In the early 1990’s I walked into Pike and Western Wines across from the Pike Place Market in Seattle. Almost every bottle on the shelves was from California or France with the occasional bottle from Italy. I remember four or five WA state wines including Chateau St. Michelle and Columbia Crest along with “odd” bottles of Leonetti, Quilceda Creek and Woodward Canyon. WA state wine then was facetiously perceived as cheap and a couple of steps up from Blue Nun and Cold Duck by some if one was desperate for swill at a cheap price.
In the mid '90’s the Wine Spectator had a cover feature on '94 Leonetti Merlot calling it “the best merlot in America.” At the time I was on Leonetti’s mailing list having bought one of the “odd” bottles a couple of years earlier and fell in love with it. I could buy two cases a year. As a salesman (I had a title but essentially I sold expensive equipment and was kind of a lobbyist, if you will) I would give bottles as gifts to clients and friends, printing the article and including it in the package.
I cannot tell you how many people who, today, are still on Leonetti’s mailing list because like myself they loved the wine. Of course Leonetti is no longer $25 a bottle either…
Washington state wine.
Two years ago, before I retired, I bought K Vintners Royal City syrah and would give this as gifts, printing out the Parker review which gave it 98 or 99 points depending on the year. I even drank several bottles myself. (After retiring I realized what a fool I was and am now cellaring every bottle I have to properly drink it a number of years from now-if I live that long. And, I should add, we’re talking a handful of bottles)
Along the way I started begging and would talk my way into the occasional bottle of Reynvaan (especially Stonessence) and Cayuse (Bionic Frog, a flippant name, but is about as serious of a bottle as you will find in any Western state.
Or the rest of the world for that matter.
This brings me full circle: I am sipping on '09 Sheridan Singularity syrah as I type this (waited two hours after opening and decanting and still, should have waited five more years) and just finished reading the WS’s annual top 100 issue which includes a lengthy feature on WA state syrah.
I haven’t posted on here for long, just a few months and, then wrote about VA wine. Half of the responses were facetious, at least until the Washington Post article in their Sunday magazine a week ago that called several VA wines “world class.” But I don’t have a lot of credibility. I should mention I have drank a lot of wine however. And, at almost 67, that’s a lot of bottles. I should also mention that I travelled heavily for thirty years on both sides of the Atlantic. And have posted on other message boards (Chowhound) since 1999.
A decade ago I brought a bottle of Leonetti Reserve to Santi Santimaria (who sadly has passed) who owned the Michelin three star, El Raco de Can Fabes outside of Barcelona. Near the end of the dinner he came into the dining room holding a fishbowl sized glass, swirling the glass. He didn’t speak English but through his waiter who translated he thanked me for the bottle. Then he said, “I didn’t know wine was made in your capitol. Where are the vineyards? I’ve been to Washington and don’t remember seeing one.”
Santimaria was thinking of Washington, D. C.
Then he asked me where he could buy more of this wine? He really liked it. I didn’t have the heart to tell him I had a three bottle a year limit.
That same year I took a bottle of Leonetti merlot to Christian Constant who had/has the Michelin two starred Violon d’Ingres in Paris. He, too, came out of the kitchen-like Santimaria he hadn’t waited to open the bottle. At the end of the evening, why not now?
His wife, Catherine, translated: “he loves the wine. Where can he buy more?” I had a one case allocation of their merlot.
Why isn’t anybody writing about the WS article about WA state syrah? I went back three weeks on here and couldn’t find a single mention. Half of what I saw is French this or California that. But Washington? Walla Walla? (which now has 130+ wineries and twenty years ago had five). I didn’t see anything about the Okanagan either and very little about Oregon. Certainly not Virginia so I started two threads…)
I am making the very serious argument that among the finest syrah in the world are (and they are very different): several from K Vinters (including Royal City-the '10 is extraordinary), Cayuse, Reynvaan, Sheridan and several others. There are real bargains, too especially given the ferocious competition of Eastern WA wine, including Owen Roe Ex Umbris, PB (from the excellent Rasa Vineyards) and many, many others. I should note here when I say “bargain” I am not talking Columbia Crest Grand Estates. Rather, the $25-30 range and if you’re willing to buy a case a lot of this will come down 15-20% depending on the winery and who you buy it from.
I live outside of Washington-Washington, D. C. A lot of this rarely comes East. Much I’ve had to have shipped from the wineries or one of several excellent stores (I don’t want to namedrop) who I have learned to trust.
Why aren’t people talking about Washington state syrah? Does wine have to be French or from California to be truly excellent?
And, for those who decide to give several of the wines I’ve mentioned a taste, it may not be that easy. A lot of other people know about them. They’re just not writing about them on this board.
They should.
