One of my goals every year is to go somewhere new in the wine world that I have never been. So when good friend Tom Ferraro invited me to go with his contingency to the Washington State wine auction, I jumped at the opportunity. I have been remiss in exploring this part of the U.S. and even though I have been to California a couple of dozen times and to Oregon for the IPNC, for some reason I have never ventured to Washington State. Washington State has some of the most promising wine producing regions in this country and to think that at this point in my professional wine drinking career I had not been there and I could not give a good reason why, I basically had to go.
The first day I wanted to take in some of the history of the area and it just so happens that one of the Wine Watch's inner circle, Chardonnay Ray, is also one of the authorities on the this part of the United States. He was stationed here in 1967 by the U.S. Navy and then became an avid sailor. Navigating the many waterways on the both Lake Washington and the Puget Sound, Ray knows these parts like few people that live here today. I got a great education about this area and we drank some KILLER wines to start out the trip.
Our wine list for the first night included 2001 Pahlmeyer Chardonnay Napa, which as Ray would say "is drinking perfect!" right now. Then a bottle of the super rare 2002 Domaine Serene Monogram Pinot Noir, available only at the winery and another vintage wine that was drinking at or near its peak. Speaking of a mature drinking experience, the 1998 Woodward Canyon Cabernet Sauvignon "Artist Series" was amazing and I had a chance to share this experience with owner Rick Small the next afternoon so this turned out to be an excellent choice for the dinner course.
You know when good friends get together three bottles is usually not enough, so we finished with a 1994 Fonseca vintage port. This 100 point port is still showing some tannins but it is starting to drink nicely right now, however it is a paradox because there is about 50 years left in this wine if you put it in your cellar. That was my first night in Washington, a great warm-up for the weekend to come!
Picnic and Barrel Auction Thursday Night:
The picnic and barrel auction was held at Chateau St. Michelle winery in Woodenville Washington. This grand Chateau like winery is an incredible state of the art facility with beautiful grounds and a stage where they regularly throw parties, concerts and of course wine tasting events. This winery is the natural choice to host this event with many of this state's top minds coming through the school of Ste. Michelle like Bob Betz, one of the co-hosts for this year's auction. You can tell they have a lot of experience with this type of partying as they put on a very good show with several of the area's top local restaurants serving up the local cuisine on the grounds along with hundred of local wines to sample.
Around the stage in an area which I began to call the "inner circle" was where all the producers who were offering up their wines for the barrel auction. Well, you couldn't really call it a barrel auction because some of the wines were not barrel samples and the winning bidder only received one case for their winning bid. But you did get a barrel top along with your case of wine so maybe that is the barrel tie in.
All of the top names in the Washington state wine industry were present at this event with the exception of; Quilceda Creek and Leonetti Cellars. Both of these producers showed their wines at either the Chairman's Dinner on Friday night or the Auction Dinner on Saturday night.
Some of the names that were part of the "inner circle" and that were offering their wines for sale to five lucky bidders were: De Lille Cellars, Charles Smith, Double Back, Andrew Will, Coreliss, Syncline, Esteffe (who offered the only single varietal Merlot that I tasted at the event), Figgins Family, Woodward Canyon, Betz, Va Piano, and Chateau Ste. Michelle of course.
There were a lot of winery owners who attended and poured their wines at the barrel auction like: Woodward Canyon's Rick Small, DeLille Cellars' Chris Upchurch, Figgins Family Wine Estates' Chris Figgins were all in the house and although Double Back's Drew Bledsoe was not present, former Miami Dolphin Damon Huard was checking out the competition. Rumor has it next year we may see a wine with Damon's name on it, he is good friends with Chris from Andrew Will and a serious wine lover.
The surprise of the night for me was the 2009 Coreliss Cabernet Sauvignon. This is a winery that I was not familiar with so it immediately peeked my interest. The 2009 vintage of this wine was the only wine that I bid on at the auction and it was a bit of a disappointment that I was out bid at the last moment in this strange barrel auction. You placed your bid on a wood wine box panel and then the wood panel was slide into a place which held five panels in a row, as the sixth bid panel was slide into place it knocked the first panel containing the lowest bid off. At the end of the night there were five winners with each winner receiving a case of the wine that was offered. Some of the wines were barrel samples where the producer promised to bottle the winning wine in any size format you wish. Some producers were offering their current release, which the 2009's look to be very promising and offer a good deal of immediate gratification.
The 2009 Coreliss Cabernet Sauvignon was densely packed with currant and black raspberry coulis like fruit along with a full complement of toasty oak spice, sweet tobacco and dark coco, a very complex wine that had layers and layers of fruit, ripe sweet tannins and toasty oak spice through the finish. There was a bit of earth here but the focus of many of these Washington State wines in their youth is the sweet fruit, which is a hallmark of Washington state wines. You rarely get really dry and tannic wines here like in Napa and the green herbal notes are also not as predominant in the wines from Washington state.
I noticed a wine that I am familiar with on the outside perimeter tasting table which contained maybe 50 to 100 additional wines than what was available to tasting in the "inner circle". The Hedges Red Mountain 2009 was on the table this is another wine that was displaying the very forward and generous nature of this vintage from Washington. Hedges is one of the best wines for the money made in Washington and although they did not have a big presence at the auction I am very familiar with their wines and this red Mountain 2009 vintage wine was outstanding. We have included everything from Hedges in the Washington State offering at the end of this e-mail.
In Washington state most of the producers still buy the majority of the fruit they use but more and more are planting vineyards and the good producers who are buying the majority of their grapes have contracts with the growers that pay based on the acre rather than the ton. This ensures that they can farm the vines to produce the most intense and balanced wine rather than the highest yielding.
Red Moutain Tasting after the Barrel Auciton:
We took a stroll out of Chateau Ste. Michelle barrel auction over to a local restaurant for a Red Mountain tasting. Since this is my favorite wine producing region in Washington I had to check this out.
Col Solare 2006 and 2007 were at the red Mountain tasting and this is one of the best wines made in Washington State. We are happy to be able to offer these to you at one of the best prices in the country on this offering: List $75 Sale $49 6pk $234
Betz Family was there, they make three different Syrahs and every so often a 4th entitled reserve which is a blend of all three, only 100 cases are produced. They also make two Bordeaux inspired blends, one more right bank in style and the other a version of a left bank wine. These wines are very highly sought after and we only have two Betz Family wines on this offering.
Portrait Cellars – this is a grower from red Mountain that makes a small amount of wine. The Riesling 2011 had some off aromas but their 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon was excellent. Not available in Florida yet but keep an eye out for wines from Red Mountain they are some of the best coming from Washington State.
We did not have a seat at the Herb Garden's $500 per head dinner that night but after all the food at the CCM tasting and then the Red Mountain Tasting we only needed an appetizer rather than a 10 course tasting menu.
