full of lemon and lemon curd, and this very slightest hint of hay on the nose.

Scintillation is another labor of love. The blanc de blanc spent two years in tirage, and all the riddling and disgorging was done by hand, in house. If you’ve never seen this sparkling white on the shelf before, that’s because although Syncline has been making a sparkling since 2001, this is the first year enough has been made (200 cases) to wholesale.

The 2009 Syncline Scintillation releases next week, with 60 cases allocated to Seattle. It’s expected to be available at shops like Pike and Western, McCarthy and Schiering, and PCC, as well as several restaurants, and should retail for $40.

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Tags: Wine, Sparkling Wine , Washington Wines, Wine Wednesday, Tasting Notes, Wine World Warehouse, Esquin, grenache blanc

First Blush: Meet the Washington Wine Commission’s New Executive Director

There’s a new man in town, and he’s drinking the Kool-Aid… Make that Washington wine.

Posted by: Julie H. Case on Apr 04, 2012 at 09:15AM 1 Comments

Steve Warner
WA Wine Commission

This winter, the Washington Wine Commission hired a new executive director in the form of Steve Warner, who began his career in the military—think U.S. Air Force special operations, then Navy diver—before joining Bristol-Myers Squibb. From there he worked his way up the pharma food chain, first into finance, then marketing and global marketing. Most recently he was in Romania, where he served as a managing director for Merck.

What’s a guy like Warner doing in a place like this? Drinking the juice. Meet Steve Warner, the latest person charged with putting Washington wine on the map.

What’s your first call of duty?

“High on my priority is finding the best way of understanding industry unity." Then, he says, it’s finalizing the five-year plan—due in June—followed by constituent relations. (He’s sort of a geek. Hey Steve, does CardMunch have a field for tasting notes?) Next is deciding where to put the industry’s resources. “Right now we’re leaning more toward trade media.”

Finally, with only 35 to 40 percent of all the wine sold in the state coming from Washington, Warner’s on a mission to develop a level of fanaticism some might better equate with the Sounders’ Emerald City Supporters, or the most rabid Seahawks fans.

What could a background in pharmaceuticals possibly bring to this job?

“Hey, I know, I don’t come from a wine background, but I’d ask that you look at it from a different perspective; this could actually be a benefit to the commission. I come in with a fresh perspective, with my eyes wide open. I’m objective. I don’t owe anything to anybody, and I can treat everyone equally, whether they’re east, west, north or south.”

Besides, he says, he started in the science side of pharmaceuticals doing fermentation—obviously not for making wine but for medicine.

Why Washington?

Warner grew up in Cle Elum and Roslyn before moving to West Seattle as a teen. The aunt and uncle who raised him as a teenager still call Seattle home.

The people who raised him? Yes. At 14 Warner could see his future prospects, and didn’t like them.

“My mom was sort of a hippie and had other priorities in life, and I have always been close to my aunt and uncle, so at one point I asked if I could live with them and go to school full time.” Warner crossed the mountains and enrolled at West Seattle—where he served as captain of the much-losing football team.

What are you drinking now?

“Until people started taking me around, I wasn’t a big fan of cab franc but I’ve been enjoying it a lot more. And, we do so many wines wonderfully… We have more 90-plus-point wines here than any other wine region in the world. Other than that, I lean more toward the Bordeaux varietals, and I think that’s an area where we tend to excel in Washington state.”

And when you’re not drinking wine?

What was your first experience with wine?

“Pouring for my aunt and uncle, who were having a tasting event at their house. It must have been around 1980, 1981, and I didn’t understand why people weren’t drinking all the wine, so I’d carry the tray into the kitchen and sneak a bit and taste it.

“It wasn’t until I moved to Thailand that I became a core consumer because our closest friends were into wine and they drank wine every meal.” Here he learned the difference between good wine and wine in a box. The downside? Imported wine is very expensive in Thailand, Korea and Romania. “I could have probably bought a car with the amount I spent on wine in the past couple of years.”

How’s your cellar now?

“Empty. On March 22nd my closest friends [in Romania] came over and we drank all the wine, all the scotch and all the beer. Well, all the beer except for one bottle.”

