Our regular tasting group got together at Jud and Lisa’s on the North Shore back in September to taste through a line-up of Washington state wines while dining on the screened-in porch and admiring one last beautiful summer sunset. It was a great evening and many of the wines came through with strong showings, I thought.
Starters:
2009 Trenz Riesling Johannisberger Hölle Kabinett Rheingau. This wine shows a tingly, almost peppery nose of green herb, pear, chalk and green apple aromas that are a bit compacted but generally pleasant. In the mouth, it comes across as a bit sweeter than the nose would suggest, with gently plump flavors of nectarine and fruit cup syrup leading to a somewhat more lifted finish. I think it best to hold and see what becomes of this in another year or two.
2009 Chateau Ste. Michelle & Dr. Loosen Riesling Columbia Valley Eroica. This wine has an entirely different personality, beginning with the broad nose that leaps out of the glass with tons of nice slate, smoke, yellow apple and cantaloupe aromas. I find it to have a whole lot of flavor density without feeling heavy or ponderous at all on the palate. There’s good life to the clean, fresh apple and citrus flavors and it all leads to a nicely-balanced finish leaving a solid impression.
The main tasting:
1999 Andrew Will Cabernet Sauvignon Klipsun Vineyard Columbia Valley. Wow, this wine hits you with an immediate and generous bouquet that fills the nostrils with aromas of dark fudgy fruit, mocha, frozen persimmon, baking spices, jalapenos and tomato plant earth tones that show fine complexity, density and sex appeal. It is also fairly rich on the palate, with a thick, velvety texture. It might lack a bit in freshness or lift but not at all in fullness of flavor or generosity of fruit. Over time, some earthier edges of green pepper, dry earth and a touch of star anise give the wine more grounding and pull everything together in a rather enjoyable package that I end up liking a good deal.
1999 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon Washington. This wine shows off a much more fine-tuned, pedigreed and slinky set of aromatic qualities—including classy but expansive notes of black raspberry, cassis, creosote, fine leather and a kind of Bordelaise gravel and earth combination that more or less seals the deal for me. This arrangement plays out similarly in the mouth, where one finds a wonderful combination of precision and boldness of flavor allied to gravelly earthiness. I very much like the flavor profile of blackcurrant, blackberry, ash, gravel and fine green pepper that is broad and fanned out throughout the palate journey. Still, it is dense and velvety-rich, but with a muscled finesse and toned acidity that makes it finely-balanced all the way through. Tannins are there, but seem well-integrated to me, so I have no trouble recommending this for drinking now or holding another 5+ years. My WOTN.
2003 Betz Family Cabernet Sauvignon Pere de Famille Columbia Valley. One encounters a pretty exotic nose here, featuring all kinds of spicecake, nutmeg, mocha, road tar, tobacco leaf and black raspberry aromas in a plump, plush package. In the mouth, it is dominated by zesty, brambly berry fruit flavors, along with a decided streak of smoky, ashy tar. It shows good length and persistence, and I generally find myself liking it, but I find that the rich, chewy tannins sort of stick to the teeth right now—making me think it would be best to hold this a while longer to let the tannins integrate more.
2004 Betz Family Cabernet Sauvignon Pere de Famille Columbia Valley. The dominant trait on the nose of this wine is warm baked cherry fruit and an abundance of roasted coffee grounds and rich mocha notes. In the mouth, it is definitely sweeter-fruited and showing more of a roasty nature than the 2003, with lots of mocha, chocolate and black fruit flavors that still somehow manage to feel energized and lifted—with solid push and drive. It is a bolder and definitely sweeter-toned rendition than the 2003, and I like the change of pace. Even so, it is another wine I’d hold off on for a few years more, as the plush tannins are definitely still a factor.
