October 2009

  • Pine and Post Riesling

    By lisala on 10/30/09 7:05pm
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    Pine and Post is a Precept Wine Brands label. This Pine and Post Riesling was an impulse buy at the local Washington State Liquor store's endcap by the register line. We figured we like Washington Riesling and at $4.99, why not?

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  • Barrelstone 2007 Syrah

    By lisala on 10/30/09 11:02am
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    The cork on this Barrelstone 2007 Columbia Valley Syrah was extremely dry, and on opening, the wine was slightly vinegary in aroma. After we let the wine breathe for a bit (about twenty minutes) we tried a glass. The first glass was still a bit like vinegar on the nose, with an incredibly deep crimson color. It was recognizably Syrah, but there was an interesting toasted grain undertone as well as the usual noticeable fruit quality; this time, mostly blackberry. It wasn't bad, by any means, but it was a bit uninspired, not as rounded and complex as I'd expect a Syrah to be. It improved quite a lot in flavor an hour and a half later; more cherry than blackberry, and the toasted grain quality was more like semi-sweet chocolate. It was much more like Washington Syrah, but it's sort of . . . unremarkable. It's not that different from any other Washington Syrah; there's just not much personality.

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  • Precept Wine Brands

    By lisala on 10/29/09 10:00pm
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    Precept Wine Brands is relatively young, as corporations go. It was formed in 2002 in Seattle by Andrew Browne. Browne was a wine veteran, having previously been the President and CEO of Corus, producer of Alice White, Covey Run, Columbia Winery and Ste. Chapelle, until Corus was acquired by Constellation Brands. Browne convinced his former Corus colleague, Dan Baty, to join him as a founding partner of Precept. Precepts' business model initially was to be a negociant, purchasing wine from other wineries and rebottling it under various brand names and labels. The current Washington sourced labels include Avery Lane, Barrelstone, Big Sky, Grizz, Pine and Post, Pavin and Riley, Washington Hills, Sol Duc, and Sweet Pea.

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  • Washington Hills 2006 Gewurtztraminer and Columbia Crest Two Vines 2007 Gewurtztraminer

    By lisala on 10/15/09 9:54pm
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    I like Gewürtztraminer, and, as I've noted, Washington state has some rather fine and rather affordable Gewürtztraminer. I thought it might be fun to directly compare two of them. Both these wines are in the bargain and budget categories; the Washington Hills was a find at the local Bargain Grocery Store for $3.99, and the Columbia Crest Two Vines Gew¨rtztraminer was a Rite Aid purchase for $4.99; it's been $4.99 for months, and we've been very diligent about doing our part towards stock reduction. Both these wines use grapes from Washington's Columbia Valley, and both list for between $8.00 and $10.00 a bottle. Comparing them, then, seems almost obligatory.

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