Personally, what’s next?

“I move my family back, which will be complete April 19, at which point I won’t have to commute to Romania.” (He has three daughters—ages 15, 14 and 11—who are excited for the move because, as they tell him, the best shopping in the world is in America.)

Here’s hoping that move goes more smoothly than the move from Korea to Romania. Then, the packers packed the family’s passports and shipped them ahead, leaving his wife, kids and pets rambling around Seoul for a few weeks, at a bit of loose ends.

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Tags: Wine, News You Can Drink, Washington Wines, Wine Wednesday, Washington Wine Commission, Steve Warner

Debauchery Debunked

An insider’s guide to surviving (and conquering) Taste of Washington in style.

Posted by: Julie H. Case on Mar 21, 2012 at 11:30AM 7 Comments

Courtesy Washington Wine Commission

Two days and countless wines from more than 200 wineries mean opportunities to try something new, as well as one big faux pas waiting to happen. Here’s how to go like a pro.

Even just navigating Taste of Washington can be confusing. Do you go for the oyster bar before the crowds, or wait until you’re hungry? Wend your way through the convention center in a paint-by-numbers fashion, hoping to happen on something while tasting every wine you pass, or beeline for your favorite winery?

One option popular among wine nerds is making a tiered list of the wineries you can’t miss. Taste, for example, is the place where the general public can explore Betz Family Winery, which doesn’t have a tasting room. You can also map your way by varietal. If you love syrah, for example, identify the wineries pouring it and cut for those first.

To that end, it’s a good idea to taste your way through whites first, then move on to reds, saving sweet wines for last.

Don’t just taste at the tables. Wine is being poured all over the event, including at the “vineyard tastings” (typically at the edge of the room) where growers pour wines from different wineries. It’s an attempt to showcase terrior, allowing consumers to see how grapes from the same vineyard are expressed (similarly or not) in wines from different wineries.

The vineyard tasting section may also be a place to try wines that wineries aren’t pouring. You won’t find the Maison Bleue’s 2010 La Montagnette Grenache at its table but you will find it at Upland Vineyards. You won’t find Two Vintners grenache blanc anywhere on the floor (especially since it hasn’t even been bottled yet) but you will find some with Dick Boushey.

A few more ways to explore Washington wine during Taste:

Take a Seminar
The Wine Commission previously held seminars at one location on Saturday, the tasting event at another on Sunday. This year’s schedule brings seminars and tasting to the same venue, spread across two days. The downside? The seminars seem a little less rigorous—and more consumer focused. The first one is officially titled “Washington Wine: Delivering at Every Price.” It’s a blind tasting pitting Washington wines against the similar iterations from other parts of the world. Expect Price is Right–style oohs and aahs when the price of the Washington wines are revealed.

Still, the seminars can be a blast. Where else can you sit in a room full of winemakers and grape growers and sommeliers and hear an argument about terroir? When else do you get to watch the men and women who make the state’s best wines go head to head in a blind tasting? Plus, the seminars offer the general public the chance to blind taste the exact wines, at the same time as some vintners, providing an inspiring, or sobering, gauge of your abilities.

Look for Hidden Gems
This year’s two-day format also offers the possibility of surprise. Officially, wineries are expected to stick to what they’ve listed, and while no one is publicly stating they’ll be pouring a little something special on one day or another, expect it to happen. Besides, many wineries have a bottle or two of something special hidden away—a library wine, something that’s sold out—that they pour to select tasters, often during the VIP hours.

For those who can’t leave the smart phone behind, some savvy wineries are also expected to have a wine hidden away to pour as part of a “secret” Facebook or Twitter promotion during the event.

Make the Most of Two Days
With a two-day ticket going for just $25 more than a one-day, it makes sense to shell out for the entire weekend. In the past many winemakers have abandoned ship by the end of a single eight hour–plus day on Sunday, spreading the event across two four-hour sessions can help eliminate winemaker fatigue. Or, as Efeste’s Brennon Leighton cheekily puts it: “Winemakers have fragile egos and short attention spans," which means he’ll likely be more cheerful on Saturday, but is also less likely to drift away by the end of Sunday. For once, regardless of whether it’s the start of Taste or 15 minutes before closing, you might actually get time to chat with the vintners, too.

