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It has long been rumored that the few rows of vines at the entrance to Chateau Ste. Michelle in Woodinville, Wash., were required so the winery could be called a "chateau."
PROSSER -- Construction is expected to start soon on the next phase of what backers say will be the state's premier educational and promotional center for Washington's wines and food products.
This week: Gordon Brothers Tempranillo. Chardonnay makes comeback in Washington. Looking for more in wine. Wine education seminars. Wine Press Northwest e-edition. Platinum winners: La Frenz. MadWine.com. What we're reading. Barnard Griffin's gold-medal rosé. Wine funnies. Where in NW wine country.
Jan. 26, 2010
Vol. 11, No. 4
Wine Press Northwest's Wine of the Week is an independent opinion based on double- and single-blind tastings.
Gordon Brothers Family Vineyards 2007 Tempranillo
Appellation: Columbia Valley
Son-in-law Marc Nelson tends the vines for the Gordons, and he and winemaker Tim Henley teamed up for this Pasco, Wash., winery's remarkable debut with this variety. Cinnamon bark, cocoa powder, black cherries, dill weed and smoked green peppercorn aromas set the table for a remarkably silky drink of blueberries, cherries, chocolate and coffee that's finished with some mint. Rated "Outstanding" by Wine Press Northwest magazine.
Price: $65.
Cases produced: 83.
Food matches: Try this rich red wine with braised lamb shanks, short ribs or a hearty beef stew.
Gordon Brothers Family Vineyards, 671 Levey Road, Pasco, WA 99301, 509-547-6331, www.gordonwines.com
-- Elk Cove Vineyards 2008 Pinot Gris, Willamette Valley
-- Walla Walla Vintners 2007 Merlot, Walla Walla Valley
-- Ridge Crest 2006 Merlot, Columbia Valley, $10
-- Anne Amie Vineyards 2008 Muller-Thurgau Cuvee, Willamette Valley, $14
Brothers Jeff and Bill Gordon began planting their vineyard overlooking the Snake River near Pasco, Wash., in 1980. Five years later, they launched their winery, focusing on estate fruit. In 1998, Bill retired, leaving Jeff and his wife, Vicki, in charge of the operation. They built a winemaking facility at the vineyard to make room for expansion beyond a tasting room and winemaking facility in Pasco.
The vineyard has since expanded to about 100 acres of vines, the winery produces more than 27,000 cases of wine, and the winery's tasting room has moved to the scenic vineyard near Ice Harbor Dam.
Gordon Brothers also produces Kamiak, a second label of value-priced wines.
Just as many of us were beginning to craft obituaries for Chardonnay, the noble white grape has made a remarkable comeback in Washington.
Not that it was really going anywhere. The fact is, Washington winemakers crushed 28,000 tons of it in 2008. But the big news a year ago was that Riesling had surpassed Chardonnay as Washington's No. 1 wine grape. That meant that amid the three West Coast states, Chardonnay was king only in California, as Oregon's No. 1 white grape has been Pinot Gris for a few years now.
So when I saw the 2009 grape stats for Washington earlier this afternoon, I was rather stunned to see Chardonnay had actually increased in production by 24%! While this didn't push it ahead of Riesling, it was an increase I didn't anticipate.
Also of interest from the report:
-- Overall wine grape production increased to 165,000 tons, up 14% over 2008.
-- Malbec was the most expensive grape in Washington last fall, with an average price of $1,473 per ton. This is actually down from $1,655 per ton in 2008.
-- Winemakers crushed 90,000 tons of white wine grapes and 75,000 tons of red wine grapes.
-- The top five wine grapes did not change from 2008: Riesling, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah.
-- Pinot Gris surpassed Sauvignon Blanc in total tonnage. This is because Pinot Gris went up 1,500 tons to 6,600 and Sauv Blanc went down 800 tons to 4,300.
-- Washington's vineyards increased to 34,000 acres from 32,000. Lest we become full of ourselves over this, California's acreage stayed steady at 482,000. Washington is a distant second.
-- Washington remains the undisputed king of juice grapes, with 205,000 tons crushed in 2009. New York is second with 84,900 tons.
In the past four days, I've encountered a variety of wines. Part of this was because the Wine Press Northwest crew conducted a blind judging of 155 Northwest Merlots, the results of which will appear in the Spring issue of Wine Press Northwest.
In our Merlot judging, I was impressed with the gentle hand that Northwest winemakers in general are taking with this variety. A return to elegance (from muscularity in recent vintages) would seem to be the order of the day. Rather than over-the-top tannins, ultra-ripe fruit and barely noticeable acidity, we instead found wines with character, bright fruit and balance. Our judges were generally pleased with this, and I was delighted.
