Nicholas Cole 2004 GraEagle RedWing

Last night, we opened a bottle of GraEagle RedWing from Nicholas Cole Cellars. The GraEagle is 49% cabernet sauvignon, 39% cabernet franc and 12% merlot. We first tried it at Taste of Walla Walla, but this was the first time we’d had a chance to drink it on its own.

Drinking it by itself confirmed what I thought when I tried it at the Taste – this is an outstanding wine. Even at the Taste, where my taste buds suffered a non-stop onslaught of wine after wine, the GraEagle stood out (even more than Nicholas Cole’s higher-end blend, Camille). I like the change of pace from the other red blends I’ve had lately, most of which have included grenache, petit verdot, malbec and other obscure varietals. I think the subtle flavors of a grape like malbec get lost in a blend.

That’s definitely not the case with the cabernet franc in the GraEagle. After an initial burst of fruit (mostly cherry), the wine has a nice spice to it – lots of pepper influence from the cab franc. The pepper mellows out into a long tobacco finish. It’s almost like each varietal takes over from the last in succession – fruit from the merlot, spice from the cab franc and finally, the reserved and more earthy flavors of the cab sauv. The wine is neither very acidic nor very tannic, which makes it very easy to drink (although it could stand to be slightly more tannic – it had a weaker mouthfeel than I would have expected).

A review of the wine in Wine Press Northwest says that the fruit came from a series of high-end vineyards – Klipsun, Champoux – even DuBrul – but the label and the website are mute on the subject. With the balanced acidity, it’s easy to believe that someone took a great deal of care with the fruit. Likewise, at pressing, you have to imagine that the winemaker was extremely judicious, given the gentle tannins.

I have not seen this wine for sale almost anywhere. Less than 2,000 cases were produced. We were lucky enough to stumble upon it at Bennett’s Bistro on Mercer Island for $29. It’s a little spendy, but worth it. This is easily one of the best wines I’ve had in several months.

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.

Take It or Leave It

Before I write about a day spent tasting in Yakima Valley, I have to offer a disclaimer. With very few exceptions, all of the wineries in Yakima Valley are really good. If you haven’t done much tasting or you just want to enjoy a bottle of wine in wine country on a sunny day, the stretch of highway from Yakima to the Tri-Cities has a lot to offer and you should get out there. Just be sure to do it soon–like every wine region, Yakima Valley is getting to the point where you no longer get to meet the winemakers or the winery owners and you have to pay tasting fees. If I sound a little harsh in some of my comments below, it’s because I have really high standards and because I’ve been tasting wines in Yakima Valley for years already, not because the wineries are bad. Also, they’re selling their wines at ultra-premium prices, so I’m holding them to an ultra-premium standard.

If you’re looking for someplace to enjoy a bottle of wine surrounded by beautiful scenery, our first stop, Steppe Cellars, is perfect. The winery is down a long, winding dirt road next to some sort of private lakes estate or farm. It’s surrounded by orchards and has a great view of the valley. Sort of like Silver Lake in Zillah or Maryhill outside of Hood River, this would be a great place to hang out on a sunny day.

The wine was intriguing. Steppe’s a brand new winery, just now in their second season. Their winemaker is a German woman whose family has been in the business of making wine for 400 years. They were pouring a pinot noir made from grapes grown in Yakima Valley. That’s a rarity and will continue to be even rarer. 2005 was the only year the winemaker felt produced fruit good enough to make a pinot noir. Yakima Valley is simply too hot for this grape in any normal year. They were also pouring a syrah that was just about to go into the bottle. It showed great promise, and as with any new winery, the price was very reasonable. I’m planning on buying a bottle and will have more detailed tasting notes later.

Of all the wineries we visited (Kestrel, Alexandria Nicole, Desert Wind, Steppe, Teftt, and Yakima Cellars), Kestrel poured the best wine of the day – a 2003 Old Vine Merlot. “Old vine” in this context means 30 years old. I didn’t take the best of notes, but trust me–it’s really good. However, it’s also $50, which struck me as too expensive for this wine.