Okay, so with Taste spanning a weekend now, how do you do it like a master?

Leave Aroma and Bouquet to the Pros
Ditch the perfume or cologne. Not just so you can smell the wine, but also for the sake of every single person standing near you who would like to be able to pick out those grassy notes in a sauvignon blanc without being confused by the aromas of musk and begonias wafting from your neckline.

Be Judicious
Don’t try to taste every single wine, from every single winery. Don’t even try to taste one wine from every winery. Pick and choose. While it’s great to check out the wineries you may not have ever heard of, tasting everything will just wreck your palate, and your sobriety. And don’t finish wines you don’t like. In fact, you don’t even have to finish the wines you do like.

Spit, Don’t Swallow
It’s not gauche, it’s the right thing to do. If every taste is a 1-ounce pour, by the time you’ve tasted 24 wines you’ve polished off a bottle. How can you tell if the bottle that’s about to command your next paycheck is truly great if you’re already three sheets to the wind? Besides, getting bombed at Taste—and being one of the people who shatters one of the 50 or so glasses on the concrete floor each year—is just downright embarrassing. So, spit. (We’ll teach you how next week.)

And of course, eat well. And take a cab.

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Tags: Wine, Wine Tastings, Taste of Washington, Washington Wines, Wine Wednesday, Tasting Notes, Washington Wine Month

Tasting Notes: Open That Bottle Night Redux

More lessons in aging wine gracefully.

Posted by: Julie H. Case on Feb 22, 2012 at 10:35AM 3 Comments

The contenders.

The wines: Syzygy, 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon; Nicholas Cole Cellars, 2005 Michelle; Waterbrook, 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve

Introduction: This Saturday is the official Open That Bottle Night, which led me to bring seven friends together to open some things that had been in their cellars for a while. (Last week, we talked about one of those bottles, but there were a lot more around the table.)

As each bottle arrived, the owner filled out a tasting sheet, so we’d know what we were pouring and why it was special. The form also left room for tasting notes. (Download it here.) Then, we opened the bottles and let them breathe for not nearly long enough, and poured. Here’s what we learned:

The Syzygy: This bottle’s owner said he bought this particular wine largely because he thought it would age well. The result? The wine held its own, despite having been stored under the bed. Dark garnet in color, the nose was plummy and had a bit of stewed fruit. The wine had medium to high acid, and the tannins were robust.

The Nicholas Cole: This wine came to the party because—fitting the “Open That Bottle Night” theme—there was a special memory associated with it: Three members of the group visited the tasting room together in 2010; at the time, that was the only place the wine was available. In hindsight, buying that bottle was a good decision: Nicholas Cole Cellars is now closed.

Though the wine hadn’t even been held for two years, one of the group was flummoxed by the bottle owner’s ability to abstain. “Okay, how do you keep it that long?” she asked, to which the owner replied, “I wrote on it and put it in a special drawer I don’t open that often.”

We set to tasting this Bourdeaux blend and the first thing we notice is how it’s inky-dark and stains the glass. On the nose, there’s dark jammy fruit tone, layered over vanilla, which comes from the oak aging. On the palate, the alcohol is obvious (it should be, it’s a beast at 14.9 percent) but so are some stewed fruits. Like last week’s wine, I didn’t find a lot of backbone to it, but the group loved it for the vanilla on the nose and especially on the palate.

The Waterbook: This wine had probably been the most rigorously cellared: It was stored on its side at a consistent temperature of 55 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit. How did it taste? Unfortunately, that’s where things went wrong. Sometimes, when you have a lot of people over for a tasting, you mess up. About 30 minutes after opening the wine, which had been aged 19 months in oak barrels before being bottled in 2008, we poured and it was immediately apparent the wine was still too tight and needed to breathe. So we set it aside to open up.

