Bordeaux and I am just not "getting" Washington Wines

1997 Potensac. Nicely balanced. Elegant, light on the mouthfeel. A hint of green but nice earthy Bordeaux character. The acid is very palate refreshing. More integrated than the acid kick on the 1991 Labegorce recently sampled. But, I almost liked the Labegorce character more somehow. Nice for the price though.

2012 Teyssier. Soft, sweet cherry fruit. Light mouth feel. Still some Bordeaux character (earth, charcoal). For $11, what a great picnic wine!

2013 Delille D2. "Right Bank" Blend, I was told. Too young, of course, but all I got was a blast of fruit. It was nice fruit, but....I just don't understand Washington wines. That may be merely because I have not tried "good" ones with enough age? Maybe I am reacting with annoyance to a sister's broken record theme that California is the vortex of evil and Washington is all that is right in the world.

[Jenise]

On the whole, Washington wines are pretty fruit-driven. I can't say I think they're overall sweeter than California wines, but you'll definitely find a lot more blackberry and mocha in our cabernets than California's black cherry and tobacco. Too, there are a lot of wineries whose success is all about hugeness. A good friend of mine who writes a very successful wine blog (and gets a lot of free wine as a result) and her favorite descriptors are 'big', 'rich' and 'robust'. She never finds a wine too goopy (oaky, sweet and/or alcoholic), and concepts like elegance and nuance are rarely if ever mentioned. She buys WA wines almost exclusively, and has almost no experience with out of state product. She drinks all her wines young; the oldest wine in her collection is 2010. She like Cabernet Sauv and Cabernet Franc almost exclusively; doesn't care for pinot noir (too light). When I opened a 99 Matthews Claret for her a few weeks ago, she didn't recognize the big dark spot near the neck of the bottle as sediment. She'd never seen it before. Yet she is regarded as an expert because in 2007 Google named her blog one of the Top 20 in America.

Thing is: she's the real wine-buying public here. Her taste sells--not mine, not yours. I can swing back and forth, though. I'll never like the porty, strong, sappy styles typified by wineries like Gorman and Guardian, just to name two, but there are wines here I like that I'm sure you'd enjoy--I think--vintage issues aside.

DeLille is actually one of this state's best wineries. When I moved here they were one of the first wines I found especially appealing (but I lucked into aged bottles from cooler vintages). D2 is their 'affordable' cab, made more forward style from the barrels declassified from the Chaleur and Harrison Hill, their signature wines. They're both Bordeaux blends, but they're from warmer and cooler growing areas respectively. I like both, but naturally favor the HH.

Interesting points, Jenise!

My sister seems to like Walla Walla Winery (they briefly lived in the Tri Cities until the permanent relocation near you in Anacortes).

What confuses me is I thought I had read claims that Washington wines, because of the higher lattitudes and long sunny days, were more earthy.

Will look for a DeLille with some age from the cooler site!

And the wine blogs/writers I started my AFWE included Vinography, John Bonne, and Asimov, so... And the guy from New York who prefers enamel dissolving whites


I know that I have really weird tastes in wine. (Donkey and Goat! )

[Jenise]

On re-reading what I wrote earlier, I realize I could have been more clear. I moved to WA with my Bordeaux head on and relatively little experience with WA wines. From that POV I found a lot more to like about Delille than many others. Where everything else kind of tasted like a blueberry milkshake, they were generally more restrained and structured and I could see Parker's point when he called Chaleur "the Lafite of Washington".

But I like things even more dialed back now than I did then. And of course I like the cooler vintages better than the warm vintages and there aren't that many cool vintages. I can't think of a single winery here that's equivalent to a Donkey & Goat--will have to ask that question.

What confuses me is I thought I had read claims that Washington wines, because of the higher latitudes and long sunny days, were more earthy.

The answer to this is the universal answer to all of life's questions: "It depends." Depends on producer, depends on vineyard site, depends (to a lesser extent in WA) on vintage variation.

For example, in Walla Walla, you have the rocks vineyards -- located on a rock-strewn abandoned creekbed -- that tend to produce really dark, funky, earthy wines. Roughly 10 miles away are higher elevation vineyards on loess soil, like Les Collines, that tend to produce more elegant, floral, brighter wines. You also have winemakers like Gramercy, Kerloo and Rotie, that generally try to harvest their grapes at reasonable brix levels and use minimal new oak, while others are in the full-blast modern style (cough, cough, Charles Smith). In that sense, it's not unlike California, where you have the likes of Steve Edmunds, Donkey & Goat, Broc, etc., alongside the usual suspects.

