hip2wine.com

I’m going to let everyone in on a secret.  I am a recovering political blogger.  Now I know that wine is a relatively apolitical entity, however, since I am coming down from the political conventions I thought why not write about wines for watching political coverage.  

Please note that this post is written from a Lefty perspective, that is, someone who loves hearing the hopeful positivism from Democrats like Barack Obama as opposed to the the hateful, bigoted, war mongering of the Republicans.

Wine for Watching Democrats:

I recommend refreshing wines for watching Democrats speak.  These should be wines that make you feel lively, excited, energized, and if you have enough of it maybe you’ll forget about the last 8 years!  

Rombauer Chardonnay 2007:  Fantastic, buttery, vanilla hints and an incredibly rich finish.  Carneros Chardonnay is my favorite wine of the moment and this is a prime example that’s a bit more reasonable price wise compared to some others.  

Also try:  Saint M Riesling by Chateau Ste Michelle.  Very crisp, light, a good wine for food and also an energizing wine. The kind that will make you want to donate $5 to moveon.org to get an Obama sticker!

Wine for Watching Republicans:

Not surprisingly, you need Red wine for the Republicans.  Not just because the party’s color is red, but also because there are times that you need to mellow out when someone says something like “contraception is murder!”  There is no better mellow out wine than Merlot, and both of my recommendations are just that.

Duckhorn Napa Valley Merlot 2005:  A soft soft Merlot, silky, big juicy flavors of dark fruit and very nice controlled tannin.  Plus, the label has a very relaxed duck on it to also keep you in a happy place.  There is a memorable quality to this wine as well, something to take your mind off of what you’re watching!

Also recommended: Northstar Merlot 2005.  Washington Merlot through and through, smooth mouth feel, big fruit.

Whatever your political persuasion, choosing the correct wine for what you’re watching is essential.  Remember that choosing wine for a particular event or mood can be as important as pairing for food.  Drinking a full bodied cab while you’re just sipping watching TV isn’t always the best application.  Once again, drink the wines you like when you like.  I’ll try not to do too much more political stuff on here, but as I’m sure plenty of you know, recovery is a long process.

            I recently took a trip to see my parents in Chicago and decided that it would be a great opportunity to try some Midwestern brews that I wasn’t privy to out west.  The beers I tried while in Chi (as Kanye calls it) were flat out amazing, with one in particular taking its place in my mental trophy case as the best beer I’ve ever tasted.  The beers I tried were from two breweries: Bell’s Brewery out of Kalamazoo and Great Lakes Brewing Company out of Cleveland.  My friends from the Midwest have been raving about Bell’s for ages but, due to a dispute between an Illinois beer distributor and the brewery, the beer hasn’t been available in Illinois until recently.  I chose the Great Lakes beer because the store I went to had a large selection of their beers and I was interested in focusing on only two or three breweries for this tasting as opposed to the shotgun approach I normally employ.  Anyway, on to the beer . . .

Bell’s Oberon Ale, 5.8% abv, $1.99 for a 12 oz. bottle

This was the beer my friends from the Michigan and Ohio would not stop talking about.  Every time I’d say I was going to Chicago they would tell me that I just had to have Bell’s Oberon; let’s say this beer had a lot to live up to.  The beer pours a large thee-finger head that looks like whipped egg whites.  It’s an extremely cloudy pour since it’s an unfiltered wheat beer.  The Oberon has a golden color on the edge darkening to a deep amber-gold in the center.

The nose of the Oberon is clearly that of a wheat beer.  It’s full of wheat and yeast, almost to the exclusion of any other scent although a bit of coriander sneaks in there if you really search for it. 

The taste of the Oberon is surprising.  Everything up to this point leads you to believe that it’s going to be and wheaty beer with light and mellow malt notes.  However the beer pack a wallop of hops that I was not expecting.  It’s not nearly as sweet as the almost gummy scent of the beer would have you believe either and has a dry finish for any beer, let alone a wheat beer.  This being said the wheat flavors also come through strong but definitely take a back seat (if only for the sheer surprise factor) to the hops.  Overall though it a very well balanced beer and one that can be drank year round.  

Great Lakes Elliott Ness Amber, 6.2% abv, $1.99 for a 12 oz. bottle

This amber poured a meager 1/2 finger of head that quickly dissipates and leaves little to no lacing around the top of the glass.  The crystal clear beer is, obviously, and amber color that shades to light brown in the center of the glass.

