Dinner with friends last night, in which most of the wines brought were from this neck of the woods:
2007 Spring Valley Vineyard UriahWalla Walla Valley Red Bordeaux Blend
An excellent PNW right bank style, about 60/30 merlot/CF with a little PV and CS, shows beautifully at present but it has years ahead of it. Black fruit, cedar, espresso and tobacco, great entry and finish.
2010 Chateau Ste. Michelle Merlot Ethos Reserve Columbia Valley
Almost black in color. Plush mulberry and plum fruit with mocha notes and an exceptional cashmere palate texture that buries soft tannins and acidity. Pretty much the opposite of the European style I claim to love, but I couldn't help enjoy and admire the outcome. Not a food wine. But a wine to cuddle in front of the fire with? Oh yeah.
2013 Arrowleaf Cellars Pinot Gris Okanagan Valley
Loved this wine. Excellent fruit and minerality with good acidity underneath, balanced/refreshing and a surprise to some at the table who are used to the cheap bar wine version of PG, as most PG made in North America tends to be. This is anything but.
2013 Grey Monk Pinot Blanc
Loved this one, too. Exceptionally aromatic nose of pears and white flowers, pear and ginger on the palate. Acids are soft and elegant. Very pretty wine.
2010 Nota Bene Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Dineen Vineyard Yakima Valley
Shows good potential but, undecanted, the wine's light and ungiving at present.
2005 Boudreaux Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Washington
My wine. More mature than expected based on the one other bottle we opened about two years ago, but it's all to the good: gone is the jammy fruit, and here is earth, black cherry, cocoa. Much more 'old school' than expected. Got better with each sample; should cruise here for a year or two, but if this bottle's indicative it's certainly in peak maturity right now. My favorite red of the night, and I'm delighted to have four more bottles.
2011 Intersection Merlot Unfiltered North Block Okanagan Valley
Opened to let it breathe for a few hours, wherein in shut down tight and showed poorly in the tasting I featured it in. Good stuff here, but it needs a minimum of 2-3 years to sort itself out and will likely show best in 5 to 10.
2011 Le Vieux Pin Chardonnay Équinoxe Okanagan Valley
My bottle. Toastier and creamier than I remembered it being. Just on the edge of showing some oxidation, which for a $60 bottle from a cool vintage like 2011 is concerning.
2012 Le Vieux Pin Chardonnay Equinoxe Okanagan Valley
Tasted at the winery. Exceptional balance and elegance, more fruit than I remember the 11 having at this stage but that's better; very Puligny-Montrachet like. Would impress French-only drinkers.
2011 Willow Crest Cabernet Franc, Columbia Valley
Raspberry fruit with green tobacco, mint and dust--Baudry-like. An exceptional and outrageously cheap WA cab franc for only $15 that outperforms more expensive versions all day long. A real loss that the new owner plans to drop the CF and concentrate on whites only--this is the last vintage.
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