The other thing to keep in mind is that despite the higher latitude, Washington's primary grape-growing areas -- on the east side of the Cascades -- tend to get hotter than many of California's grape growing areas. Highs in the 90s and even 100s are quite common. Last year, it even hit 113 one day. Washington's saving grace is cooler nights, which tends to leave the wines with higher acidity than comparable California wines. That said, I know of nowhere in Washington where the likes of gamay and trousseau are grown. CA, being larger and having more cooler climate terroirs, has the opportunity for more variety.

thanks, bruce! I am getting an education here!

Brian, I note from your posts that you're a biker. FWIW, Walla Walla is one of my favorite places to ride because you've got miles and miles of largely empty farm roads going through rolling hills of wheat, peas and grapevines, plus roads into the Blue Mountains where you can get some sustained climbs. Beautiful, ever-changing views wherever you go. And it's tailor-made for biking and tasting, though best to schedule the latter toward the end of a ride unless you're spitting.

Thanks, Bruce. I would like to get up there (in the spring or LATE fall!)
My sister briefly lived in the Tri Cities...which she did not like very much. But she did say Walla Walla was cute. Google Street View seems to indicate that the riding could be very nice up there!

I am too...plump (and old)...to be a good climber right now. Plus, I have not switched out my gears on my newest bicycle, a Felt F1 I picked up from a shop owner who built it as a project bike (It's been a couple of years!) and sustained climbing with a 39-23 gear is crazy hard!

Your sister is right. Tri-Cities and Walla Walla are very different, as is the surrounding landscape. If you stay out of the mountains, most of the riding is relatively gentle; the rollers rarely have steep grades. I'm too lazy/incompetent to bring out my own bike when I go there; I just rent a base-level Giant Defy from the local bike shop, which is fine. You're in the Bay Area, right? I didn't think there was a flat stretch of land anywhere!

There are quite a few valleys in the Bay Area. Bruce. One can pick one's level of effort very easily.

I actually live in Vacaville, which I would describe as the first town in the Sacramento Valley. Flat as a pancake to the east, south, and north of me. Rolling valley immediately west of town (Pleasants Valley Road-a great name). Rolling Hills to the northwest.

But two of the most hellacious climbs in the United States running up the canyons into the Blue Ridge, which are kind of the last gasp of the Coastal Ranges. (Google "Mix Canyon Road". I think there are a couple of switchbacks that push 25%!)

As a crude generalization, I prefer the style of WA wines to CA. I feel that they're reminiscent of low to mid tier Bordeaux, the Cabs expressing a more delineated, savory/succulent style of fruit, and having a pleasant slightly green/vegetal character. For the record, within CA I prefer the style of Alexander Valley to Napa, for similar reasons.

But two of the most hellacious climbs in the United States running up the canyons into the Blue Ridge, which are kind of the last gasp of the Coastal Ranges. (Google "Mix Canyon Road". I think there are a couple of switchbacks that push 25%!)

Yikes!

[Jenise]

As a crude generalization, I prefer the style of WA wines to CA. I feel that they're reminiscent of low to mid tier Bordeaux, the Cabs expressing a more delineated, savory/succulent style of fruit, and having a pleasant slightly green/vegetal character. For the record, within CA I prefer the style of Alexander Valley to Napa, for similar reasons.

That's interesting. That green character, which is usually referred to as green bell pepper or even raw jalapeno by some, is something that winemakers have worked for decades to eliminate. Like you, I like that aspect but it's not popular with the wine-buying public.

Ryan: That is what I kinda sorta expected to find with Washington wines, hence my trepidation to date at layers and layers of fruit.

Show me the Green!

Alexander Valley seems to be a go to place for green. But there are Napa wineries that have not chopped out all the weeds!
Clos Du Val, of course. There is a small old school winery on the Napa-to-Sonoma highway named Madonna Estate that has definitely kept a greener note in their cabs, especially the estate (Carneros) bottlings (as one would expect). But definitely Alexander Valley.

BRUCE: I may have exaggerated a bit...but not by much.

http://www.toughascent.com/blog/2010/08 ... -climbing/