2007 Covey Run Dry Riesling Columbia Valley

I will confess to trying the Covey Run Riesling from their "Quail" tier a year ago. It was fine, really, just not enough to make

me try another bottle, or, frankly, interest me in trying any of their other wines, though they're readily available all over the Pacific Northwest, and very much budget or consumer table wines. At the time, their Riesling struck me as watery and much too sweet. We picked this bottle of Covey Run Dry Riesling up on a whim at a local grocery store, in part because I remembered seeing that Wine Spectator listed Covey Run's 2007 "Quail" series Dry Riesling as one of their 20 "best values" award wines (most of their awards have been for their Reserve tier wines).

This wine was a pleasant surprise, and if you like dry wines, or especially, dry Riesling, I suggest you pick up a bottle or three. It's rather lovely. The wine is an attractive golden straw color. It's definitely dry, but complex and quite marvelous—and still very recognizably Riesling. It's citrusy and just acidic enough, but not without the sweetness you'd expect of even a dry Riesling, and it's a mere 12% ABV, unlike some ostensibly "dry" Rieslings I've seen.

Covey Run is a Washington state winery in the eastern half of the state, with vineyards in Yakima and in the Columbia valley. They note, with understandable pride, that they've been awarded 20 "Best Value" awards by Wine Spectator. Covey Run is one of the older Washington state wineries, with 25 years of history. I'm intrigued that their winemaker Kate Michaud worked in the cellar at Bonny Doon Vineyards in Santa Cruz, California, went to school at the University of California at Davis, and then in worked for another winery in Australia, followed by time at Canoe Ridge Vineyard in Walla Walla. That's got to have given her all sorts of interesting exposure to a variety of styles, and techniques. I'm going to have to try a few other Covey Run wines—and watch for their Reserve wines. I note that Wine Spectator has reviewed and rated Covey Run's Riesling Columbia Valley Late Harvest Reserve 2007 at 88 points. They describe it as "Lightly sweet, with a hint of apricot to the pear and citrus flavors. Finishes sweet but balanced." Not surprisingly, they suggest "drink it now." I'm perfectly willing to do that; in fact, I plan on trying it as soon as soon as possible, in order to "drink it now."

Silverlake 2007 Chardonnay Rattlesnake Hills

Silverlake Winery is in Zillah, Washington, in Washington's Rattlesnake Hills appellation.

It's a winery particularly I'm interested in because it's the largest Washington consumer-owned (they have shareholders) winery. I've tried and very much liked their Silverlake Gewürtztraminer in the past. Silverlake's Chardonnay is a Washington Chardonnay, for sure. It's more fruit forward, and noticeably less oak and tannin than what I've thus far had in terms of California Chardonnays. This Chardonnay too has a pear-like quality to it, though it's not as buttery-rich as the Columbia Crest Grand Estates Chardonnay I reviewed here. This was more delicate, and nuanced in flavor; we had it with chicken and dumplings, and the Chardonnay worked well to bring out the subtleties of the chicken without being overwhelmed or overwhelming.

I noticed that this Chardonnay was sweeter than I'd expected, but not too sweet; sort of a honeysuckle or mead aroma, with overtones of apple and ripe pear, but not as sharply Chardonnay as other Chardonnays. There's a reason for that; it's a mostly Chardonnay blend: 95% Chardonnay, 4% Gewurztraminer, 1% Sauvignon Blanc. That said, I very much doubt that I would have known it wasn't 100% Chardonnay if I hadn't looked at the Silverlake Winery Web page, which also notes that the all the grapes are from the Roza Hills Vineyard, in the Rattlesnake Hills. Nonetheless, it was a lovely addition to the meal, and exceedingly easy to drink, and likely one we'll pickup again. We purchased this at a local Fred Myers for $7.00, on sale. I note that this wine has won a silver medal at the 2008 Tri-Cities Wine Festival, and a bronze at the 2009 BTI - World Value Wine Challenge.

Washington Hills 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon

Washington Hills is one of the Precept Wine brands. The Washington Hills Web site emphasizes that they've been making "award-winning" wines in Washington

state since 1989. They also describe their wines as "a brand of super-premium wines first released in 1989." The "super-premium" is code for wine that's in the vicinity of $20.00 a bottle, wine that has the potential for enjoying a year or two after purchase, versus "table wine." "Super Premium" refers, as the Washington Hills Web site puts it, to their "reserve" wines. They also produce, at the opposite end of the spectrum, their "core tier," and then somewhere near the "core tier" or consumer table wines, are the Washington Hills Chardonnay, Riesling, and Merlot "cask wines"; that's a box wine, to non-marketing folk.