The problem with letting a wine breathe at a party is that sometimes the wine disappears before you’ve had a chance to evaluate it, which is what happened here. Unfortunately, all I know now about the wine is that the group liked it enough to drink it. All.

A note on storing wine: Not all of us have the luxury of a spare room; a cellar; a cool, quiet dark place where we can let our wines ruminate. Some of us must resort to that under-the-bed method. Still, if you can manage to find a spot just for your wines, you should know that wines are stored best in low light, under cool, consistent temperatures (ideally around 55 degrees), laying on their side.

Why the rigidity? Temperature fluctuations will prematurely age wines (but not in a good way) as will direct sunlight. A room with some humidity is actually good because, in an arid environment, corks have the possibility of drying up. And if your cork dries up, it will shrink, eventually letting air in. You may want the wine to breathe when you open it, but you don’t want it to breathe in the bottle. With this in mind, wines should also always be stored on their side, keeping the wine in contact with the cork.

Finally, your cellar shouldn’t stink. Odors can actually invade the bottle, which will cause all sorts of unpleasantness. Don’t, however, ever use bleach to clean your cellar.

And, for the record, the top of your fridge and on the windowsill are never, ever acceptable places to store your wine, Washington or otherwise.

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Tags: Wineries, Wine, Wine Tastings, Wine Wednesday, Walla Walla, Open That Bottle Night, Walla Walla Wines

Tasting Notes: Open That Bottle Night

An annual tradition provides a lesson in aging.

Posted by: Julie H. Case on Feb 15, 2012 at 09:50AM 6 Comments

The wine: 428 Wines’ 2005 Boulevard, “table wine” (aka: red blend)

Introductions: Every year, on the last Saturday in February, wine lovers the world over pull a bottle of wine they’ve been holding on to for some special occasion that never happened, and open it as part of Open That Bottle Night, a tradition begun in 1999 by two Wall Street Journal wine columnists to encourage readers to open a bottle that might otherwise linger unappreciated and unenjoyed. This year it falls on Feb. 25, and the forthcoming event was the perfect excuse to open a bottle I’d purchased years ago, on a Walla Walla trip with friends.

Admittedly, I didn’t remember much about the wine, other than that we liked it, and it had a fair amount of deep red fruit. I do remember that we fell in love with the winemaker, who stood behind his bar and poured out as many stories as wine, including one about uncovering—while renovating the old military building-cum-tasting-room near the Walla Walla airport—a vaguely pornographic sketch of a woman. That drawing went on to hold a position of honor on the tasting room wall.

But stories don’t make me open bottles. I knew I had been holding the wine for about the maximum time it could handle and I wanted to know if it had aged well. Had the tannins retained their structure, perhaps even softened a little? Had a bouquet—those non-fruit scents, such as lavender and licorice and heather—developed? Most of all, was the wine still tasty, or if it had lost its joie de vivre? And if I ever bought another Boulevard, should I hold it, or drink it?

Wines That Age Well: typically have a lot of tannins (imparted when the grapes have been pressed and the juice has lots of contact with the skins, or from being aged in oak barrels), are high in acidity, and have very concentrated fruit. Barolos, with their high tannin structure, actually become more accessible with time. Top Bordeaux age well, as do top white Burgundies. The effects of cellaring a red and a white wine differ. White wines deepen in color, perhaps even taking on a dark gold, or amber tone. Reds tend to lose some of their color, many fading to an almost orange color. The tannins usually get softer and the wine typically acquires bouquet.

Some people might think not think of aging as anything less than a decade, but six or so years seemed a good test of whether this particular wine had the ability to lay down longer still. Besides, if it wasn’t going to age, I didn’t want to let it sit in my cellar any longer.

Tasting Notes: About an hour before seven of my closest friends arrived (some who’d been with me in Walla Walla and some with their own bottles in hand) I opened the Boulevard and let it breathe. Then, we poured. On the upside, there was still a fair amount of fruit on both the nose and palate, but the wine did seem a little tired. It had lost a bit of vibrancy, and while it was nice and fruity at the front of my mouth, it disappeared at the back of the palate. It wasn’t exactly flabby, but it didn’t have the kind of robustness and complexity I hope for in a wine that has aged well.