The beer has a hoppy and fruity smell to it while malt and yeast seemingly come through the back of the beer leaving your nose with an extremely balanced beer. 

The taste of this beer also surprises the drinker.  The malt, not overly present in the nose, dominates the palate.  There are strong notes of caramel with subtle notes of spice popping through every now and then.  The exceptionally smooth mouth feel makes this exceptionally well-balanced beer incredibly drinkable.  The spice notes linger after you swallow and, what is perhaps the most surprising, is that the hop notes so prevalent in the nose don’t show up as much as you’d expect when you drink the beer (not that I’m complaining or anything).

Great Lakes Burning River Pale Ale, 6% abv., $1.99 for a 12 oz. bottle

The next entry from Great Lakes is refreshingly low in alcohol for a pale ale in a time where seemingly every producer is attempting to pack as much punch as possible in pale ales and IPA’s these days.  The beer pours a semi-clear golden, verging on yellow squash, color.  There is a considerable amount of carbonation and the beer emits strings of bubbles racing from the bottom of the glass to the top in a manner virtually identical to champagne.  The beer has a thin head but the head leaves a considerable amount of lacing as you drink the brew.

The beer’s smell is dominated by hops (as is the case with most pale ales) but also manages to eek out a few malt notes to lend an impression of balance.  There are also fruity notes which combine with the malt to create a sweet scented beer.

The taste of this beer is good, it’s a solid pale ale, but it’s not making me do back flips.  The smooth, silky, texture belies the massive amount of carbonation in the glass and the hoppy taste has a lot of staying power in your mouth.  Overall this was probably the weakest beer in the tasting but that has more to do with the quality of the other beers I tried than it does with any defects in this beer (it’s also possible I simply got a bad bottle, the reviews on beeradvocate.com are off the charts).  It’s a good pale ale and would likely pair well with grilled chicken or even a spicy sandwich. 

Bell’s Pale Ale, 5.2% abv., $1.99 for a 12oz. bottle

The beer pours a hazy honey golden color which fades to a honey water on the edge.  There’s a 1 ½ finger head which leaves only a little lacing as it recedes. 

Not surprisingly hops dominate the nose of this beer but there is also a strong yeast component to the smell.  It’s a semi-floral scent that invites you to swig down the beer as quick as possible. 

Bell’s Pale Ale is a yeasty pale ale.  The hops are present but the amount of yeast and malt that come through is surprising.  It’s also missing the traditional kick of hops at the end of the drink that one comes to expect from a pale ale.  However, this contrast between yeast and hops, malt and citrus, make it exceptionally balances and drinkable.  It’s definitely not your traditional pale ale but it’s worth a shot. 

Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter, 5.8% abv., $1.99 for a 12 oz. bottle

This is the best beer I have ever had, hands down.  Any review I gave this would do it injustice so I’ll stay as bare-bones simple as possible and hopefully you’ll be able to see why I think this is such an amazing beer.

Pour:  One finger head, Intricate lacing, deep brown (almost black) color with hints of red

Smell:  Fruity(!) with black cherries and orange, bright and smooth, malt, coffee, chocolate, maybe a little molasses

Taste:  Dark roast coffee, fruit – the cherries and maybe even a hint of raspberry but not in the way you’d expect, chocolate, hoppy notes precede a dry finish.

Drinkability:  I could drink this all night long.  It’s an eminently smooth beer that won’t leave you woozy after two of three glasses.  It’s smooth with a clean finish; fantastic.

Overall:  This beer showcases each of its ingredients in a flawless manner.  To say it’s well balanced would be an insult.  It would be better to say that this beer drinks in phases.  It opens with the dark malt notes of coffee and chocolate.  Then it transitions to a slightly yeasty tone lying on top of the chocolate and coffee.  Building on this the fruit shows up and mixes with the dark malt notes that are now fading (it is at this point that you think “how is all of this going on in on beer?”).  Finally the hops kick in before the dry, distinctly porter, finish. 

This beer is amazing.  If you ever have the happy fortune to try it you’d be a fool to pass it up.  

I want to say a big thank you to Truly Fine Wines for sending me some samples of their fantastic Rieslings which they import from Germany.  The wines were each very different despite all three of them being Rieslings and all three coming from the same producer.

