Tasting Notes: Willakenzie Estates

In our trip to the Willamette Valley earlier this year, we drove up to Willakenzie Estates before they’d opened for the day and had to turn around to head elsewhere. After hitting Penner Ash, the 6th stop on what seemed like a never ending tour of pinot noir, we decided to skip Willakenzie.

Yesterday, I found out that was a big mistake. Willakenzie’s winemaker was tasting at McCarthy Schiering, and I had a chance to try five of their pinot noirs. Willakenzie is very self-consciously modeled in Burgundian style, but I can’t criticize them too much for trying to imitate the French – they are French. The owners are French, and the winemaker who was pouring was Thibaud Mandet. From the brochures they had, it looks like the winery itself is impressive – a park-like estate with vineyard blocks tucked in between forest groves.

Here are some notes on the wines:

• The first was an entry-level pinot (I believe it was the Pinot Noir Willamette Valley) that Mandet said was meant to be “approachable.” It was relatively inexpensive (for Willamette Valley anyway) – $22.50, but I found it unremarkable. The delicate fuit flavors of pinot noir hadn’t been fully developed, and I also found it fairly acidic.
• In the middle were two wines at $33.00 that I really enjoyed, one slightly more than the other. The first was the Aliette, named for Thibaud’s grandmother. As we stepped up to this one, the fruit became more pronounced. It’s still a very delicate wine – it’s not the bombastic fruit I’m used to with Washington wines. You really have to let this one sit on your tongue for a long time to get all of the flavor it has to offer. The Aliette, though, was perhaps a bit too polite for me – the Pierre Leon (named for his grandfather) had slightly stronger fruit and a little bit more of a tannic sting. We bought a bottle of each of these and drank the Pierre Leon the same day. I still have a hard time getting used to pinot – even the Pierre Leon is fairly watery in consistency and ruby in color, versus the dark purple, heavily structured Bourdeaux varietals I’m used to. It has a slightly citrusy nose. But the longer you let it sit on the tongue, the more flavor comes out, and it has a long finish with a cherry aftertaste. I would definitely buy it again.
• The best was by far the Pinot Noir Triple Black Slopes. The Triple Black Slopes are apparently the steepest part of the vineyard, rising at a 45 degree angle. I had only a small taste, so it’s hard to provide detailed tasting notes (I’m going to have to start carrying a notepad everywhere I go), but it was incredible. It was more tannic again and had earthier and more spicy flavors to complement the delicate fruit of the pinot noir. The price was the big obstacle – $55. I’m sure it’s a fair price – harvesting on terrain that steep can’t be easy – but still more than I want to spend on a single bottle.

All in all, I was really impressed. When we toured the Willamette Valley, the wines started to run together after a while. Most fell into a broad category of more or less textbook pinot, with one exception to the excessively light and watery side (Erath) and one exception to the excessively tannic and dark side (Archery Summit, which seemed like it was trying to treat a Burgundy varietal like a Bourdeaux-style wine). Willakenzie manages to preserve all the fruit highlights of pinot while giving it more structure, while not going overboard. Happily, we’ll have a chance to correct our previous oversight soon and visit the winery. We’re headed down to Portland next weekend for a spring release at my current favorite winery.

Piedmont Barbera

I was at dinner the other night for work (board of directors), at a restaurant with a great selection of Washington wines (I’d scoped it out online ahead of time and had some favorites picked out, including the DeLille D2, on offer for just $78 – not bad for a restaurant).

Unfortunately, I took my eye off the ball when a couple of people conspired to select a wine, and they chose a Piedmont barbera. It was yet another reminder that I’m not crazy about Italian varietals. It was earthy and leathery.

It’s too bad. In Rome a couple of years ago, my wife and I came across a neighborhood wine shop that sold an excellent nebbiolo that was by far the best wine we had during the whole trip. Mostly, we were drinking house wines in restaurants, and they were watery, food wines. The nebbiolo, by contrast, was a deep purple and nicely tannic.

We remembered the bottle (“Aleisa” was stamped in the side) and always went looking for it in wine shops. Occasionally, we bought what we thought was the same wine, only to be disappointed when it turned out slightly differently.

