Madeleine Angevine

My brother-in-law Jim, who lives in Blaine, WA, brought me a bottle of San Juan Vineyards Madeleine Angevine '08 for our family reunion/memorial for Mom/housewarming for my new house on the 4th of July weekend.
Last Friday I bought some shrimp and some clams (they didn't have any mussels in the morning) and a leek, and made a Mediterranean style seafood thingummy, with a bit of tomato and some olive oil and garlic, thyme, oregano and basil, and some capers. I was going to put it over linguine but it was warmer than I expected in the afternoon, so I decided to just put the stuff in a bowl and have bread and salad with it.
Here's my note on the wine: Fresh, grapefruity, some mineral undertone, nice smooth finish. Medium yellow color.
If I ever happen to see it, I'll buy a bottle or two. It's that good! Sort of New Zealand SB-ish, but with just a touch more ripeness and a generally softer mouthfeel.

John

[Jenise]

What? I almost-but-not-quite live in Blaine, too. I live in Birch Bay, that is, but have a Blaine address because it has a post office and we don't.

San Juan Vineyards (the winery IS actually on San Juan Island) make a number of pretty competent wines, sourcing Eastern Washington grapes for their reds and growing a few of the short-season whites at their vineyard on the Island. This be one. Siegerebbe is typically the other. They do pretty well--unlike most island-based wineries around here, they actually make enough to sell in local stores.

Jim brought me a bottle of the Siegerebbe, too.
Do you ever have anything to do with the theater in Bellingham?

[Jenise]

Um...which theater? Mt. Baker? Bellingham Theater Group?

Tell Jim that a new winery is opening up later this year on Lake Whatcom, called Inyo. Chuck, the owner/winemaker, grows Siegerrebbe on the southeast facing slope below his house and it's just fantastic. He needs to get you one of those. I've never been impressed with that grape before, but Chuck's blew me away. I'm going to be tasting there tonight--the Whatcom County Winemakers Association is meeting there tonight, and I've been invited as a special guest!

Hi John -

Thank you for the interesting note. I haven't had a Madeleine Angevine yet, but would be interested in trying one someday. Haven't come across any in my area yet.

Jenise,
Bellingham Theater Group, that runs shows in the old movie theater. Jim's the backstage "manager" I guess you'd say. He does lighting and sound and whatever else seems to need doing. They actually pay him a pittance!

John

Andrew,
It was my first experience with the wine, too. It was a big change from regular American blowsy whites.

John

Andrew,
It was my first experience with the wine, too. It was a big change from regular American blowsy whites.

John

John, in this heat-deprived part of the world avoiding blowsiness isn't a challenge; getting grapes ripe usually is and so the varieties planted are almost always white, very early ripening, and with unfamiliar names. Here on Whidbey Island in addition to the before-mentioned Madeleine Angevine and Siegerrebe, there is at least one commericially-produced Madeleine Sylvaner. A friend of mine is attempting to grow an early-ripening Pinot Noir relative called Pinot Precoce and while I wish him luck, I suspect that's pretty wishful thinking. I once went on a trip with him to Cloud Mountain Farm out of Bellingham, the primary regional purveyor of grape vines, for a pruning workshop and saw Chasselas (I was at least familar with this one since Mt. Baker Vineyards makes one) but also Ehrenfelser and Ortega. The last I associate more with canned green chiles During the workshop, I learned that even standard pruning practice is different in Western WA than elsewhere. Growing grapes is a bit of a force-fit in this climate. Not that people can't succeed in certain special situations but it definitely doesn't come as easily as where you are. I was happy to read Jenise's report of a good dry version of Siegerrebe; usually those come with some residual sugar.

[Jenise]

Mark, last night I tasted Chuck's Madeleine, and if anything she was dryer than the Siegerebbe, which in a way I preferred; however the spicey, muscatty power of the Sieggy was the bigger temptress.

Speaking of Ortega, I met a fellow last night who moved up here eight years ago, just like us, from Costa Mesa, California. He married a woman who had just bought a house and a few acres in Sumas, which is north and east of where you'd have been at Cloud Mountain Farm, and they've planted a vineyard there. They are growing: pinot noir, riesling and ortega. I tried to ask how they came up with those choices, and the answer was too close to "those are our favorite wines" than I'm comfortable with! I wish them luck, I really do, but the pinot noir is pretty ballsy. Riesling not so much I would think, but I wonder why no one else around here is growing riesling. I'll be visiting the vineyard next month, I'll report more then.

Btw we have two new wineries in Whatcom County now. Next door to Mt. Baker is Witness Tree whose Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier I tasted last night. Both were superb with great focus and acidity. Like Mt. Baker, they have a small vineyard planted there but get most of their grapes from Eastern Washington. Another is Masquerade. Owners Bill and Jennifer have been making cab, merlot, syrah, chardonnay, viognier, gewurz and a champagne style sparkler (pinot, chard and--surprise!--pinot meunier) in eastern Washington for years and just decided to move to Bellingham since all their customers were on this side of the Cascades anyway. He's itching to get his hands on some pinot noir. I tasted Bill's syrah last night, and it was impressive. He'll be opening a tasting room as soon as all the permits get approved. I look forward to tasting through his lineup.