Same producer, three very different Rieslings

I tried each one of these wines side by side to get the full range of Riesling possible.  I have had a lot more Spatlese, fully ripe, Rieslings then their dryer less ripe counterparts.  The side by side by side was a fantastic way to experience the full spectrum.

2006 Blees-Ferber Riesling Kabinett Trocken:  The most food friendly wine I think I’ve ever had!  Kabinett means that the grapes were almost, but not fully ripened once they were picked, and Trocken means that the wine was made in a dry style.  The nose here had a lot of characteristic Riesling notes: grape fruit, citrus, etc.  The acidity here screams once it hits your mouth, cutting through anything else in your mouth and really showing its full mineral character.  Perhaps the greatest thing about this wine, however, is its ability to completely refresh and cleanse your palate.  A surprise for anyone with the idea that all Rieslings are sweet, this is a wine that could stand up to spicy cuisine, big flavor dishes, you name it!  Available for $19.50 at Truly Fine Wine.

2006 Blees-Ferber Riesling Spätlese - Trocken:  The difference from the first Riesling here is that these grapes were fully ripe when picked.  I situated the wines in my tasting in order of driest to sweetest with this one in the middle.  That is perhaps the best way to explain this wine.  I would recommend starting with this wine if you are just starting out with dry-style German wines.  The nose had nice citrus, strawberry, and figs.  The mouth feel had big acidity, some bite, and yet also some subtle soft notes as well.  This wine was immensely complex in that it went from big fruit notes, big minerals in the middle, and finishes with a soft melon taste.  This is definitely a food wine, and while it may not be quite as versatile as the Kabinett, it certainly comes close.  It is available at Truly Fine Wine for $29.95.

2006 Blees-Ferber Riesling Spätlese:  Wow!  Careful, because this wine goes down fast.  Big apples on the nose leading to some mineral with creamy citrus in the finish.  Rich mouthfeel, big flavors, and a great sipping wine for warm evenings.  This wine doesn’t need food, but it would work with many spicy dishes and other sometimes hard-to-find-wine-for types of dishes.  This was my favorite wine to drink on its own with out the grilled chicken and onions we had with each of them.  While it went pretty well with dinner, the other two are much more about food than this one.  A desert wine for people who aren’t crazy about desert wine, a food wine that is accesible to absolutely everyone.  Fantastic bottle of Riesling, available for $26.95 at Truly Fine Wine.

More on German wines to come!

Cheers.

Last night I was able to attend a wine makers dinner, part of the Washington Wine Commission’s Auction of Washington Wines.  The dinner was hosted by both Delille Cellars and Betz Family Winery.  Also in attendance was famed grower Jim Holmes of Ciel du Cheval Vineyard in the Red Mountain AVA of Washington.  Dinner was fantastic, but the real fun for me was hearing the wine makers talk about their wines.

Looking out on Woodinville from the back yard area of DeLille

The Spread, before dinner started

Artsy shot, look at all those glasses!

Labels all rolled up and waiting for bottling.  I just thought it was cool to see them in this state.

In all we had eight wines, four from DeLille and four from Betz.  

Doyenne Roussanne 2006:  The last Roussanne I opened was corked, but I was very happy to have one that was both not ruined and actually tasted pretty good.  Huge floral nose led to a slightly creamy mouth feel.  It had a lemon-lime taste going on as well.  Roussanne is not my favorite varietal, but this worked well with the Tuna Sashimi being served.

DeLille Chaleur Estates Blanc 2007: A Bordeaux style white with 66% Sauvignon Blanc and 33% Semillon, this was a crisp wine that finishes smooth, and has that illusive beginning middle end quality that I love.  The taste was of grass and light melon with a little bit of mineral as well.  Paired with Scallops in a beurre blanc sauce, this wine complimented the course very nicely.

Betz Besoleil 2006:  A Southern Rhone style blend of mostly Grenache, this was my favorite wine of the night.  Great berries on the nose, peppery finish, big mouth feel and as the wine maker Bob Betz said, it is extremely drinkable despite its high alcohol content (about 14.9%).  I’m not a big fan of duck, but this cut straight through the fatty taste of duck and finished with a great peppery note!  I had seconds of this one.

