Syrah is one variety in Washington that has benefited in from an appreciation of the classical expression of the grape. That goes for California too.
I notice a marked decrease in jamminess over the last four or five vintages. Matthews and Reininger are examples of an evolving sense of style.
Viognier is another, for example the Maison Bleue.
P Hickner
Sean- Is there a list of all wines considered in this list somewhere? I read that it is dependent on the producer to send you a sample. (nice gig, btw). but curious if you have a list of all the wines submitted and tasted to provide some additional context.
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?
Bob, I wasn’t trying to say that I don’t include the other AVAs that cross into Oregon. What I was trying to say was that I do not consider wineries that are located on the Oregon side of the border and that are using fruit from the Oregon side of a joint AVA to be ‘Washington wineries’ or ‘Washington wines.’ As I said in my earlier comment, I do, for a variety of reasons, do this for Walla Walla Valley - but not for Columbia Gorge or Columbia Valley.
The Columbia Valley designated wines on this list are therefore either Oregon wineries using fruit from Washington vineyards, such as Pamplin, or Washington wineries using fruit from the Washington side of the Columbia Valley AVA (with the above caveat about WWV wineries and vineyards).
All this is a bit capricious perhaps, maybe even more than a bit, but you’ve got to dice it up somehow.
I just did a CT report of purchases by region and discovered that WA wines were in 2nd place for three years running (after CA and ahead of OR). This Top 100 list along with Sean’s WA Wine Report and Paul Gregutt’s blog have been instrumental in learning about wines and wineries I want to explore and Full Pull Wines has enabled me to do just that without having to join mailing lists or buy direct by the case. While CA and WA will remain my top buying regions, my purchases of French wines (with the possible exception of Burgundies) will be minimal at best as I can find the varieties and blends I like in WA.
Peter, #6 is the Figgins, with a note that reads “the palate is dense and elegant, both structured and light on it’s feet.”. The others are a mixed bag (e.g. The QC we all know is very in your face). Are you reading something different?
Sorry, meant to note that one is #5…
Looks like WA could do what Oregon did with PN but for the Rhone varietals (obviously already known for Syrah). Wondering how much more and diverse the place will be in 10 years. How about a Chataeuneuf du Pasco? ![[stirthepothal.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/f/f40faec63ca1018898a40805efbf9f0066a3d205.gif "[stirthepothal.gif]"){kind=small}
Undoubtedly. Very good examples of tempranillo, grenache, mouvedre, etc. are already available and will only get better. I am even more excited about what is being done with white rhone varieties - roussanne, marsanne, viognier and more.
My understanding, possibly quite addled, is that Grenache has had some trouble in WA State, specifically with the heavy winter freezes that come through every 6 to 7 years. I recall Doug McCrae telling me at a tasting once about a whole lot of Grenache that had lost due to the vines being less freeze resistant than a lot of the other varieties. Again, I may be misremembering something here as well, since I know Bob Betz has been doing the Besoleil Grenache for a number of years now.
Just off the top of my head I can think of Gramercy who has done a grenache-based blend (now called The Third Man) for a couple of years that is quite good. Ryan Crane of Kerloo just released (and sold out of) a garnacha that was fantastic when we tasted it in WW last April. Cayuse makes the God Only Knows grenache. Can not speak as to whether grenache vines are more susceptible to freezing but it does not appear to be too much of a deterrent.
I can’t speak for all the vintners in the WV, but I know Byron Dooley of Seven of Hearts (my sometime employer) is getting syrah, grenache, mouvedre, pinot gris, cabernet franc, marsanne and roussanne from both sides of the Columbia near Arlington, OR. I’m sure he could get some counoise and cinsault if he wanted them.
Ed Fus from Angel Vine is getting zinfandel, petite sirah and primitivo from various sites in Walla Walla, the Wahluke Slope, Horse Heaven Hills and Columbia Gorge. One of them, Alder Ridge, has 31 grape varieties planted. I’m not sure I could name 31 desirable varieties so apparently the choices are endless.
Sean- Is there a list of all wines considered in this list somewhere? I read that it is dependent on the producer to send you a sample. (nice gig, btw). but curious if you have a list of all the wines submitted and tasted to provide some additional context.