Then came last night's dinner wine. It was a Zinfandel from Lodi, and it was a nightmare: The alcohol topped out at 16.6% (!), and the only fruit I could detect on the nose or palate was me imagining what the wine would have tasted like if it had been picked much earlier and the winemaker hadn't then slammed it with huge amounts of oak to justify calling it a "reserve" and charging an extra $20.
What do we want out of our wines? Do we want them to taste good with food - or just taste good and alcoholic? Do we shun elegance for power? Do we want fruit or oak? Do we want to be able to drink more than one glass at dinner without risking a DUI on the way home? Most importantly: Do we want a wine to taste like the grapes it was made from, or do we prefer homogeneity?
Our good friend Dan Berger wrote a column for the Napa Valley Register on the downfall of Cabernet Sauvignon, which we've linked to farther down in today's newsletter.
I'd love your thoughts on this, which I will share in next week's newsletter. Email me at editor@winepressnw.com.
Washington State University Tri-Cities is offering a number of consumer wine seminars at its Richland campus in the heart of Washington's Columbia Valley.
This Thursday, Thomas Henick-Kling, director of WSU's viticulture and enology program, will teach a "Wine 101" class that goes over the basics of wine appreciation.
On Thursday, Feb. 4, I will be leading a seminar on pairing Northwest wine with WSU's famed Cougar cheeses from the university's Pullman creamery.
On Feb. 18, Henick-Kling will lead a class on detecting wine faults, followed by a March 4 seminar on nontraditional red blends and a March 18 session on Rieslings and terroir.
Classes cost $35 per person and last about two hours. Find out more.
Here's a new feature we unveiled with our Fall issue of Wine Press Northwest: an e-edition.
It's a facsimile of the print edition and is freely accessible. There are tools for zooming in and out, etc.
Click here to check it out. As soon as it loads, click on the image to go to full-screen mode.
We have loaded up the past six issues of Wine Press Northwest, with a goal of eventually posting a complete archive of the magazine, going back to 1998.
The Winter issue of Wine Press Northwest unveils the results of our 10th annual Platinum Judging, in which we invite wineries to send us their gold medal wines from the year for a "best of the best in the Great Northwest" competition.
La Frenz Winery on the Naramata Bench in British Columbia's Okanagan Valley is run by Jeff Martin. The Australian transplant was the winemaker for highly regarded Quails' Gate Estate Winery near Kelowna before launching his own effort earlier this decade. His wines have been nearly universally stunning, earning top awards in many competitions and becoming the first B.C. winery to win the top award three years ago at the Northwest Wine Summit. Thus, it was little surprise to us when La Frenz's 2008 Small Lots Sauvignon Blanc earned a unanimous Double Platinum from us in our best-of-the-best competition.
Each week, I will highlight one of our Platinum winners.
MadWine.com, a Washington-based online retailer, is offering a special deal for Wine Press Northwest readers. Enter the coupon code "winepress" (without quotes) on your next order and get an additional 10% off.
MadWine.com has more than 5,000 wines for sale on its Web site, with nearly 1,000 from Washington and Oregon.
This deal ends Jan. 31.
Last week, we unveiled a new feature on the Northwest Wine of the Week newsletter: links to stories and blog posts we think you'll find interesting. In most cases, the stories will be related to Northwest wine, though on occasion we will include stories on cuisine or specialty foods.
Here are this week's stories:
Dan Berger on the collapse of Cabernet Sauvignon
Alexandria Nicole plans to move its Woodinville tasting room
Walla Walla wineries select cork recycling program
When it comes to last week's mystery photo, Abraham Lincoln was wrong about fooling all of the people some of the time.
That's because 87% of you correctly identified the photo as being from Kiona Vineyards Winery's picturesque tasting room on Washington's Red Mountain. Just 8% guessed it was taken at majestic Mission Hill Family Estate near Kelowna, B.C., while 3% wondered if it showed Sumac Ridge Estate Winery in Summerland, B.C., and 2% thought it was taken at Stoller Vineyards in Oregon's Dundee Hills.
This week, we'll see if we can make this a bit more competitive.
We have added a new cartoon to our "wine funnies" gallery.
Earlier this month, Barnard Griffin of Richland, Wash., earned a gold medal for its Sangiovese rose at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition. This was the fifth consecutive year for this wine winning gold at the California competition. In this week's Northwest Winecast, we chat with owner/winemaker Rob Griffin on what it takes to make such a consistently great wine.
You can watch the Northwest Winecast two ways (both free):
On our Web site:
On YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/WinePressnorthwest
Looking for a wine-related event? Click here for our Northwest wine events calendar.
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