The barbera, sadly, came in the same bottle; but unlike its distant cousin, it was nothing to get excited about. And so I find myself wondering if I will ever find an Italian varietal I can get excited about. They’re certainly gaining popularity among local winemakers. I’m seeing more barbera’s these days, and it can only be a matter of time before someone starts growing nebbiolo, in part just because it’s hard to grow well.

After we finished the barbera, I was able to sneak in an order for a bottle of 2003 Abeja Cabernet Sauvignon. It was everything the barbera wasn’t – dark, refined, balanced. Washington wine simply cannot be beat – if you know what to look for!

Tasting Notes: Isenhower Cellars 2003 River Beauty Syrah

Isenhower Cellars is a sentimental favorite around our house. We met the Isenhower’s when they had first opened their winery and were doing tastings out of the old train depot in downtown Walla Walla. Denise and Brett Isenhower are really nice people and really good winemakers. At the time, they were waiting for the next big freeze to hit Walla Walla so they could start planting vines. We became some of the earliest people to sign up for their wine club.

The next two times we visited the winery, they had their own facility south of town. It’s simple, but very nice. And the wine has only gotten better with the passing years. My favorite is the Wild Alfalfa, a smoky, syrupy syrah. They also produce an excellent cabernet sauvignon.

Tonight, though, I opened the River Beauty, and it’s nothing like the Wild Alfalfa. In fact, it’s a very unusual syrah. Instead of smoke and pepper, what you get is rich fruit. I guess you’d say it tastes like cassis, but I’d rather call a spade a spade – it smells and tastes like a grape. It’s not obnoxiosuly fruity, nor is it sweet – it has a long chalky finish and a slight pucker – but it is one of the most fruit forward syrah’s I think I’ve ever tasted.

Taste of Walla Walla

The Taste of Walla Walla proved to be a really difficult format for tasting wine.

It was an exercise in excess, with what seemed like every winery in Walla Walla taking part – among the 50 wineries represented, the only notable absence I can think of was Cayuse.  The event was short – just two hours. The venue was crowded. At times, the areas that were set up for tasting at the Tower Club on the 76th floor of the Columbia Tower were packed, shoulder to shoulder.  It was a cattle call – a total stampede to get to the wines. I also can’t figure out why they held it on a Monday, starting at 5:00. They had only cheese and bread (both of which ran out within the first 45 minutes), meaning most everyone was tasting on an empty stomach.

As a result, all pretenses I might have had of actually remembering what each wine tasted like went straight out the window after maybe 15 minutes. Despite that, a few wines and impressions stood out:

• Even with my palate completely deadened, the Nicholas Cole Graeagle blend was very distinctive and different – in a good way.
• The Woodward Canyon Old Vines Cabernet Sauvignon was excellent. I often see it at McCarthy Schiering, but haven’t bought it, I think because of the label (which is a sad statement on judging a bottle by its cover). [I later found out it retails for around $72, which may be another reason I haven't bought it.]
• I enjoyed the Seven Hills Ciel du Cheval blend. It had a broader spectrum of flavors than the similarly named wine by Cadence that I tried last week.
• After tasting at Abeja’s table (where the wine was as incredible as always), we visited A Maurice, a relatively new winery. A Maurice (amicably) hired away Abeja’s assistant winemaker, Ned, to be their head winemaker. I was impressed with the red blend they were pouring, and I’m excited that Ned’s going to be their winemaker – we had a tasting appointment at Abeja last summer, and he was the one who showed us around. Nice guy, great winemaker – it will be interesting to see what A Maurice produces over the next few years.
• I had been hoping to try the Tamarack Cellars DuBrul that I have in my cellar, since I don’t want to open the bottle just yet. Unfortunately, he didn’t have any to pour. No surprise – it was very limited in quantity. He was pouring the Cabernet Franc, which I similarly don’t want to open yet, but my palate was too dulled to taste it.
• I only tried one wine at Yellow Hawk Cellars - a sangiovese. Yellow Hawk specializes in Italian varietals. Tasting the sangiovese re-confirmed my reaction to Maryhill’s sangiovese – I don’t care for this grape, no matter how well the wine is made. The basic flavor of this wine was the same as the Maryhill. Not undrinkable, but not my thing.