Betz Syrah La Serenne 2006:  The number two Syrah from Betz, it comes 100% from Boushey Vineyards in the Yakima Valley.  Great earthy nose leads to soft dark berries.  While this Syrah was my favorite of the two from Betz, the Grenache went much better with the duck for me.  Boushey Vineyards has fruit that really reflects the terroir, making everything from that vineyard fun to drink just to find the similarities that cut across wine makers and wineries.

Betz Syrah La Cote Rousse 2006:  The other Syrah from Betz is jammier and more New World in taste.  That is, the fruit notes really come out here where the other was more earthy.  Blackberries and some spices on the nose led to a rich mouth feel.  Very nicely paired with Lamb Chops.

Yesterday was the 2008 edition of Picnic, a part of the Washington Wine Commission’s Auction of Washington Wines.  The event featured a silent auction of Washington wine, games to play to win wine, and a barrel auction of future limited production wines from several different wineries.  The event brings out many from the wine industry every year and I had the pleasure of meeting some big time names in the world of Washington wine.

Wine makers and employees of the wineries walk around the event, held at Chateau Ste Michelle Winery in Woodinville, Washington pouring wine for the attendees and their peers in the industry.

A relaxed event, I spent time with the Gunselmans of Robert Karl Cellars, Chris Camarda of Andrew Will, and Dick Boushey of Boushey Vineyards!

Perhaps the coolest thing happening at the event, though, was the making of actual barrels.  Robert Karl will be auctioning off a barrel they purchased, from the Picnic at next years Picnic!

Toasting the oak, and as the wood warms up it is tightened into a barrel shape.  Note the grooves in the wood, the cooper (barrel maker) told me that gives the barrel more surface area to interact more with the wine

Tools of the Trade!

The Wines

There were far too many wines there for me to describe all of them.  I tried a few stand out bottles, though, and here are some of my tasting notes on my four favorites of the evening.

O Wines Chardonnay:  Women making wine to benefit other women, part of the profits from this label go to funding scholarships for underprivileged and at-risk young women.  What’s great as well is that the wine is good too!  The 2006 Chardonnay had a buttery oak taste with some nice pear as well.  Should be able to find this in many places and feel good about it too.

Gorman Winery The Bully:  100% Cabernet Sauvignon, big flavors of cherry and some oak, super dark color.  The big alcohol taste that sets in early will fade as the wine opens up.  Gorman wines are getting a lot of attention in Washington, and that buzz should soon start spreading to the rest of the country.

Va Piano Cabernet Sauvignon: Justin of Va Piano was pouring a barrel sample of his 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon.  While this wine is not yet ready, it won’t be released until 2010, the nose was fantastic with currants really coming through.  Definitely one to keep in mind for the future.

Robert Karl Claret: My favorite wine of the evening, from the fantastic people at Robert Karl, the 2005 Claret is 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc, 10% Petit Verdot, and 10% Malbec.  Part chocolate part plum on the nose, nice earthy tones on the palate, this wine was complex, intense, and smooth all at the same time.  

A fantastic evening with great people in the Washington Wine Industry.  Tonight I’m going to a wine makers dinner at DeLille Cellars that should feature some great food as well as fantastic wine.

Cheers!

I’m sitting in my hotel room right now about to head out to Picnic, part of the Washigton Wine Commission’s big summer event that is the Auction of Washington Wines.  You can read more about it all here.

I’ll be out tasting tonight, having dinner with the winemaker and owner of Delille Cellars tomorrow, and Saturday attending the formal auction.  I’ll have pictures and posts up of all three events as well as profiling as many of the wines as I can.

The Washington Wine Commission is a governmental body whose purpose is to promote the Washington wine industry.  Their other big event each year is Taste Washington, where the majority of wineries from all around the state come out to pour.  These events are always fun, and of course, spitting is very much encouraged!  Keep checking back to hip2wine.com for updates.

Cheers!

I had the pleasure of going to Sparkman Cellars release party this past weekend up in Woodinville, Washington. Sparkman started up in 2004 and this release is their biggest to date.  What was especially fun about the release party is that we had the chance to try some wines that are not yet available to purchase, but can be bought as futures (you buy now, they ship later).  The winery is situated next to several others and is part of the growing wine destination that is Woodinville.  I will be spending all of this coming weekend in Woodinville for Picnic and Auction of Washington Wines, two events put on by the Washington Wine Commission.  But enough about me, to the wine!

