Had the 2010 Cayuse Lovers and a 2013 Cayuse Armada over the weekend. The Lovers seems fairly advanced for a 13 year old wine. Dark red brick and lots of tertiary notes with most being pleasant. Decent enough to keep me interested through my glass and a half (90 pts). The Armada was a damn good wine with lots of life left. Soy, bacon fat, and olives with a good dose of red and black fruits. Humming along at 10 years old (94 pts).
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Opened a 2013 Boudreaux Cellars Wallula Vineyard Syrah that was just awful. I continue to dislike how 13’s are aging. While this wasn’t oth it was certainly not in a good place. Closer to drinking a cherry liqueur or brandy than wine.
Win some, lose some going thru these older bottles that take up space.
Right now, I’m drinking the 2013 Horsepower The Tribe Vineyard Syrah. It’s got this nice peaty, smoky, olive tapenade thing going on and I’m loving it. This is perfect for anyone who likes it earthy and savory.
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Shoot, that’s too bad. I’ve got quite a few 2013s in the cellar…maybe I should check on a few soon.
Have you had poor luck with the ageing curve of Rhone varieties only, or Bordeaux varieties and blends as well?
Most, honestly. It was such a hot year that I dont think it is helping the wines, Syrah should be more adaptable, Cab has a tendency for sugars to rocket vs. ripeness.
Its worth tasting thru and making the call. Curious to see how you feel.
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Thought I’d open up this '18 Double Lucky #8 on Sunday to bring some luck to the Joker and company against the Heat. Sadly, didn’t do the trick. A touch on the sweet side but enjoyable with chips and a smoked chicken. Mild rocks funk aromas, olives and stewed fruits.
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Array 2015 Celilo Vineyard Chardonnay:
I purchased a case of this from Full Pull as part of the redacted series for $11.99 a bottle. I bought it convinced it was Ken Wright Celilo. This is not a wine I enjoy. It is overly alcoholic and full of oak flavors. This is not my style anyway, and it’s a complete waste of the great Celilo terroir, which is almost completely hidden under the heavy handed oak. It’s not objectively terrible wine, and it’s not a complete oak bomb, but it’s a surprising miss from a purportedly very good estate.
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That is a vineyard you want to showcase the fruit, acidity, and brightness…not the cooperage.
Too bad.
First from the (more or less) horizontal purchased on Berserker Day.
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2017 W. T. Vintners Syrah Boushey Vineyard - USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Yakima Valley (6/3/2023)
Classy Syrah, elegant and layered. Aromas of eucalyptus, mulberry, cassis, and pepper. Medium plus bodied, dark fruited, balanced acidity, round mid-palate, savory. Great finish, menthol and herbs, soft, easy-going tannins. Very tasty.
Drinking really well now, though plenty of integrated structure to cellar for 3-5 years. (92 points)
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That was my experience as well, and agree with Kris. Too bad. I bought a bunch, though, because my mother-in-law ONLY drinks Chardonnay and this one was priced right. I was hoping it would be awesome (a win-win), but it fell short for sure.
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I popped the first of my recently-arrived 2022 JB Neufeld Sauvignon Blanc Alder Ridge Vineyard HHH this past weekend. Very, very light color (which I love). Excellent concentration of flavors with citrus dominating as well as a hint of underripe apricot(?). Zippy and lively, and just delicious. Screw cap. Nice price, and I’ll be a buyer going forward.
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I had a recent weird experience with a 2014 K Vintner Royal City that I don’t think I’ve had with any other wine. This is a wine I’ve always look forward to a great deal as I found across many vintages it’s excellent to profound, including this vintage that was outstanding sampled in 2021. The one I just tried I double decanted before taking it to a dinner and found it surprisingly tight, tough, and lacking fruit so I left it and took a different wine. A few hours later I returned to it and it was syrupy cooked fruit and acid and completely undrinkable. I may pop another of the 2014 soon to see how it compares. Bad bottle? Yes but not sure why. Can some weird VA cook the fruit? Ideas?