I may post more notes later, but all in all, this isn’t an event I’d be likely to attend again. It’s just too much. It doesn’t help that it came directly on the heels of the Northwest Cask Beer Festival, which I was still somewhat recovering from when this event rolled around. I’d rather invest the four or five hours, drive out to Walla Walla and be able to taste at my leisure than feel like I have to try 20-30 wines in quick succession.

Maryhill 2004 Sangiovese

Sangiovese, in my opinion, is a funny grape. It has a varietal character so different from any of the other grapes in the vitis vinifera family that it takes a very different kind of drinker to enjoy a single-varietal wine made from it. Among Maryhill’s various wines, the sangiovese is a complete departure.

When I think of Maryhill, I think of lush cab sauv and zinfandel. The winery does both really well. Both are your prototypical northwest wine – fruit forward, tannic, rich.

The sangiovese, by contrast, is relatively pale. It has fairly little structure and almost no fruit. I’d compare its flavor to meat, like a pot roast or a roast beef. I’d also say it has a barnyard flavor, as if it were contaminated with brett. (If you want a rundown on brett contamination, this article provides an incredibly in-depth discussiom on the subject – http://www.wineanorak.com/brettanomyces.htm.) I don’t think brett is the issue, though – I think it’s just the flavor of the grape itself – I’d describe most chianti’s the same way, but in lesser magnitude due to the blending.

Maryhill is a great winery. I belong to their wine club, and almost everything they produce is incredible. They’ve recently released a Winemaker’s Blend which is extremely good and very reasonable in price (part of a general trend by all Washington winemakers to do a generic red blend that can be priced in the $10-$15 range).

The sangiovese, in my opinion, is their sole misstep.

Taste of Walla Walla Coming Up!

We just signed up for the Taste of Walla Walla, an event taking place on the top floor of the Columbia Tower. I can’t wait! It seems like literally every winery in Walla Walla will be there. I’m not quite sure how to approach it, just because of the sheer number of things to try. New post coming up soon…

Tasting Notes: Sineann 2004 Old Vine Zinfandel

This used to be my best kept wine secret. I don’t remember how I first stumbled across this wine. It might have been a single bottle on a shelf at Larry’s Market (a store that doesn’t even exist anymore). Or it might have been in a tasting room down in Willamette Valley. It was a revelation.

Back then, it tasted so rich, it was almost like syrup. I had a hard time putting down a couple of glasses in a row. Either my tastes have matured, or the wine has mellowed, because I find it a lot more approachable these days. That’s a good thing, and a little bit of a disappointment. I liked it when the intense fruit flavors (raspberry then, cherry now) just blew me away.

I’m sure part of the reason why it appealed was the nature of the vineyard the fruit came from – the Pines Vineyard, located on the Oregon side of the Columbia Gorge area and producing grapes since the 19th century. I’ll have to tour it sometime. It’s rare to find a vineyard that old in any part of the US, much less in Oregon. It’s rare to find a vineyard in Oregon growing zinfandel. The vines that produce the fruit for this wine are supposedly 100 years old.

Zinfandel itself has an interesting history as a grape. Originally thought to have been derived from the Italian varietal, primitivo, it was only a couple of years ago that a team of UC Davis and Croatian researchers demonstrated that the European parent of zinfandel came from an island off the Dalmatian Coast. The geography of its origins only adds to its mystique – the Dalmatian Coast is a beautiful, dreamy, sun-baked landscape.

 So take all that incredible history and all that incredible geography, put it in the hands of a meticulous winery like Sineann and what you wind up with is indescribably good. The latest edition boasts incredible fruit on the front of the tongue and finishes with flavors of tobacco. Sineann’s own website touts the balanced nature of the fruit from the Pines, and I would agree. There’s very little acidic flavor to the wine.

If you’re ever lucky enough to get a bottle, savor it!