- The barrel room with tea lights to set the mood!

2007 Lumière Chardonnay: A fun and lightly creamy chard, this wine is similar to a lot of Washington Chardonnays. Lemon and pears on the nose, with some vanilla coming through on the taste. This was barrel fermented and very easy to drink. A fun light Chard, great for this time of year.

Syrah Rose:  Ok, so this one isn’t actually for sale, but my notes had this wine on it and I thought I’d write about it here as well.  Rose is a wine that I always have mixed feelings about.  Honestly, I tend to like Roses, but I find myself always being surprised when I try one I like.  At any rate, this was a fun wine that the owner/winemaker was pouring out of an unlabeled magnum bottle.  Syrah as a Rose grape was new for me, and the results were fun.  Great pepper and spice.

2006 Ruby Leigh:  This is a blend of mostly Merlot with Cab Sauv, with Petit Verdot, and Cab Franc as well.  Silky smooth wine, with very light tannins this is a Bordeaux style blend that has notes of coffee and chocolate with a slight tobacco finish.  This is a young wine that I think will get better with a bit more time in the bottle.

2006 WILDERNESS:  The blend here is mostly Cabernet Sauvignon with Syrah, Sangiovese, and Petit Verdot.  Mostly Cab and Syrah, this blend is one that I think has a very Washington-esque taste.  Chocolate was the biggest flavor here with dark fruit on the nose and a light vanilla in the finish.  Part of the proceeds go to the wilderness society, which is something else you can feel good about while sipping!

2006 Stella Mae:  This was my favorite wine of the day, the blend is Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.  While it sounds very similar to the Ruby Leigh, this was a more complex wine with much heavier tannins thanks to having more Cab Sauv than the other.  Big flavors here were cherry and some chocolate with a great deal of minerals on the finish.  

2006 Darkness Syrah:  A big jammy syrah with dark berries and black licorice on the palate.  Darkness is a good name considering the great dark red color in the glass.  It has a really big mouth feel, with a syrupy feeling on the finish, something I love in Syrahs.  However, this was my second favorite of the two Syrahs they were pouring.

2006 Kingpin Cabernet Sauvignon:  Young Cabernet, this was a nice wine but lacked a lot of the complexity that the blends featuring Cab Sauv did.  The finish is extremely long with a nice pepper note.  The nose was pretty earthy leading to dark fruit on the palate.  I think this wine more than any other will benefit from more time in the bottle, and the fact that it is not yet released might be testament to that.  Good, but not as much fun as the Bordeaux style blends.

2006 Ruckus Syrah:  This Syrah was different from the other in one simple way: earth.  I like my Syrahs to have earth tones on the nose and lead to big chocolately, fruit forward tastes finishing with some spice.  That’s exactly what this Syrah was and that touch more of earth on the nose is what pushed this Syrah ahead of the Darkness.  Similar wines, but that slight difference in taste made a big difference for me.

All in all Sparkman Cellars wines are young, approachable, and fun.  The blends were my favorites just because of all the different levels and layers to the tasting experience.  My favorite thing about this producer is that all of his wines have my favorite attribute: a beginning a middle and an end.  Long finishes are a clear preference for the wine maker.  When I’m drinking wine without food, the finish just might be my favorite part.  Sparkman makes wine for my kind of tastes.  You can buy wine directly from them on their website.

Cheers!

Tonight I participated in an experiment: three Cabernet Francs from one state.  Of course, my state of choice was Washington.  I wanted to taste wines from different years as well as finding different labels.  I am on a big Cab Franc fix this summer, but until now I haven’t really written about it.  Tonight, I will rectify that!

Cabernet Franc is most commonly known as a Bordeaux grape, most often found as part of blends.  It has, however, really come into its own as a stand alone varietal.  I love it for several reasons.  In general, it has pepper and chocolate as common flavors, two of my favorites in red wins.  It also has subtle tannins and fits in somewhere between Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in terms of smoothness.  If you’ve not had many Cab Francs, here are three to find and try.