2005 Betz Family Clos de Betz Columbia Valley. The nose of this wine is fairly dark-toned and a bit savory, featuring aromas of black currant and plum atop granite, tomato plant and a distracting sliver of tire rubber. I like it in the mouth a whole lot more, where it is suave, layered and wiry-textured, with lots of blackberry, blueberry, mocha, dusty earth and leafy underbrush flavors that combine to form interesting facets to the wine. It doesn’t carry quite the gravitas of the Pere de Famille bottlings, but I like how it blends a wider range of sensibilities into a nice and pleasant-drinking package.
2007 Andrew Will Two Blondes Vineyard Yakima Valley. The nose of this wine is loaded with big and lifted aromas of blackberries, black raspberry, tire rubber and a whole lot of black peppercorn notes. In the mouth, it is very smooth and polished, quite cool in tone and surprisingly pure and approachable at this age. It demonstrates great drive and poise, with lots of blue and purple fruit spiced by toasted oak influences. It is actually fine to drink right now, which I was not expecting.
2007 Andrew Will Ciel du Cheval Vineyard Red Mountain. In contrast, the Ciel du Cheval from the same vintage is considerably tighter and much more darkly brooding than the Two Blondes cuvee on the nose. In the mouth, it is thick and rich and very purple-fruited, with tons of spices in play (which were also evident on the nose). It has a dense, fudgy fruit core that is more tightly-coiled than its stable mate, and I would also say this wine displays more obvious structure, as well. So, while the Two Blondes is definitely the one to drink now, this wine will much more likely be the long-distance runner, in my opinion.
2003 DeLille Cellars Syrah Doyenne Yakima Valley. I liked this wine. It starts off with such a nice bouquet to it—offering up loads of pencil shavings, musky red flower petals, perfumed brambly berries, hazelnuts, leafy plants and graphite aromas that seem very nicely-balanced and appealing to me. In the mouth, it is very smoothly-textured and richly creamy, with chocolate cocoa, plum, blueberry and black currant fruit playing off of some earth and savory meat tones in a dark, cool and juicy fashion. The wine shows plenty of life and provides a solid dose of drinking pleasure.
2003 K Vintners Syrah Lucky No. 7 Walla Walla Valley. Even after being open for several hours, the nose of this wine never really opens up, staying reserved and inward-looking the whole evening long. With aggressive swirling, it does begin to show some tightly-coiled and very black aromas of charcoal sketching pencil, toasted orange peel, blackcurrant and blackberry, but that’s about it. In the mouth, it is very taut, rather fresh and lively and again entirely black-fruited and stony in personality. It displays a finely matted texture, an excellent wedge of acidity and a rock-solid structural framework. It is just so very young in tone and seems to be showing a tiny fraction of its eventual self.
2008 Rotie Cellars Southern Blend Washington. The final red of the evening leads off with a lot of smoked herb, smoked meat, peaty earth and baked red fruit aromas, followed by some slightly high-toned, volatile notes from time to time. It’s very red-fruited in the mouth, with a sort of chalky, chewy texture and some young but mild tannins showing its youthful awkwardness. It has a lot of energy and vibrancy, but comes across as rather rough-hewn at the moment, with the savory meat, earth and grilled herb flavors never quite meshing with the chocolate and red fruit notes. I think it has the tension to hold a while, so let’s hope it integrates more with some time in the cellar.
Sweet wines:
2005 Chateau Ste. Michelle Chenin Blanc Late Harvest Horse Heaven Hills. This was a nice wine. To me, the very first aromatic note was a dead-on smell of quince paste, which was then followed by some rather fun notes of white currants, tropical fruits, lavender and clover honey that rounded out a delightful and unusual bouquet. I again encounter the quince flavors on the palate, along with some interesting wooliness—though here the profile is a bit more one-noted. Still, I really like the fullness of body, the fine balance and the reasonable sweetness of the wine and would like to try it again in a few years to see what some additional aging does to it.
2003 Lafaurie-Peyraguey Sauternes. It was dark, my hands were cold, and my note reads simply “amazingly intense botrytis” and that is it. My memory fills in with apricot jam, caramel and honey to go with tropical dried fruit. I’ve had this luscious and luxuriant wine maybe 4 other times and it is always delicious.
-Michael
