Sunday, Dec. 01, 2002

Silver Celebration

Preston Premium Wines turns 25

By Bob Woehler

It was a nostalgic trip down wine-tasting lane in September at a 25th anniversary celebration at Preston Premium Wines.

It was especially memorable because I was at a 1976 event that launched the Pasco, Wash., winery as then 16-year-old Cathy Preston — daughter of owners Bill and Joann Preston — symbolically crushed the first grapes with her feet.

I guess you could say I also got my feet wet that day. It was the first time I wrote about Pacific Northwest wines.

It was a day when everyone was new to the concept of making premium European-style wines in the Pacific Northwest.

Washington had only four other wineries then, Oregon about the same number and Idaho perhaps one. British Columbia wineries were producing little of the fine wine they make today.

Now, a quarter-century later, a few dozen of us from the wine trade were back to sample vintages of Preston wines ranging from 1976 to 2000. Few Pacific Northwest wineries can dig into their libraries and come up with 1976 vintages.

Cathy Preston Mouncer has grown up to be co-owner of the winery, and while she doesn’t stomp grapes anymore, she still hustles to promote the family line of premium wines.

The festive event had a bittersweet touch, as Bill Preston, founder of the winery, died in August.

But his wife, Joann, daughter Cathy and son Brent, the co-winemaker and vineyard manager, are tending a 2001 vintage to add to the fine list of wines from the first 25 harvests.

Smelling and sipping my way through the wines was like visiting with long-absent friends.

The tasting also showed the evolution of Preston Premium Wines from the early days when it made everything from chenin blanc to ice wine. Today, the winery concentrates on a shorter list of wines: sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, merlot, cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon, gamay beaujolais rosé and port.

But in its earlier days, it made as many as 17 different wines, including a famous 1976 pinot noir that is still pretty tasty.

That 1976 pinot noir has an interesting history, one Bill Preston liked to tell regularly. He entered it in 1978 in a pinot noir competition at the Washington County Fair in Oregon and won the grand championship. “After that, they wouldn’t let me or any other Washington winery enter the contest,” Bill Preston liked to joke.

Preston never produced a pinot noir equal to the 1976, and long ago stopped making that variety. But the 1976 remains very enjoyable, showing fruit, tannins and the complexities of a fine Burgundy. Another wine that brought back long-forgotten memories was Desert Gold, a blended white wine that probably was Preston’s most popular wine at one time. At the Sept. 25th anniversary, Preston didn’t have a bottle of Desert Gold on the tables — it was all gone from the winery’s official library.

I asked Brent if there might be one is his dad’s wine cellar in his parents’ home next to the winery. He went searching and came up with a bottle of the nonvintage blend from 15 years ago that was made to commemorate the winery’s 10th anniversary celebration.

A blend of gewürztraminer, chenin blanc, chardonnay and riesling, this slightly sweet wine was showing its 15 years but had some nice ripe apple characteristics and still was enjoyable.

One of Preston’s most irritating wines was the 1986 sparkling riesling wine, then labeled a champagne. The flavors were fine, but the corks were so hard to extract, sometimes vice grips were required. I remember once opening a bottle in frustration by knocking the neck off against a hard object. I must confess that’s no way to open a sparkling wine.

At the 25th anniversary tasting, Brent managed to extract the corks without any problems. The wine still has nice character. Made of 100 percent riesling, it showed excellent bubbles and a good mouth feel, and it continues to hold much charm.

Another favorite from the past that is holding up well is the 1982 ISBA, or “individual selected botrytis affected” white riesling. It won three gold medals, including one at a Northwest Enological Society judging in Seattle.

The wine still has lovely sweetness, with nice orange zest and wonderful riesling fruit flavors.

Missing from the tasting was perhaps Preston’s most famous wine — its 1977 chardonnay — which in 1979 won the first grand prize ever awarded at the Northwest Enological Society judging in Seattle. This wine not only put Preston on the map, but also Washington wines in general. The Seattle judging included a panel of international wine experts.

A picture of a smiling trio that included winemaker Rob Griffin and Joann and Bill Preston appeared in The Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Griffin, who got his start at Preston in 1977, later worked at Hogue Cellars and now runs his own winery, Barnard Griffin in Richland, Wash.

The day after the Seattle event, I went out to the winery to retry the award winner and bought a case. I remember Bill Preston raising the price soon after and being thankful I bought mine first. My case is long since gone. It was an absolute stunner and about as perfectly balanced as I’ve ever tasted. Alas, the last time I tasted this wine was about a decade ago, and age had taken its toll.

Tom Stockley, longtime wine columnist for The Seattle Times who died in an airplane crash in 2000, wrote about the 1977 chardonnay in a 1986 column after attending Preston’s 10th anniversary celebration.

“I consider it a privilege to have known the Preston family since they first opened the winery next to their home.” Stockley wrote. “I remember making the long drive over to visit this new enterprise (in those days, a new winery was really news) and watching the orange sunset over the new vineyards spread out on the slope below the winery. I have since enjoyed more sunsets at Preston’s.

“I stood next to the Prestons at the Enological Festival in Seattle (in 1979) and shared their joy over winning the sweepstakes for their beautiful 1977 chardonnay,” Stockley wrote. “It was the beginning of a long line of well-made wines that have taken a shelf full of additional awards. But there will never be another award quite like the one that night, proving to the world that an upstart winery over in Pasco (of all places!) could make a top award wine.

“ ‘We showed them,’ I remember Joann Preston yelling as I gave her a big hug,” Stockley wrote.

The Prestons still are showing everyone today, with Preston Premium Wines holding its place as one of the Pacific Northwest’s finest family-owned wineries.

A few favorites from Preston’s 25th anniversary tasting

1981 merlot — Still has great cherry fruit aromas along with oak, alluring flavors and a nice finish.

1983 reserve merlot — Heavy oak with a touch of berries. Still lots of fruit left.

1995 merlot — Clean berries, smooth with gobs of appeal, a big wine.

1997 reserve merlot — A huge, inky-colored wine with big dark ripe berry flavors and great chocolate. A blockbuster wine.

1995 cabernet franc — Great balance, tar and chocolate with smooth tannins. It has layers of flavors. One of the best I’ve tasted.

1997 cabernet franc — Cherries, good fruit, bright flavors.

1990 reserve cabernet sauvignon — Still a lot of stuff going on here, including cherries and berries.

1993 reserve cabernet sauvignon — Great big vanilla oak aromas and touches of spice and leather.

1994 reserve cabernet sauvignon — Full-bodied, flavorful and so easy drinking.

Platinum red for 20th anniversary in 1996 — Smooth, oodles of flavors, tasty.

1997 reserve cabernet sauvignon — Loaded, big and tasty with vanilla and almond essences. Good cherry character and great tannins for aging.

1999 sauvignon blanc — Has just the right amount of herbaceousness, including rosemary, followed by nice citrus fruit.

1998 reserve chardonnay — Tropical fruit with plenty of rich oak overtones, Tasty and a nice acid finish.

1986 riesling ice wine — Still delicious and sweet containing a lot of honey and citrus components.

1997 Tenrebac port — Tenrebac is “cabernet” spelled backward. This cabernet port has great almond and chocolate flavors like a fine rich mocha.

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