My firm hosted an open house last night. We invited in a local artist to adorn our walls with her beautiful and striking works (Tami Figliola…check her stuff out), and did our best to use local foods. Additionally, I decided to pick one wine from several of the South Seasttle (SoDo) tasting rooms for the evening. Most (if not all?) of these wineries have tasting rooms in Walla Walla (or bunkers, in the case of Latta Wines!), but they’ve opened Urban tasting rooms in with SoDo (South Downtown) area of Seattle. They’re also right next to Full Pull Wines’ tasting room. I regret that I didn’t have a Block Wines, FP&F, or Puget Purveyors to pour, but that’ll be next time. These are impressions, as I was mostly playing host:
2016 Kerloo Cellars Grenache Blanc Walla Walla Valley
100% Blue Mountain Vineyards (12.9% abv) This was my choice for one of the two whites partially because there weren’t too many white choices amongst the wineries there. Very dry, with some funk on the nose. Good citrus notes, slate-like. The funk on the nose was just this side of good…much more would’ve been off-putting. I have very little GB experience, so I’m not sure if that’s normal.
2016 Rotie Cellars Southern White Walla Walla Valley
50% Viognier, 35% Roussanne, 15% Marsanne (12.5% abv) I don’t know if you could stuff more fruit into a white than this. Just delicious stone fruit (peach, nectarine) flavors that are ripe, but not overly so. The palate presence is almost off-dry, but I’m pretty sure that’s only due to the ripe fruit flavors (I didn’t ask about RS). Crowd-pleasing for sure, and my favorite of the two whites.
2013 Latta Wines GSM Columbia Valley
58% Grenache, 23% Syrah, 19% Mourvedre (14.1% abv) Round and supple, with deep fruit and nice spine. My favorite of the group, just edging out the Waters. Good for nearer-term drinking. $35 IIRC.
2015 Structure Cellars “Craftsman” Cabernet Sauvignon Columbia Valley
(14.7% abv) The tasting room wasn’t pouring when I was shopping, so I chatted with Brian and chose this wine without tasting it. I wanted to watch the budget, so the $25 tag fit the bill. They have a $35 “Foundations” line as well. Glad I bought this: this was very varietally-correct Cab, and had great black fruit and nice acidity. A touch more oak that ideal, but I’m pretty sure that’s due to the fact that it’s only a 2015. I’m excited to go back and taste through the lineup.
2013 Waters Winery “Interlude” WA State
51% Merlot, 39% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Cabernet Franc, 3% Malbec
(14.5% abv) Dark ruby. This was really good for the tariff (again, budget) at $28. The bottle age shows, with lovely harmony and balance to this wine. I’m a HUGE fan of Waters’ Syrahs (Forgotten Hills, Loess Vyd.), but this Bordeaux-inspired blend was fantastic, irrespective of the price. Dark berries, slight leather, subtle herb.
If you’ve not been, head to SoDo and hit some of these tasting rooms. The folks are universally wonderful and the wines are great too. And, better yet, they’re all surrounding the same parking lot, so park once and enjoy.