I've reviewed Washington Hill' 2006 Gewürtztraminer, and quite liked it. We purchased this 2007 Washington Hills Cabernet Sauvignon on a whim, lured by the fact that it's not just a Washington wine, it's a "do good" or charitable wine, with part of the price going to charities that fight breast cancer. Fall always make us think of Cabernet Sauvignon, because Cabernet Sauvignon can stand up to hearty, rich dishes and cold weather fare.

October is officially the "Breast Cancer Awareness" month in the United States. Consequently a number of chain grocery stores are featuring wines from Sutter Home, and Washington Hills, with special pink ribbons on their labels, and pink labels. Even though this was an impulse purchase, I've yet to have what I'd call a bad Washington Cabernet Sauvignon. Nonetheless, I didn't expect much from this wine; it is, after all a consumer table wine that retails for about $10.00; this bottle was purchased at Haggen, a Washington grocery chain for just under $6.00. I was quite pleasantly surprised;This Washington Hills 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon is a lovely, mellow, very clearly Washington style Cabernet Sauvignon. It was particularly interesting to compare it with the more robust and slightly-rough-around-the-edges in comparison Australian AU Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon. It's more blackberry than anything else in terms of fruit, with hint of black cherry. On reading the winemaker's notes, I realize why this Cabernet Sauvignon was different.

It's not, strictly speaking, a Cabernet Sauvignon. Yes, I know that that legally, as long as a wine is 70% or more a given varietal, the blended wine with the greatest proportion gets the label—and the winery does not have to specify on the label that the wine in the bottle is anything other than what's on the label. This wine is actually 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Syrah, 6 % Cabernet Franc, and 3% Merlot. The "tasting notes" also inform me that after malolactic fermentation, (hence the mellow quality), "the wine was aged with oak." Note, please the turn of phrase; "with oak," versus the more traditional "in oak." That means, I suspect that pieces of oak or oak products were suspended in the wine, rather than aging the wine in oak barrels.

This was a decent bottle of wine, one that was worth more than the just over $5.00 we paid on sale at the grocer's. We'll likely buy it again, if we see it. But it was also one of the hardest wines to find anything about; there's almost no current data on the Washington Hills Wine site at all; there's a lot that should be there and is missing (like who makes the wine? Where are the vineyards?) and I assume that at least part of that is because Washington Hills was purchased by Precept Wines. The data I was able to find on Precept's site was helpful—but the fact that I can't find anything, at all, about the special label anywhere on or off line, and the fact that all three of the email addresses I tried bounced with a dead address error, doesn't reflect well.

Pine and Post Riesling

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?

This was a lovely wine.

This is a wine we'll buy more of. It's a screw-cap bottle, with no date on the label, and thus a "drink it now" wine, but I'm fine with that. It has the definite Washington State Riesling taste; slightly sweet, and, in this case on the dry side, and an ABV of 11%. It's hard to believe that this was just $4.99 at the Washington State Liquor store. It's not the wow-this-is-amazing dry Riesling of Pacific Rim, but this is very much what a semi-dry Washington Riesling is. This is a wine I can afford to buy and give to friends in California and Germany, and say "yes, we do Rieslings in Washington quite nicely. Here's a sample from my state." The label has no date on it which suggests to me that this is a NV, or Non Vintage wine; a wine made from a blend of various vineyard's grapes, from more than one year.

It's not easy to learn much about Pine and Post Riesling, on or offline. Precept is not terribly speedy about updating their Web site; it looks about two years out of date for the most part. It doesn't even list a Pine and Post Riesling; I suspect this was left over stock from the Washington State Liquor Stores Washington Wine month, which, had this been available locally, I would have purchased it; it wasn't, then, but it looks from this list that it should have been.

Barrelstone 2007 Syrah

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. It's that sort of stereotypical "fruit forward" that you'll hear about Washington Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon, over and over. That said, I purchased this at a discount store, for $3.99, so really, I'm in no position to complain, but were I to buy this wine again, I might begin by decanting it.

Barrelstone is another Washington winery (in Prosser) owned by the Seattle-based Precept group. Barrelstone was intended to be a winery specializing in Washington Syrah. I notice that Barrelstone Syrah in previous years has performed quite well; given the surprising dryness of the cork (it crumbled), I wonder if I should try another bottle, as a matter of fairness.

Precept Wine Brands

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. In 2006, Precept Brands formed a partnership with Charles Smith's The Magnificent Wine Co. to concentrate on blending Washington Wines from the Columbia Valley.

Precept bought Waterbrook Winery in Walla Walla in 2006, and at about the same time, Precept began purchasing Washington vineyards. In 2009 Precept created a major winery, production facility and show room in Walla Walla Washington. The new winery, Walla Walla Wine Works, is a 53,000-square-foot state-of-the-art facility capable of producing up to 250,000 cases of wine per year. That output far exceeds the possible production of any other winery in Walla Walla; the second largest facility, Canoe Ridge Vineyard, produced about 65,000 cases of wine in 2006, according to the state Liquor Control Board. Precept also owns vineyard property in Yakima, Washington.