Scott, I have the complete list of wines but have not discussed with Seattle Met making such a list public. I think doing so is a good idea as it gives people a sense of the pool. Personally I’ve always found not having this sense problematic with reviews from Wine Advocate (85 point cutoff - did the wine not get submitted or did it get less than 85 points?) and to a lesser extent Wine Spectator (does some screening prior to determine whether it’s worthwhile to include the wines in blind tastings). However, I do understand why both take these approaches. When you’re tasting and writing about a large number of wines, you need to be selective about where you spend your time. I’d love to see both list all of the wines sampled on-line in some manner. Of course, WS would never do this as the wines are not technically formally rated. I’ll ask the folks at Seattle Met about posting the full list of wines sampled if we do it again next year.
I will say that a little over 400 wines were sampled. A few wineries people have mentioned, particularly Rulo (doesn’t send in wines, only in person tastings), Cougar Crest (was busy trying to open their Woodinville tasting room), Seven Hills, and Dunham didn’t send in samples this year. Va Piano, whose wines I really like, did and had two wines that I rated at 90 points that you can see on-line but were not in the print issue.
re: grenache susceptibility to cold
Hi Eric, your memory is excellent! Grenache is one of the most “tender” of the varietals and has trouble with the rapid freezing conditions that occur in 509 country.
Growers like Christophe bury their canes for protection, but many reject this as too labor intensive and simply assume ~1 out of every 6 vintages will be lost (based on historical data). I’ve even gently asked a number of vineyard managers what their spreadsheets show in terms of risk/reward with this approach, but apparently you don’t use MS products to grow grapes. (grin)
For fragile varietals in WA, burying canes, wind machines, irrigation, site selection etc… allow managers to avoid losing entire vintages. However many growers seem content to roll the dice and skip freeze years or supplement with spot purchases on the open market.
Betz and McCrea are both pulling Grenache from Boushey aren’t they? I think anything is game for a freeze in Eastern Washington, And when the vines were young, they could really fall victim. I think Boushey, Alder Ridge, Gunckel and the other ones are cranking along production wonderfully. Ironically, in the freeze on Horse Heaven Hills last winter, most of the Grenache blocks were spared in Alder Ridge. I was lucky enough to taste some Rotie barrel samples and they were great.
Mourvedre is fantastic from Washington, just impossible to sell as your signature wine unless it says appelation Bandol controlee on the bottle. Malbec has wonderful potential, but the price has to drop. In the end percpetion rules the day, one person’s view of diversity is another’s perception of lack of definition or terroir.
Good discussion!
As I mentioned in an early thread “Maison Bleue - who knew?” over here:
I’m just starting to play with WA wines and I’m really liking it. In fact, yesterday I picked up Maison Bleue rousanne, marsanne, and grenache. When the white rhones from WA become popular I’ll be able to say “oh yeah, been drinking those for months”. ![[wow.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/7/7d450e9830889c8943b674446a21b7254cad657e.gif "wow"){kind=small}
Who would you recommend for a pure mourvedre varietal?
I’ve had the Reynvaan Queens Road White twice in the past three weeks and it was the best white rhone I’ve ever had. As someone who has a hard time getting excited about white rhones, I was floored at how good this wine was both times.
A challenge for WA wines in niche varieties, though, will be pricing. The Reynvaan Queens Road White is listed for $40 in the only WS listing I find. That might not be at all bad for the wine, but $40 for an unknown producer (to most) and an offbeat varietal blend is a harder sell in 2011 that it might have been in 2005 or 2006 when people were more flush with cash. That said, they 09 and 08 are both sold out (though I don’t know their production.
AS much as we like to dismiss critics it would really help this state if TWA had a serious critic covering us. Jay isn’t respected by the wine geeks as far as I can tell and doesn’t seem to drive sales. It would also help if boards like WB and others were more adventuresome. The people here who drink domestic wines don’t drink US wines… they drink Cali wines. And those of us in the Euro camp pretty much stay there too. I’m not sure how to get people to try the wines, but cracking that critical and/or board inertia would help the area.
I have not yet had the chance to taste the Queens Road but am eager to try. That is a marsanne and viognier blend, right?
Happy to be reading this pro-Washington wine thread. Some questons:
Can WA wines gain by “dialing things up”? Is it an effort to satisfy the critics? Is outdoing CA, SW France, Spain, Argentina or Australia realistic in this respect?
Is there a varietal or blend that WA is elevating or championing? OR has been very fortunate with Pinot, making what I believe (acknowledging the disagreement) the best in the US. Is there a WA equivalent in the works?
Are there any themes that make the top 5 or 10 wines (including winemaking) unique and/or distinctive?
RT