Drink Now vs. Drink Later: I might buy the wine again (though I can’t because 428 is no longer in business) but I wouldn’t hold it. From the start, this was a drink now wine, not a to-be-cellared wine.

Pouring Next: Open That Bottle Night continues next Wednesday as we look at how a few other Washington wines held up.

Now, what will you uncork for Open That Bottle Night?

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Tags: Wineries, Open That Bottle Night, Walla Walla, Tasting Notes, Wine Wednesday, Wine Clubs, Merlot, Washington Wines, Drinking Events, Wine Tastings, Wine, Tastings and Classes, Walla Walla Wines

Tasting Notes: Abeja Heather Hill Cabernet Sauvignon

Ten years on the earth, three years in the bottle. Get it before Joel McHale does.

Posted by: Julie H. Case on Jan 18, 2012 at 11:15AM 27 Comments

Even in a state with serious cabernet cred, this is one exceptional wine. Photo via Abeja.

The wine: Abeja, 2008 Heather Hill, cabernet sauvignon
Price: $55 suggested retail. Appearing on local shelves for $66–$80

Introductions: The 2008 Heather Hills cabernet sauvignon is the first exclusively Walla Walla Valley cabernet from winemaker Abeja. It’s also the first made entirely with grapes from Abeja’s Heather Hill estate vineyard. Sure, fruit from Heather Hill has been making appearances in Abeja’s various Columbia Valley wines for years, but winemaker John Abbott wanted to make a single varietal, single vintage, single vineyard estate wine.

The Heather Hill vineyard was planted in 2001, and since then Abbott has been biding his time, waiting patiently to be assured that the estate vineyard could produce the same exceptional wine year after year. Even he was surprised that it took until 2008. The older Abbott gets, he says, the more he likes his wines to show their place, and this wine expresses some serious Walla Walla Valley terroir.

Tasting Notes: The first thing you’ll notice is the incredible intensity of this wine: It’s inky dark, with a pronounced staining of the glass, which connotes the amount of contact the juice has had with the grape skins. On the nose there’s a slight smokiness, an almost gamey, meaty quality which leads quickly to the pencil lead, violet, rose and sandalwood, all layered over tons of voluptuous, dark fruit.

There’s bramble on the palate, on top of layers of dark cherry and blackberry, and again a bit of smokiness. The toasty notes—which are the result of 100 percent French oak barrels—are not overwhelming, but warm. The tannins are serious, almost reminiscent of an Old World red, but not bracing. Rather they give this cabernet backbone.

In a state that makes some seriously fantastic cabernets, this is one of the exceptional ones. It’s intricate. Elegant. Intense, though not bombastic. It is one beautiful bottle of wine.

Drink This Wine If: You like complex, New World/Washington state reds with serious finesse. The care taken both in the vineyard and in the winery are evident in the wine’s structure and ability to age.

Drink Now vs. Drink Later: While the Heather Hill is memorable now, it is going to age very nicely. Don’t hesitate to put it in your cellar. If you just can’t wait to open that bottle, know that this wine benefits from some breathing space. An hour in the decanter will amply reward your patience. The longer the Heather Hill is open, the more those violets and roses come out, both on the nose and palate, and the more the layered fruit comes forward.

Buy the Bottle/By the Glass: This is a wine that merits getting yourself on the Abeja list, not just to track future releases, but because this is the easiest way to track down this first vintage. Because there were only 270 cases produced in 2008 (190 in 2009), few bottles remain on the shelves. Whole Foods Bellevue has a few, as does Wine World Warehouse. Since this cabernet would pair exceptionally nicely with a big fat juicy steak, you’ll also find it on the John Howie bottle list ($135).

You won’t, however, find it at Pike and Western wine shop because a certain famous actor-comedian and Almost Live! alumnus is apparently a fan. He bought the entire allocation before it could even hit the shelves.

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Tags: Wineries, Wine, Wine Tastings, Washington Wines, Wine Wednesday, Tasting Notes, Abeja