This week: Volcano Vineyards Syrah, record crop likely in Washington, Washington Wine Month, wine word: ullage, Covey Run winemaker moves to Columbia, great things to do, Pacific Rim's main man in Washington, Wine Knows blog.
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Aug. 14, 2007
Vol. 8, No. 33
Wine Press Northwest's Wine of the Week is an independent opinion based on double- and single-blind tastings.
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Pacific Northwest Wine Of The Week
Volcano Vineyards 2004 Aguila Vineyards Syrah
Appellation: Rogue Valley
Not much Syrah was planted in Oregon in 1994 when this vineyard in Talent put the northern Rhone Valley's favorite grape in the ground. The vines are hitting their stride, as this wine shows. It opens with aromas of black cherries, raspberries, cinnamon and cedar. The focus on the silky palate is that of wonderful plum jam with black-cap raspberries and food-friendly acidity. Rated "Outstanding" by Wine Press Northwest magazine.
Price: $28.
Cases produced: 150. Look for this in wine shops or order directly from the winery.
Food matches: Enjoy this dark red wine with grilled meats, especially lamb.
Volcano Vineyards, 930 N.W. Brooks St., Bend, OR 97701, 541-617-1102, http://www.volcanovineyards.com
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Recent wines of the week
-- Brian Carter Cellars 2005 Oriana, Yakima Valley
-- Barnard Griffin 2005 Malbec, Columbia Valley
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Best Buys
-- Claar Cellars 2003 White Bluffs Rendezvous Red, Columbia Valley, $10
-- Lone Canary 2006 Sauvignon Blanc, Columbia Valley, $10
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More on Volcano Vineyards
Liz and Scott Ratcliff operate Volcano Vineyards, a tiny producer in the central Oregon city of Bend. They launched the operation by producing 250 cases of wine from the 2003 vintage and now are up to 1,000 cases per year, focusing primarily on Rhone and Bordeaux varieties.
The couple make their wines in Medford, Ore., and Healdsburg, Calif., near their vineyard sources, and their tasting room is in Bend.
Today's Wine of the Week also won a gold medal at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition last winter.
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Record crop likely in Washington
The USDA has released its crop estimate for Washington's 2007 wine grape harvest. If everything comes in as planned (and it never does), Washington would harvest 131,000 tons of wine grapes this fall, easily bypassing last year's record crop of 120,000 tons.
How are crops estimated and - more importantly - what might Washington winemakers do with all the extra wine?
Read more on The Wine Knows blog:
http://community.winepressnw.com/node/461
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Washington Wine Month
We're in the midst of Washington Wine Month at Washington State Liquor Stores, and this means big savings. We have the list, which you can download off the Web site.
There are 159 wines on the list under $10.
To download the PDF, go to:
http://www.winepressnw.com/newsletters/downloads/
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Wine word: ullage
What does "ullage" mean? That's the question columnist Teri Citterman asked various winemakers. Read her latest column and the hilarious answers she got from the experts at:
http://www.winepressnw.com/citterman/
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Covey Run winemaker moves to Columbia
Kerry Norton, who has been making superb - and inexpensive - wines for several years at Covey Run Winery, has been named director of winemaking for Columbia Winery, also in Woodinville, Wash. Both wineries are owned by Constellation Brands.
Norton succeeds David Lake, who retired last year after 27 years at Columbia. Norton was winemaker at Eola Hills Wine Cellars near Salem before moving to Washington. Kate Michaud has been named winemaker at Covey Run.
Read more on The Wine Knows:
http://community.winepressnw.com/node/458
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Great things to do
Managing Editor Eric Degerman writes a column each issue called "10 Great Things to Do in Northwest Wine Country." Here is one of those great things to do:
TOUR ON A BIG MOTORBIKE. Here's a suggestion e-mailed to me from Ann Reeves in Kennewick, Wash.: "My husband, Ken, and I are a pair of childless baby boomers who love to hop on our midlife crisis-inspired and self-indulgence-motivated motorcycle and hit the backroads to visit just about any winery we can Google for an address. We enjoy chatting it up with whomever is within earshot to discuss the wines, the terroir, the fermentation, whatever, just so we can learn more about wine. We also like to seek out opportunities to gently, but quickly, remind wine-bar attendants that 'Meritage' rhymes with 'heritage' and is not pronounced like some snooty French word."
What is your favorite thing to do in Northwest wine country? E-mail Eric at edegerman@winepressnw.com
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Pacific Rim's main man in Washington
Randall Grahm created Bonny Doon Vineyards in California and Pacific Rim Wine Co., which has relocated to Washington. But the guy on the ground at Pacific Rim is Nicolas Quille. We caught up with Quille recently, and he talked about his goals and background.
Catch the interview in this week's Northwest Winecast.
The Wine Press Northwest Winecast (or video podcast) can be viewed online at:
http://www.winepressnw.com/video/vodcast/
Additionally, the Winecast is available via Apple's iTunes Music Store. Via this free software, you can subscribe (for free) to the Winecast, and it will automatically look for and download new episodes each week. Just go to the iTunes Music Store and search for "Wine Press Northwest."
TECHNICAL NOTE: If you have trouble viewing any videos on our site, you may need to download the latest version of the free QuickTime plug-in. It takes just a couple of minutes and you shouldn't need to restart your computer. Go to: http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download
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The Wine Knows
The Wine Knows, Wine Press Northwest's blog, is getting updated almost daily (and sometimes more than daily). Recent highlights include:
-- Summer treat in Washington wine country.
-- We can decide wine quality standards.
-- Putting the screws to bad corks.
-- Covey Run winemaker steps up to Columbia.
-- Columbia Crest switching to synthetics?
-- Columbia Crest: No huge switch to synthetics.
-- Washington wine grape crop estimate tops 131,000 tons.
-- And more.
Be sure to check out the blog daily to read updates on the Northwest wine scene. If you are into RSS feeds, you can easily get blog updates throughout the week.
http://community.winepressnw.com
If you are into RSS feeds, you can easily get blog updates.
The URL for the RSS feed is:
http://community.winepressnw.com/node/feed
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Pacific Northwest Wine Shop Directory
WATER TO WINE, Gig Harbor
9014 Peacock Hill Ave. Ste 103A T-F:11-7; Sat:11-6; Sun:12-4
253-853-9463
info@watertowineshop.com
PACIFIC WINE CLUB
West Coast & International Wine Clubs for all budgets and palates. Tasting Room. Bottle Shop. Limited Production. Top Rated Wines.
3588 Heathrow Way, Medford, OR. 97504
1-800-792-6410
http://www.pacificwineclub.com
