This week: Fidelitas Champoux Cab. Washington Wine Super Fan. One-word wine reviews. Willamette Valley coming to Seattle. Gorge winery closing its doors. Platinum winners. What we're reading. Coyotes on the Creek tasting room. Wine funnies.
Feb. 23, 2010
Vol. 11, No. 8
Wine Press Northwest's Wine of the Week is an independent opinion based on double- and single-blind tastings.
Pacific Northwest Wine Of The Week
Fidelitas Wines 2006 Champoux Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon
Appellation: Horse Heaven Hills
Sometimes in life, you get what you pay for, and Red Mountain winemaker Charlie Hoppes doesn't disappoint his grower or the consumer here. Floral aromatics include a pinch of lavender, followed by plums and rich barrel notes of milk chocolate, coffee and a Fig Newton. The flavor profile focuses on juicy black cherries with coffee and leather in the backing, framed by bright tannins. Rated "Outstanding" by Wine Press Northwest magazine.
Price: $60.
Cases produced: 361.
Food matches: This is a great wine to serve with top cuts of beef or to add to a great meal.
Fidelitas Wines, 51810 N. Sunset Road, Benton City, WA 99320, www.fidelitaswines.com
Recent wines of the week
-- Mercer Estates 2008 Pinot Gris, Columbia Valley
-- Willamette Valley Vineyards 2007 Elton Vineyard Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley
Best Buys
-- Knipprath Cellars 2008 Roussanne, Columbia Valley, $14
-- Willamette Valley Vineyards 2008 Dry Riesling, Willamette Valley, $14
More about Fidelitas Wines
Owner/winemaker Charlie Hoppes has gained a certain level of fame in his two decades as a top Washington winemaker. He's been the red winemaker for Chateau Ste. Michelle. He's helped get Three Rivers in Walla Walla started. He's been the consulting winemaker for many wineries, large and small.
But these days, he's perhaps best known as "Will Hoppes' Dad." His son, a senior at Tri-Cities Prep in Pasco, set records for career passing yardage (10,537), completions (593) and touchdowns (142) as the football team's three-year starting quarterback. In the state finals last fall against Lummi, the young Hoppes threw for 10 touchdowns and 552 yards in leading the Jaguars to their first state title.
Getting back to wine: This week, Fidelitas is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a dinner at the winery.
Are you Washington wine's Super Fan?
We received one entry for our Washington Wine Super Fan video contest. Take a look.
One-word wine reviews
Wine writer Dan Berger had an intriguing article in his weekly Vintage Experiences newsletter last week. It was about one-word wine reviews, citing a recent Kermit Lynch flyer that described a wine with a single word: "crisp."
It got me to thinking over the weekend about wine writers and our various styles of reviews (all of this while writing up reviews for about 100 Merlots). While it certainly would be easier to come up with one word than 50 or 100 words, how helpful to the wine lover is that?
I have studied how our wine reviews have evolved in Wine Press Northwest's 13-year history. In the early years, we were very much in the "how does it smell, how does it taste?" style. But in the past six or seven years, we have taken the approach that every wine has a story to tell. That story might be about the vineyards, the winemaker, the winery, the vintage or even the variety. What makes wine interesting (for me) is context. What struggles occurred during a certain vintage? What stars and planets aligned? Why should I care about Carmenere?
Surely, providing (multiple) words about how a wine smells and tastes, as well as what kind of food it will pair with, are important, but so is the background.
Still, it might be a fun exercise to come up with one-word reviews to see how much of a wine's character I can capture.
Willamette Valley coming to Seattle
Here is an event I consider a "shouldn't miss" (and I don't plan to miss it): The Willamette Valley Wineries Association will be in Seattle on March 11 for a big tasting. About 50 wineries representing all the American Viticultural Area (including the six appellations in the northern Willamette Valley) will be in attendance.
The event begins at 5:30 p.m. and will take place at SoDo Park by Herban Feast (a mile south of Safeco Field), and tickets are $45 if purchased before March 1.
Find out more by going to willamettewines.com for event info and tickets.
Gorge winery to close its doors
Wheatridge in the Nook, a winery in Arlington, Ore., is closing its doors after being open for just about three years. The Columbia Gorge winery is selling off the last of its reds for $8 per bottle for those looking to do a bit of bargain hunting.
Platinum winners
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. Each week, I will highlight one of our Platinum winners.
Hollywood Hill Vineyards is one of the few (only, perhaps) wineries growing estate grapes in the Woodinville area. Owner/winemaker Steve Snyder is growing Pinot Noir and Chardonnay on Hollywood Hill, which isn't far from Ste. Michelle and Columbia. The grapes for his Double Platinum wine, the 2006 Syrah, came from Portteus Vineyards, a longtime Yakima Valley grower in the Rattlesnake Hills AVA. It is a remarkable wine that reminded us of why the Yakima Valley should not be overlooked for red wines.
What we're reading
Here are links to stories and blog posts we think you'll find interesting. In most cases, the stories are related to Northwest wine, though on occasion we will include stories on cuisine or specialty foods.
Here are this week's stories:
Wine Netiquette.
Here's why more winemakers don't blog.
Ancient wine press reveals Israel's past as wine exporter.
See what else we're reading.
Where in NW Wine Country
Considering how few clues were provided, I'm surprised how many of you correctly identified the location of last week's mystery photo.
In the little game I called "Name the Chihuly," nearly half of you (46%) were correct in voting for Long Shadows Vintners near Walla Walla, Wash., while 37% of you thought it was at Quilceda Creek Vintners in Snohomish, Wash. Meanwhile, just 11% guessed it was at Domaine Drouhin in Dayton, Ore., and 7% wondered if it was at Mission Hill Family Estate in West Kelowna, B.C.
I'm not sure how difficult this week's photo will be, as I've kind of given up guessing how well you'll do.
Click to vote
Wine cartoon of the week
We have added a new cartoon to our "wine funnies" gallery.
Check it out.
Coyotes on the Creek
A new tasting room in Caldwell, Idaho, brings together three wineries in the Snake River Valley. This week, we visit Coyotes on the Creek and talk to the folks at Vale Wine Co., Fujishin Family Cellars and Bitner Vineyards.
You can watch the Northwest Winecast two ways (both free):
On our Web site:
http://www.winepressnw.com/
On YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/WinePressNW
Find Northwest wine events
Looking for a wine-related event? Click here for our Northwest wine events calendar.
Wine Press Northwest e-edition
We have loaded up the past six issues of Wine Press Northwest in a freely available e-edition format, with a goal of eventually posting a complete archive of the magazine, going back to 1998.
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