I used the search to no great avail…are there any good threads that speak to Washington wines, their quality, their AVAs, top vineyards and winemakers, etc?
It seems to me as more and more people seek out cool climate, lower ABV, and structure, that WA wines would have gained more prominence. That doesn’t seem to be the case and I’d like to see what others have said regarding the matter…is it a victim of marketing, or are they really not producing the wines at the prices that people want and critics care to get behind.
Certainly Cayuse is very highly sought after…and I do own some Andrew Will, Quilceda, Maison Bleue, Buty and Leonetti. Yet those are only 6 producers, and one could argue they likely get a majority of the coverage in press and message boards.
Just curious…I’m on water restrictions in SoCal with crazy taxes…Washington is cooler, has water, and has no income tax.
Washington state has high sales taxes and high real estate taxes. The ideal is to live in Vancouver Washington and shop in Portland.
The latest Parker has a review of Washington state wines.
Right there there is a bit of a land rush to the Evergreen state as Californians realise they can pay:
1/two arms, two legs for property in Napa/Sonoma
2/$10,000 an acre for excellent vineyard land in Washington.
We sell barrels to wineries up there. Off the top of my head:
Andrew Will…classically styled
Cadence…somebody said i liked his wine because it seems as tho he is trying to make pinot
de Lille…
Quilceda Creek…if you agree with Parker you will love QC…8 100s in a row…
Gorman
Abeja…
Woodward Canyon…also classic
Bookwalter
L Ecole
Cayuse…v famous
Stevens
mark Ryan
Brian carter
Januik
Mc Crea…rhones
Most Washington state wines are priced so you don t need to check out a review or mortgage your home.
Of course, there are the Ste Michelle wineries…all deliver value
With the weather the past few years, I don’t think of WA as cool climate by any stretch. But in comparison to parts of CA, sure. For cool climate, look to the Willamette Valley and Columbia Gorge.
There are lots of WA threads if you search.
I buy mostly Rhone varietals, but Bourdeaux varietals also do well. My favorite producers that produce in a somewhat restrained style (for WA and CA):
Gramercy Cellars
Kerloo
aMaurice
Syncline
Analemma (winery in OR, but they get most of their fruit for now on the WA side of the Columbia Gorge)
Rasa (these can be bigger, but generally hide the abv well)
Reynvaan (early vintages made by Chritophe of Cayuse, but the pricing has gone nutty so I stopped buying with the '12 vintage)
Although I’ve not kept up on new producers over the past few years, I’ve heard good things about Savage Grace, Kevin White and WT Vintners.
As for AVAs, I’m partial to Columbia Gorge (cooler), Rocks of Milton-Freewater (funky) and Walla Walla Valley. Many like Red Mountain, but from my experiences thus far it is better suited to Bourdeaux than Rhone varietals.
For single vineyards, I’m a fan of Atavus, Celilo, Red Willow, Forgotten Hills, Horsepower, Alder Ridge, Upland, Boushey, Olsen, Les Collines and SJR.
Or talk to those of us who made the move south. I moved from WA to CA a little over four years ago, and haven’t regretted it for a moment…
I do still have and buy a lot of WA wine, though. I think all of the producers I buy from have already been mentioned. I buy from Betz, Andrew Will and Cayuse at least once a year. I also have a good amount of Gramercy, Cadence, McCrea, Quilceda Creek, Reynvaan, and DeLille. Some Leonetti. A bit of Chateau Ste Michelle (largely left over from the years that I was a member of their wine club for purposes of getting earlier access to concert tickets). And then a bunch of random one-offs mixed in.
Peter & Kyle - Thanks for the links to gather more info.
Scott - Thanks…I need to reeducate myself of the geography of WA wine regions.
Thanks to the others for producers of note. The jury is likely still out on my next point…can Washington’s land deliver world-class, exceptional wines? Or does it just need attention of more highly-skilled winemakers and growers?
Edit–That last question/statement sounds too abusive and troll-y…I guess the question is, what is holding them back…man or earth?
Wine critics and buyers from all over the world have praised these wines. Parker and his staff have raved about Quilceda Creek, Cayuse and Leonetti, to name a few. Jancis Robinson has praised the wines.
There is something for everybody up there. You just need to figure out what is right for you.
I think WA gets pretty good coverage and the top producers named in this thread receive strong reviews. So I’m not sure anything is holding WA back other than the fact that most of the top producers make small quantities (< 3000 cases) that is mostly gobbled up locally, leaving little for the rest of the U.S.
If you’re truly looking for cooler climate and a burgeoning region, go to the Columbia Gorge. I think it could become a special AVA over coming decades with a greater influx of talented folks looking to see what works best.
Sometimes I think Washington state wines remind me of a pretty girl who transferred to our high school junior year. Nobody knew her. The Elephant Man could have gotten a date with her. Some basketball player asked her our around February 1 and then everybody wanted to go out with her.
Some time ago I went to a restaurant here and ordered a bottle of Andrew Will wine. The somm told me it was the first bottle he sold out of the box…in thirteen months. Winemakers up there tell me they do well in New York, but not so well here in Ca.
Actually you can find Leonetti pretty easily in stores in Seattle – my local QFC always seems to have a good many of them. Not sure outside of WA though.
Nice analogies, Mel. I would second seeking out the cool vintages. 2010 and 2011 are good bets for wineries that know what they are doing. Plan to age the wines. Ben Smith just brought a bottle of his Cadence 1999 Ciel du Cheval over last weekend. this was a vintage that got panned by many wine writers, but Ben and many others knew they didn’t know what they were talking about. Beautiful, balanced, cab franc predominant wine (he got access to more cab franc than usual that year). Nicely mature, but no sign at all of fading. alcohol if I remember was listed at 13.9.