Sheridan Vineyard 2005 Cabernet Franc: The smell has floral notes to go along with the slight chocolate hints.  The taste is like biting into chocolate covered cherries! HUGE chocolate flavor that only expands as it opens up.   Juicy and jammy, this wine had a body to it that the other two we tasted tonight did not have.  Big where you want it to be big and smooth where it should be, one of my favorite wines of the summer.

L’ecole No. 41 Estate Cabernet Franc 2006: Many wine makers have told me that they add Cabernet Franc to blends to add pepper to the blend.  This Cab Franc jumps from the glass with pepper notes, both on the nose and in the mouth.  There are subtle fruit flavors as well, notably cherries, however the pepper taste is what will be remembered here.  This wine went best with dinner tonight: Pesto gnocchi with grilled pork chops.

JM Willows Lodge Cabernet Franc 2003: This wine is a bit more mature than the others, however, the flavors here were much less intense.  This drank like a Loire wine, where Cab Franc was first grown before it was planted in Bordeaux.  Flavors of earth and minerals are present here, along with a very quiet nose.   This wine tastes like grass and rocks, which has its place, however, compared to the fruit heavy big flavors of the other two this wine lagged slightly behind.  I enjoyed this wine, and it is very easy to drink and approachable, however, I was a bigger fan of the other two.

Cabernet Franc is growing in popularity as a stand alone.  Napa has many wineries that are now producing a Cabernet Franc and the ones that I have tasted have been spectacular.  It is easy to forget just how new grape growing is in the new world.  We are still learning what grapes grow best where and what varietals can stand on their own or need to be blended.  Cab Franc is a fun wine that pairs very well with meat dishes.  Next time you’re torn between a Merlot and a Cabernet Sauvignon compromise and choose a Cab Franc!

Cheers.

Here are my summaries and selected notes from several different wineries in Walla Walla, Washington.  Our goal for this trip to Walla Walla was to try and visit some truly boutique wineries.  I learned at Long Shadows that a boutique winery is defined as a winery with less than 10,000 cases each year.

àMaurice Cellars: This pretty little winery sits in the foothills of the Blue Mountains.  It is surrounded by an estate vineyard that is still too young to be used in the wines but should be ready soon.  àMaurice is an all organic winery and their future estate fruit will be the same.  As we were tasting the phone rang several times with orders for more wine from distributors and restaurants.  Being a small winery with only around 2,000 cases, several of àMaurice’s varietals are sold out.  This wine is receiving good buzz and I think they have the potential to really become a big name in Washington Wine.

best wine tasted: 2005 Malbec. Malbec is a varietal on the rise in Walla Walla, and for good reason. Native to Bordeaux, Malbec has great full tannins and is comonly blended along with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. This wine, however, is 100% Malbec, inspired by the winemaker’s time spent in Argentina where Malbec is the wine of choice. The flavors here were plum and other dark fruits as well as some mineral character. Big tannic wine that’s not a Cab, Malbec’s are fun and growing in popularity.

- àMaurice barrel room

Tamarack Cellars:  Tamarack sits next to the airport in Walla Walla along with many other wineries.  They are housed in former air hangers, however, all of the tasting rooms are quite unique around the airport.  Tamarack’s wines always score in the 90’s and their consistency is making their name more and more recognizable.  The tasting room was crowded on the Thursday afternoon I was there.

best wine tasted: 2006 Cabernet Franc.  I am on a big Cab Franc kick right now, but this was truly my favorite of the wines I tasted through at Tamarack.  Cab Franc to me is somewhere in between a Merlot and a Cabernet Sauvignon: not quite as big as a Cab Sauv, not quite as smooth as a Merlot.  This wine had the classic peppery note for Cab Franc in the finish, and the taste was of blackberries and chocolate.  

Five Star Cellars:  Five Star is literally next door to Tamarack, and until tasting at the winery I had never tried their wines.  The owner/winemaker was there by himself pouring in the tasting room and we had a great conversation.  He explained that the initial idea behind Five Star was that it would be a small operation, basically just for fun, but as time went on his son wanted to come on board and make a living at it, and they expanded.  They have made the decision to stay small and not to pander to some of the big wine reviews.  All of their wines had a soft character to it, making them easy to drink.

best wine tasted: 2006 Syrah.  Plum and Cherries jump from the glass on this very aromatic Syrah.  Syrah was all the rave in Walla Walla for the last couple years but it is seemingly slowing down in its ascent to next great wine from Walla Walla status.  For me, that’s really too bad, as Walla Walla Syrahs tend to showcase the terroir (taste of the region) of Walla Walla better than any other varietal.  I love Syrah, and this is a very approachable one.