In addition to owning 12 Washington wine labels, Precept also has partial ownership of Apex Cellars and related brands, as well as Willow Crest Winery and Red Door Cellars. Precept also owns Oregon wineries and labels, and imports wine from Australia, New Zealand, Germany and Italy. Currently, Precept Wine Brands is the largest privately held wine company in the state of Washington.

So what does this mean for those of us who like Washington wine? I'm not sure. Part of me looks at the grocery store and Washington State Liquor store shelves, stocked quite thoroughly with the Precept Brands consumer table wines, mostly under $8.00 retail, and I wonder how much difference can there be, really, between Avery Lane and Pine and Post and Washington Hills versions of the same varietal from the same year—or a NV blend? Are other Washington wines being pushed off the shelf because of the real estate claimed by Precept—a major name with a large sales force and distribution? Keeping that in mind, they've had a fair number of positive reviews for what are, quite honestly, budget priced wines. I note as well that Browne seems to be genuinely enthusiastic, and appreciative in very specific ways, about Washington wine and making quality Washington wines, but perhaps, more than anything else, focusing on marketing the wines made by others.

Washington Hills 2006 Gewurtztraminer and Columbia Crest Two Vines 2007 Gewurtztraminer

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.

The Washington Hills Winery and vineyards are in Washington's Columbia valley. It's one of the wineries owned by the Precept Wines conglomerate. Their 2006 Gewürtztraminer is a consumer tier wine, meant for enjoying now. It's a light golden color, pale, with a noticeable aroma of green grass and lemon. The taste is the typical Gewürtztraminer spice, poignant, sharply grapefruit-like, but in this instance there's a more tropical Lychee fruit, lemon balm quality to the wine. It's a wine with an artificial cork, and an ABV of 11%. We found it a delightful wine, surprisingly distinctive and easily a bargain.

I've yet to be disappointed by any of the Columbia Crest Two Vines

wines. This 2007 Columbia Crest Two Vines Gewürtztraminer is the first of the 2007 I've tried. We weren't disappointed. It's a noticeably sweeter wine than the Washington Hills 2006 Gewürtztraminer, but it too has the typical spice quality of a Gewürtztraminer. The fruit came from the Columbia valley, and it was fermented in stainless steel tanks, as is typical for Columbia Crest. The ABV was also 11%, and again, it was worth every penny, and frankly, given that this wine lists for around $8.00 to $10.00 a bottle, it's another bargain.

Even at list prices, I'd think about either of these wines as a safe bet and a quick pick for Chinese or Thai takeout. We're planning to pick up a couple more bottles of each, and while both of these Gewürtztraminers are quite pleasant on their own, I think it might be fun to pick up a bottle of each and try them with some carefully chosen Thai food. I'm curious about how the acidic-spicy-sweet qualities will work with more overt hot spice, and the lemon grass of Thai cooking.

First Washington State Food & Wine Magazine Winemaker of the Year

Every year for the last eleven

years Food and Wine Magazine has selected a Winemaker of the Year. This is an extremely prestigious award, and it marks the winemaker in question as creating some of the very best wines North America offers. This year, for the first time ever, Food and Wine Magazine has selected a Washington winemaker their Winemaker of the Year. Charles Smith is a relative newcomer to the Washington wine scene, but he's already made his mark in terms of Washington wine that's unabashedly characteristic of the state.

Smith abandoned a career of managing European rock bands to create K Vintners in 2001. Although his family history includes home winemaking, this was a deliberate career change for Smith who wanted something challenging and engrossing. K Vintners is in Walla Walla, Washington, at the foot of the Blue Mountains. K Vintners wines are sourced from the Wahluke Slope and Walla Walla Valley.

K Vintners began by specializing in small carefully crafted batches of wine; his first effort was a limited release Syrah. As the winery's expertise and reputation increased, Charles Smith added two new lines to his K Vintners limited releases. Smith subsequently added two new lines meant more for consumers than collectors. The Magnificent Wine Company and Charles Smith Wines: The Modernist Project are focused on mid-ranged wines. Smith is known for bold marketing, label design, and full, robust flavored wines. The Modernist Project wines, in particular, are wines designed for the table, for immediate consumption, but that are carefully crafted to by typical of that particular varietal and appellation. The Charles Smith wines have names like "Holy Cow,""Kung Fu Girl Riesling," and "Old Bones." The marketing style is deliberately brash and "rock star" in approach. Every year a few of the releases sell out almost immediately.

