I live in northern Whatcom County, Washington, which is bordered west and north by the Puget Sound and British Columbia. There are currently eight or nine so-called wineries here and I've been nominally aware of this little upstart, GLM Wine Co., since it opened a few years back, but since the other wineries here do not produce wines that are, shall we say, to my taste, I wasn't even tempted to check these guys out. Until Friday, when a friend opened a bottle of GLM's new budget-friendly, almost un-oaked, Harbor Light and I liked it. A lot. So yesterday when Bob and I popped up to Canada for something I needed, on our way home we stopped by Lake Missoula's facility in a little industrial park just blocks from the Can-Am border to find out how wrong I've been to ignore them.
Tom and Tracey Davis are just the kind of winemakers we love here on WLDG. Passionate about wine, they had this bold idea that they could make and sell a high quality wine at this improbable but rather perfect location for a couple who are half American (he) and half Canadian (she). They live in downtown Vancouver. Sourcing cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc from Washington's venerable Kestrel Winery (Yakima) and aiming straight for the premium level, in their first vintage of 2002 and most since they made just one wine, called Deluge. (Lake Missoula's full name is actually Glacial Lake Missoula Wine Company, named for the significant geological event that eons ago carved out eastern Washington and much of Idaho and Montana.) They use 100% new French oak and age the Deluges a minimum of 24 months.
Which got a little costly, especially once the economy took a dumper, so they've taken a wise step back from expanding at the premium level and from the 2007 vintage they created the Harbor Light using two year old barrels and blending about the same ratio of cabernet used in the Deluge (from the same grapes, in fact) with 10% cabernet franc and 20% Rattlesnake Hills malbec. The result is a spicy, well-made wine that shows definitive cabernet character with delicious dustiness and ripe fruit that's mildly herbal but without the green bell pepper note that has plagued Washington cabernets in the past. Fairly priced at $18 a bottle if you buy singly but a screaming deal at $12.50 if you pony up for a sixpack (brilliant cellar-door marketing--all wineries should reward quantity purchasing like this), so we came home with six bottles. Oh, 14.5% abv, but the wine doesn't show the heat.
Next they poured the 2005 Deluge, 3:1 blend of cabernet and cabernet franc. Here, Tom bleeds off 20% of the new juice to concentrate a beautifully textured cabernet blend with superb color, fruit and tannins but without over-extraction or the fat that padded some Washington '05's. The power and sophistication of this wine is in a whole different league from any other wine made in Whatcom County, and the equal of many better known Washington wines priced near $50 and up. An outstanding value, therefore, at $29 a bottle if purchased singly, but just $20 if you pop for the six-pack (repeat comment above about brilliant cellar door incentives), which of course we did.
Following the '05 was the 2004 Deluge. A bit more taut and sturdy than the 05 but no less attractive, I was impressed how each of these wines showed the character of their relative vintages. I'm not sure which of these two vintages will age the best--the 04 currently shows more structure but the current generosity of palate on the 05 might be misleading. The fruit has come from the same vineyard from the getgo which was seven years old in 2002, so the vines haven't established a track record per se, but the winemaking methodology and what I tasted suggest wines with 10-15 year potential. This one's priced $40, and as supplies are limited there's no multiple bottle discount.
They also poured a rather fascinating barrel-sample for us. Talk about geeky: it's a cabernet sauvignon/marsanne blend. But this isn't a co-ferment, it's cabernet skins only and marsanne juice (yes from Washington, though I've not seen any marsanne wines made here). They asked if I'd ever run into such a thing before and indeed I haven't. They haven't either, so they've coined their own term for the technique: 'enrobing'. The result a big, friendly puppy of a wine that's a pretty magenta-black color with an attractive vitamin-mineral and brambly boysenberryish nose, and on the palate a highly gulpable fruit basket that speaks to nothing we typically identify with either of its parents. It was so interesting, I took a second pour. This will be released next year in time for mother's day.