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These wines are perfect poolside sippers!
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I thought it was going to be Ken Wright, since 2015 was both the current and the last vintage of this wine, and I bought the 2013 and 2014 vintages on significant discount,but figured any Celilo Vineyard Wine would be a very safe bet at $11.99. Since this estate makes nothing but Chardonnay, I would have assumed a more terroir friendly approach. My neighbors were happy to liberate me from my remaining bottles.
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That sounds like a corked bottle to me, @Steve_Costigan. VA would not evolve like that in a short term, more likely to “blow off” and become more drinkable. TCA can be barely detectable on opening, but be undrinkable the next day. I think.
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Yes it was very strange. I’ve never had that sequence before. I’ve opened plenty of wines with cooked fruit from either over ripe fruit at harvesting or something that just broke down with aging but those faults were always detectable upon first swirl and didn’t suddenly appear a few hours later. I didn’t detect any TCA and I’m fairly perceptive of it but not super sensitive to it.
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Is grenache the pinot noir of Washington State?
Let me explain what I’m talking about. More than a few wines have caused me to consider how profound really well made grenache can be. And while I’m not oblivious to the differences, I think there’s a significant overlap in profiles and flavor. But it’s not just comparing the components of appearance, aroma, and flavors between the two that draws me to asking this question. It’s the humbling reaction to great wine.
What I’m talking about is a reaction that brings about a stunned silence, or colorful epithets, where the wine grabs every bit of your attention which zeros in on something in the glass that utterly focuses the mind on both how tasty it is and a complexity that’s so compelling you wonder if you’ll ever do an adequate job of describing it. An extrodinary balance among intensity, complexity, elegance, and power.
While syrah is Washington’s best variety by a long shot (for this discussion I include wines made from grapes across the state line in the Rocks district as well as those from within the state proper), the state’s grenache that has at times really taken me by surprise. And really made me think of great pinot.
No not every bottle elicits a response like that but not every bottle of Burgundy does either and in the case of Burgundy you are now shelling out plenty of benjamins for the privilege. But lesser bottles can still be awfully impressive in the combination of deliciousness and enough complexity to keep you thinking. I think there’s the potential for more great grenache to be made.
Is this crazy talk? Should grenache be the antithesis to big bodied cab blends that dominate production? Is shooting for breathtaking grenache too niche and not commercially viable except for a few?
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Personally don’t think Grenache does great here as it needs very sandy or rocky soils and to avoid high temps to avoid sugars spiking, but enough heat to get phenolically ripe, so that basically excludes HHH, Wahluke Slope, Red Mountain, Puget Sound, Lake Chelan, Snipes, Naches, Columbia Gorge, and a bunch of other AVAs. There may be some micro-climates in there where it works.
I still think the best grape here is Merlot, and if we marketed Merlot like in Pomerol with the producer or a fanciful name people would love it. Syrah is 1B.
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Glad to see that you left Walla Walla off of your list, Kris, as Grenache grows beautifully here. I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss some of those other areas you mentioned, however. In the hands of the right producers Red Mountain can reach some great heights with the grape (I’ve had some brilliant stuff from Weathereye Vineyard not to mention Red Heaven Vineyard where I source), and even the warmer eastern Columbia Gorge can be well suited (an example that comes to mind is Analemma’s).
In my career I have worked with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah and Grenache from over a dozen sites each (I’ll work with eleven for Grenache alone this harvest) and none shows greater variation and unique expression of site than Grenache, so from that standpoint, as well as the potential for elegance, I do liken it to Pinot Noir. We are just starting to add to the clonal diversity here and locate the best sites, and I expect that the future is very bright for the grape here. If it is any indication, it is easily the most competitive grape to source right now in our region and only the significantly rarer Mourvedre commands higher prices per ton on average at this point.
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absolutely not.
i hope not. i think grenache is insanely flexible and does well with no wood or 100% new.
as far as what to be produced and where, that’s more involved.
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