Sagebrush Sauvignon Blanc 2008

We picked this up

on a whim at the local bargain grocery store. It's a very new vintage, from a winery I've never heard of; the bottle says "Sagebrush Vineyards, Pasco Washington." I can't find out anything at all about this wine, or the winery. There was a hand-written sign on the shelf under the bottles that said it was from Gordon Brothers Winery. I have no idea on what basis, but I note that the Gordon Brothers do make a rather well respected Sauvignon Blanc. The Sagebrush was a surprisingly sweet—almost dessert-wine sweet wine, but it was light, with a distinct aroma of roasted peaches, and just very slightly citrusy. It was quite enjoyable, to my surprise; it was the "youngest" bottle of professionally made wine I've ever had. Frankly, I half-way expected it to be pretty bad. We had it with salmon patties, and in hindsight, I would have picked something even lighter (possibly chicken salad) since the salmon was almost too much for the delicate flavor of the wine. On another occasion we had with some lovely slices of fresh pineapple; a pairing that worked very well. I think in future I'd serve it as a dessert wine with fruit or other light dessert fare. I use the subjunctive "if" there because at $2.99 a bottle, I very much doubt that we'll have another chance at this particular wine.

This is the second Washington Sauvignon Blanc I've tried. I've tried two from Australia, different vintages of the same wine. I'm fascinated by the extreme differences in taste that each of the Sauvignon Blancs have had—I realize some of the difference is age, and some has to do with production methods (particularly oak/non-oak) but there's something rather magical in the fact that all were recognizably Sauvignon Blanc, but all were strikingly distinct. I've noticed this with the Chardonnays I've tried as well, but not so much with the Rieslings. I know that the stereotypical description of Sauvignon Blanc is "crisp, elegant, and fresh," but I am fascinated by the enormous range within that general (and honestly, almost meaningless) description. I'm not the only one to notice American Sauvignon differences, either, as this article on American-grown Sauvignon Blanc "going tropical," indicates with taste descriptions that compare the wine to melons, mangos and kiwi, rather than the more traditional citrus and pear.

There are, however, a fair number of well-respected wineries all over the world producing Sauvignon Blanc (or Fumé Blanc, for many California wineries) that I look forward to trying a number of them—and Washington state is not at all hurting in terms of Sauvignon Blanc. The larger wineries with tiers tend to have at least two Sauvignon Blancs. Ste. Michelle, for instance, has a 2007 Horse Heaven Hills Sauvignon Blanc, (Ken's Wine Guide liked it)a 2008 Columbia Valley Sauvignon Blanc, and even a 2007 Marier Sauvignon Blanc. Columbia Crest offers a Savignon Blanc in their Two Vines range; this is new to me. I'll have to watch for it. Tagaris has a 2006 Sauvignon that another blogger suggested I watch for locally. Sean P. Sullivan recommends Townshend Sauvignon Blank Columbia Valley 2006. Sean linked to this article from The Spokesman which lists a cluster of Washington Sauvignon Blancs.

Gordon Brothers 2006 Columbia valley Rose

This is another bargain grocery store wine. It's also a bit of a mystery; except for the winemaker's own Website, this is, apparently, a nonexistent wine. The 2005

Rose is easy to find, as are a number of positive reviews; the 2006? Not so much. That's a little surprising; the Gordon Brothers and their winery are extremely well-respected.; I had their Kamiak wines in Los Angeles, where they were presented at a catered dinner for a "cause" and selected by the host as premium domestic wines. I remember him telling me conspiratorially (I was staff, not an attendee) that he totally scored on the purchase, and had even bought two cases for himself. I'm going to go out on a limb here (remember, I don't actually know anything about wine; I'm learning by drinking reading) and speculate that the fact that they only makde 430 cases has something to do with it.

The Gordon Brother's 2006 Rosé is a lovely rose color—the Cabernet-Sauvignon / Merlot blend that went into the wine shows, quite clearly in the color, and in the aroma. It's full-bodied enough to stand up to a pretty robust meal, too. It's a nice blend of the characteristics of both the Cabernet Sauvignon, and the Merlot, with a noticeable fruit bouquet, and some tannin. It's more dry than sweet (ABV 13.7%). The Gordon Brothers' Web site describes the wine as "Rich fragrances of strawberry leap from the glass to greet the nose. Flavors are strawberry with hints of salmonberry. " That's actually both sensible, in terms of English, and I think, very accurate. I love, by the way, that they compared a Washington wine to salmonberries, a Pacific Northwest native fruit.

I'm rather intrigued by the Gordon Brothers. It's very much still a family winery in Pasco, Washington. Family wineries in Washington are becoming a little sparse of late. I'm rather intensely wishing I could drive to Woodinville, Washington where their tasting room is located, for the Gordon Brothers' Winery Crush weekend the last weekend of September (among their specials: Rose' 2006: 30% off bottles, 40% off cases). Maybe next year. I note that this is an interesting article, and that I very much like the attitude towards Washington wine that I see expressed by the winery in interviews, and on their Web site.

And yes, I'm going to go back to pick up a few more bottles; I'd be willing to pay more than $3.99, easily, for this wine.

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