How to feel about Alexandria Nicole comes down to a single question: do you like barnyard? If you do, this is a great winery. We tasted a wide variety of wines here, including a grenache, lemberger, a couple of blends and a cab sauv. It’s the single Bourdeaux and Rhone varietals that have the strongest barnyard flavor. When we stopped here last summer, we experienced the same thing at C.R. Sandidge, Alexandria Nicole and Kestrel – both the syrah and the cab sauv tended to have a really strong barnyard flavor. My wife loved it. I’m not a fan. The other wines at Alexandria Nicole were inoffensive. The lemberger was exactly what you’d expect – very light, very fruity, somewhat peppery, extremely easy to drink. I was less impressed with their reserve Bordeaux blends, which were non-descript, especially in comparison to the 2002 Terra Blanca Onyx from the night before.

Desert Wind is a remarkable facility–a brand new (actually, still under construction), 30,000+ square foot wine and culinary complex. I hope they can keep it booked, because the fixed costs have to be astronomical. The wine here wasn’t bad, though, and it was certainly worth the price ($12-15 a bottle). I’m going to consider picking up a few bottles locally as everyday wine, but I don’t think they mean for their wines to be anything but part of the draw for the larger facility.

Teftt was a stop we probably shouldn’t have made. It is an old school Yakima winery. It’s run out of what looks and feels and in all probability is the winemakers’ house. The wines are so-so and all over the place–a zinfandel, a merlot, a blend and a vinsanto (vinsanto?) all shared the same counter. It was crowded, with two tour buses showing up while we were there. We had a hard time getting a pour, so we did one taste and headed out.

Yakima Cellars (not to be confused with Yakima River Winery) also proved to be a disappointment. They’re under new ownership, and even though the winemaker is supposedly the same as before, the wine was not nearly as good as I remembered it being before. They’re specializing in sangiovese, and I’ve kind of come to the conclusion that the varietal doesn’t stand on its own, neither in Tuscany nor in Washington State. I know a lot of people would disagree with me (including my own wife).

All in all, it was a bit of a disappointing day. We only bought one bottle of wine – the Steppe pinot noir (and that mostly for the novelty factor). All the prices seemed high. All the wine seemed merely OK or good. Maybe it was because it was “Wine and Chocolate” weekend out here and they figured big groups would be willing to part with their money.

Or maybe it was just because that’s how things are in Yakima Valley. I’ve remarked elsewhere on the paradox of Yakima Valley – the best grapes in the state are grown here, but the best wines are produced in Walla Walla and Woodinville. Call it the curse of the w’s. I can name several wineries in Walla Walla I would visit in a heartbeat (Abeja, Buty, Isenhower, Three Rivers and L’Ecole all spring to mind; and even Cougar Crest and Tamarack, both of which I wasn’t initially impressed with a couple of years ago, are producing really excellent wine). I can do the same for Woodinvile (JM, DeLille, Januik, Kennedy Shah). For Yakima Valley, there’s not necessarily any single winery I would automatically go back to (with the possible exception of Cote Bonneville, but they’re by appointment only). At the same time, I can easily name a handful of vineyards from Yakima Valley that I immediately relate to great wine: DuBrul (which produces fruit for the best wine I’ve ever had), Ciel du Cheval, Klipsun, Champoux and Tapteil.

Maybe it’s the proximity to Seattle and the Tri-Cities: maybe Yakima doesn’t have to try that hard to move bottles. Maybe it’s the proliferation of vineyard-wineries: maybe you can’t grow great fruit and make great wine at the same time. I don’t know, but I wish there were more I could get excited about after this trip. In the meantime, prices are going up, as are tasting fees. It’s definitely not the undiscovered paradise of wine it was prior to 2000.