Hence Cellars: Hence is a very small and new winery with a beautiful vineyard and facility.

-The vines looked incredible, and I told the vineyard manager just that!  Look how perfect the shoots are tucked!

-I love barrel rooms, these barrels are died with food coloring both for the aesthetic and for organizational purposes.

Hence’s production was so small, and their success big enough, that we were only able to sample a couple of their wines.  However, the few we did sample were very nice wines, with oak coming through.  The winemaker was there working on blending and one of the wines we tried was poured out of a test tube!  A fun experience with an up and coming wine maker.

best wine tasted: 2005 Cultivar. A red blend, this had a great floral character to it, with red fruit coming on in the mouth and in the finish. We also tasted the 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon which is not yet released. I expect big things from Hence, and if their first few wines are any indication, Hence won’t be small for long.

Ash Hollow:  Instead of visiting the winery itself we went to the tasting room in downtown Walla Walla.  The breadth of wines from this producer is impressive, and the whites were a nice change of pace as so many wines I’d been tasting had been red.  An interesting taste was a Gewurztraminer that tasted almost more like a Pinot Gris in that it had very little sweetness to it.  Very approachable wines, Ash Hollow is a much larger winery than any of the others featured here and their wine is available in quite a few places.

best wine tasted: 2005 Terassa.  The blend is 33% Malbec, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot and 17% Cabernet Franc. Some great earthy aromas on the nose lead to dark fruits in the mouth. A nice peppery finish, courtesy of the Cab Franc, made this a much more complex wine than any of the others I had at Ash Hollow.
 

Touring and tasting at small wineries was an incredible experience.  I have linked to all of the wineries featured here, most of them have online sites that you can purchase their wine.  

Cheers.

Longshadows is the brain child of famed Washington wine VIP Allen Shoup, the former CEO at Chateau Ste Michelle.  The idea is a simple one: pair world class wine makers with Washington grapes.  We had the pleasure of getting a tour of the winery as well as tasting three of the wines.  Technically speaking, each of the wines is its own winery but for now they are all housed within the same facility in Walla Walla, Washington.

-Tis the season for racking, note the sediment running out on the floor under the barrels!

-The lab at Longshadows.  Note the bottle testing going on in the foreground!  This is where the chemistry of wine making goes down.

- Good shot of the tanks, now being used to store the wine as the barrels are cleaned out

-The Lineup, from left to right, Poet’s Leap, Saggi, Chester Kidder, Pirouette, Pedestal, Feather and Seque

Tasting Notes:

Poet’s Leap 2007 Riesling: This wine has great floral notes and light fruit on the nose, and has a nice apple and floral taste.  Clean,  is perhaps the best way to describe the finish as it slowly fades out.  This wine is hard to put down, it has a great mineral flavor as well and truly accomplishes the goal: an old world style with hints at new world tastes.  Poet’s leap is made by German winemaker Armin Diel.

Chester Kidder 2004: A blend of 58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Syrah, 10% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot: this wine is made by Gilles Nicault, the winemaker at Longshadows who is on-hand day to day to assist with all of the other wines as well.  Great flavors of black cherry, black berries, and chocolate coupled with a hint of tobacco.  I love the blend of Cab and Syrah, it is a great mix of big tannin and big flavors.  It might come as a surprise given some of the big names associated with this label, but I think Chester Kidder can hold its own with any of the other wines in the Longshadows family.

Sequel Syrah 2004: 97% Syrah and 3% Cabernet Sauvignon, this wine is made by famed Australian John Duval, who until very recently made the most celebrated wine in Australia: Penfold’s Grange.  This is a smooth Syrah with flavors of dark fruits.  It has a big mouth feel, and a nice long finish.  I tend to like smokey Syrahs, which were abundant in Washington from the 2004 vintage.  This Syrah, however, doesn’t have any prevalent smoke notes and in fact has a hint of vanilla as it opens.  A very fun Syrah.

Longshadows’ wines are fun to drink both because of the idea behind them and because they are fantastic wines.  While on the higher end of the price scale compared to many Washington wines, if you feel up to it these wines will not let you down.