Seattle Metropolitan's Top 100 Washington wines

Folks,

I wrote a ‘Top 100’ article on Washington wine in the September issue of Seattle Metropolitan magazine again this year that I thought some of you might be interested in. Links to the various articles can be found on the blog here:

http://www.wawinereport.com/2011/08/seattle-metropolitan-magazines-2011-top.html

Enjoy!

Sean,

I ran into that article yesterday. After a quick scan it looked like the ratings take the “bigger and bolder the better” approach. It’s not that I dislike any of the rated wines. It’s just that mass was valued over subtlety.

P Hickner

I noticed the same thing and, while it’s probably not the only example (and I’m too lazy to examine the whole list) the L’Ecole #41 Pergee is from Seven Hills vineyard, which is in Oregon. But I also notice there are two Sineann wines from Champoux Vineyard (Washington) made in Oregon. Wouldn’t at least one of these be Oregon wine? Can’t have it both ways.

Sean- I loved the list and think you did a great job. As a WA resident who drinks a lot of WA wine, there is no question for my palate Christophe makes the best wine in the state by a mile. To not have his wines sit at the top would be silly.

I don’t understand the criticism of having more “subtle” wines. There are very few WA wines I taste each year that I would even use that term, and I would be hard pressed to liberally sprinkle a list of top 100 wines with them.

Bob/Peter- I guess give some examples of finesse wines you feel are in the top twenty each year that are absent and I’ll better understand the point you are making.

Can’t do it. I drew my conclusion from reading the notes, which are pretty clear, not because I know the wines.

I’m not all that familiar with WA wines even though I live in the PNW. I’ve been concentrating on OR pinot.

Peter, not sure if you’re referring to what’s on the list (as opposed to what’s not), how the wines that are on the list are scored or both. In terms of “bigger and bolder” wines standing out at the expense of wines that are more nuanced, this is certainly a risk in any mass tasting. However, I think it also has to do with the styles Washington has been favoring. Many Washington wineries have been dialing things up in the last ten years. I do think, however, that there are a number of wines on the list that display a great deal of subtlety, such as Gramercy’s 09 Syrah, FIGGINS’ 08 Red Wine, Betz’ 09 Besoleil, and the Maison Bleue 09 Graviere to name just a handful in the top 20.

Bob, I define a wine as a Washington wine if it comes from what I consider to be Washington vineyards. However, I include the entire Walla Walla Valley AVA where two-thirds of the plantings are on the Oregon side of the border (which I fondly refer to as the ‘occupied area’) because 1) many of the wineries making fruit there are bonded in Washington 2) Oregon has shown little to no interest in promoting this area and 3) perhaps most importantly, there is an abundance of incredible wine coming from there! I therefore consider it to be ‘ours.’ I don’t, however, include the other Washington AVAs that cross in to Oregon. Perhaps it seems arbitrary - and more than a little self-serving - but…

Anyone had that Abeja Chardonnay?

Sean busts his ass on this process and does take it very seriously. There are producers who don’t submit samples, so that can explain omissions.

As far as examples of subtle or should we say more classically styled wines that could be on a top whatever list from Washington…many did make the overall list, but not necessarily the top ten or twenty:

Syncline, Rotie, Waters, Gramercy, Maison Bleue, Ross Andrew, Cadence, Andrew Will, Cairdeas, Cor, Nefarious, Couvillon, Domaine Poullion, Amiche, Vinyl, Hestia, Bunchgrass, Kerloo, Amavi, Dunham, Rulo to name a few.

I categorically disagree with the idea that it would be “silly” to have a list without Cayuse or Quilceda Creek for that matter at the top.

The Washington wine industry continues to grow. Sean is probably the greatest advocate for it. More so than Gregutt, Steinman and especially BigJ.

To follow up on Anthony’s point, Cadence’s Bel Canto is #10 and it’s a Cab Franc dominant blend that’s not at all what I’d consider a big brooding wine.

Rankings are always subjective. I’d probably taste those same 100 wines and come up with a different ranking. No offense to Sean, but I never look at lists like this as more than a “here’s a bunch of wines you should check out” vs some ordained ranking of absolute quality. Plus, well, the reds made here are Syrah and the Bordeaux varieties. Those wines can be made in classically styled ways but all things being equal they’ll be bigger than, say, Pinot would be (not that we can grow Pinot here).

I got so annoyed at the idea that there aren’t enough classically styled wines to make a list, I forgot the one that should probably sit on top, Seven Hills.

Abeja makes a solid Chardonnay (and Viognier as well) I really liked the selection of whites that did make the list. aMaurice Viognier, Delille Chaleur blanc are some of the best whites made in the state year in year out, IMO.

aMaurice Viognier is killer juice, and I don’t even tend to like Viognier in general.

Well said.

So, in other words, you can have it both ways. I see.

EDIT: If you don’t include the other AVAs that cross into Oregon how do you account for the 45 wines in your top 100 that carry a Columbia Valley appellation?

I will read it in detail later but I found this useful. We were in Walla Walla last year and found many outstanding wineries that were missing on the list: Rulo, Cougar Creat (some wines,not all), VA Piano. But given that, my opinion may be slanted just because I did not try any wines from about 90% of the list. We’ll have to go out and try again.

Their 07 Malbec is the finest example of that varietal I have had to date,though the upcoming 09 Kerloo version(which I tried from barrel) may eclipse it.Thanks for the list Sean.

Anthony- besides us disagreeing on the quality of Cayuse, we can also disagree on the definition of finesse.

Rotie, Maison Bleue, Syncline, Rulo, Cadence… these are some of my favorite WA producers! I responded to the criticism the wines on Sean’s list were all about power. Many of the examples you submitted are placed very high on the list. Rotie #7. Cadence #10. Maison Bleue #18 etc…

I don’t open a Rulo and use the term “subtle” in my tasting notes. I’m not sure many think Dunham wines are subtle, dialed back, low alcohol or whatever criteria used when you made your list.

I think we like a lot of the same wines. You don’t care for Cayuse much. I don’t care as much for Seven Hills.

With 700+ wineries we have plenty to choose. I don’t think I said anything that outrageous by asking for examples of finesse wines.

Gramercy I would agree is a finesse wine. I’m not sure I put many of your examples in that same class but this is what wine boards are for…

I still want people to give examples of what they mean by subtle in wine. Especially wines of the same varietals as we grow here. It’s simply not an adjective I hear used in TNs about reds period, even wines made from Nebbiolo and Pinot where you might expect to see it. I’m also not sure it’s fair to ding a list like this for not having subtle wines (whatever that means) and then go on to rave about Cali Cabs damn few of which show any subtlety.

Tom,

The reason I decided to use the term classically styled rather than light or dialed back or whatever is that many of these are not light bodied wines. I do think Dunham and Rulo’s wines taste varietally correct. Their Syrah tastes like Syrah rather than oaky blackberry syrup.

Sorry if I seemed to imply that more elegant examples of Washington wine were not represented in the top 100 list. As noted, there are plenty. I was speaking more of relative ranking, with the top six spots going to in-your-face wines. I had failed to look at the selection criteria as well, and I see that the wineries themselves probably made choices of wines that would show best immediately.

It is true, as Sean says, that WA wine makers in general have ratcheted up the levels of ripeness and oak over time. Whether that is because it give the wines higher ratings from critics, or because the public demands such is debatable. It just is not to my taste, particularly the lack of acidity and the prominence of toasted oak. Anthony mentions one winery in particular that show admirable restraint and is absent in the 100 list, Seven Hills.

P Hickner