Day Two - chairman's Dinner
Our second day on the job out here in Washington was another perfect day maybe not quite as hot as the prior day which went into the mid-nineties, making it one of hottest days of the year or maybe one of the hottest days every in Seattle. I was not unhappy with the heat but I wished that I had brought a few more pairs of shorts.
Tom arranged a visit for us at the Longshadows tasting room at 11am so we were off to see what Alain Shoup was up to with all of his consulting gurus from around the world. This is one of the most exciting projects in Washington and I was glad to taste these wines as they are all available in Florida! Many of the small producers do not have distribution as of yet in Florida so you have to order them direct. I will work to change that as I have become a big fan of Washington Wines on this trip and will be making another trip out here as soon as possible to explore more of what is happening. This is one of the few wine regions on earth where you can buy top level vineyard land at around $35,000 per acre. Anyone interested in owning some vines??
We were a little early for our tasting at Longshadows and we needed something to drink so we wondered across the street to Mark Ryan's tasting room. This is one of the most exciting wineries to be introduced to me on this trip. This cool little joint really showed the personality of the owner with the cartoon like adult posters and the rebel motorcycle theme, this hip place was only surpassed by the wines. The first vintage of Mark Ryan was 1999 and his most expensive wines sell out with little effort. This would lead you to believe that Mark needs to make more wines and he has just planted a few vineyards, once right above one of the most prized sites in Red Mountain, the Champoux vineyard. He explained that he had been trying to buy grapes from Champoux for the last decade and since he could not succeed with this effort he decided to plant a vineyard just above it. There may be some yellow colored runoff in this vineyard in the near future. I think these wines are available in FL but I have not found the distributor as of yet.
Chariman's Dinner
On Friday evening auction weekend they have dinners around Seattle in private homes and in this case a barge behind a home for the benefit of the Seattle Children's hospital.
Our dinner featured Allan Gilitzen from Quilceda Creek, Richard Betz from Betz Family Winery, Rick Small from Woodward Canyon and Ted Baseler CEO of Chateau St. Michelle. I guess you could say we were dining with the big dogs and not only were the all-star vintners at this event but the top dog on the culinary scene in this part of the world Tom Douglas was in the kitchen cooking. The stage was set on this evening for a once in a lifetime food and wine experience.
The lovely couple that donated their home for our dining and drinking enjoyment was in a bit over their head as the 100+ dining group was large for most of the mansions on lake Washington so this was one of the first of its kind for me- dinner on a barge. Actually there were two barges, one for the kitchen and one for the dining room.
The evening began once again with the 2006 Domaine St. Michelle Luxe Sparkling wine. This wine was very fruity and seemed to lack something every time that we had it, I found it hard to finish the glass and this is surprising to me because they make very good wines at the entry level under the Domaine Ste. Michelle label. Well they make good wines for $10 but at the next level in sparkling wine I expect quite a bit more. However, the DeLille Cellars Doyenne Rousanne Reserve 2011 was excellent and very good with all of the passed bites.
We were lucky to have the great Tom Douglas cooking for us this evening and everything was expertly prepared and served at this event. There was an army of sommeliers working the room also with three wines per course for the last two courses their skills would be needed to reset and pour the 100+ guests at the event.
The passarounds were tiny treats that just gave you a taste of what was to come. My favorite with the sparkling was the Mount Townsend Seastack of Roasted Chanterelles on crostini. This item was simple and had very clean flavors that worked well together. Another simple crowd pleaser was the tomato tar tar with olive oil and smoked sea salt. The complexity level stepped up with the Foie gras toast with tuna and truffle essence but maybe a bit too light on the truffle for me and I know it is easy to over whelm a dish with truffle but it is not good to underwhelm it either.
The first course was a perfect pairing; sweet corn soup garnish with buttered popcorn worked very nicely with the Eroica Riesling. However several of the guests at my table had finished their 3 ounce pour before the dish had arrived. The holy grail of screw ups in the food and wine pairing world- serve the food and the guest has no wine on the table to wash it down. I know we may have been the exception in the room but most of the glasses were cleared with too much wine to pour down the drain. This is serious alcohol abuse especially when you look at the wines going down the sink: Quilceda Creek, Delille Grand Ciel, Betz, Woodward Canyon and one of the reserve labels for Chateau Ste. Michelle- "Ethos".
We actually saw Tom Douglas himself in the kitchen and every course was expertly prepared, cooked perfectly and paired beautifully with the wines. Especially the BBQ Sockeye Salmon with sour cucumbers and a rose petal garnish. This went equally as well with the white wine on the table as with the red. The white was the 2011 Woodward Canyon Chardonnay, a rich chardonnay with a light toasty oak spice to the ripe tropical fruit with bright acidity keeping things clean on the finish. The chardonnay seemed like a no brainer with this dish so I was eager to see how the 2005 Betz Syrah La Cote Rousse worked with this dish. I was a bit skeptical at first, however the BBQ aspect of the dish really went nicely with the smoky notes from the Syrah and whomever planned this pairing really knew what they were doing.
The next course featured three wines and this was when the wave of glasses started to emerge as they cleared away the glasses from the first two courses and reset the glasses for the next course. The back to back glass changes made the service a bit rough but they did it very quickly, a bit too quickly for most as many of the glasses from this course left the table with a lot of wine still in them.
The first flight of the big reds were; 2008 Chateau St. Michelle Ethos Cabernet Sauvignon, 2008 De Lille Cabernet Sauvignon Grand Ciel and 2006 Quilceda Creek Galitzine Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. All of these wines were stunning but the Ethos is by far the best value in this line-up as the Quilceda and the De Lille wines are both over $100 per bottle and the "Ethos" is 1/3 the price of these wines and not 1/3 of the wine. A common issue in the world of fine wine today, the next best thing is often not twice as good as the next best thing in terms of price.
The last course was served all too soon and in terms of wines, this course had the best wines on the table and I will always be remiss about not buying the Le Parrain wine when I had the chance the following evening at the Grand Action as a magnum of this wine was available in the silent auction at $250 to buy straight out. I looked at everything in the room and went back to buy this wine and by the time I made it back to the table with this wine on it someone had already bought it!
Mark Ryan winery
2011 Viognier Columbia Valley
A dryer style of viognier with notes of green tea, tangerine and peach fruit with nice balance on the tongue. Smooth and creamy on the tongue with nice balance and not too floral for a Viognier. Finish 35+ Excellent
2010 The Vincent Red Columbia Valley
A very forward and seductive red with black raspberry and cherry and red plum fruit. Smooth and silky on the tongue with a good core of ripe fruit and fresh finish, nice balance. Finish 35+ Excellent
2010 The Dissident Red Columbia Valley
A blend of 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Syrah, 22% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc, 6% Merlot, 5% Petite Verdot. A good amount of dark berry fruit blackberry and dark cherry with notes of wild game and black licorice spice, nice complexity on the nose. Excellent +
2010 Wild Eyed Syrah Red Mountain
This is Ceil Du Cheval and Kilipsun Vineyard fruit dark plum and fig like fruit with toasty oak spice and pretty violet floral notes. Smooth and velvety tannins on the tongue with big fruit and a long layered finish, toasty oak spice and floral notes with good freshness. Finish 45+ Most Excellent
2009 Dead Horse Red Mountain
A blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Cabernet Franc, 11% Malbec, 8% Merlot, 6% Petit Verdot. Thick black cherry fruit, bright with sweet tobacco and pepper spice. This wine has lots of everything with ripe tannins and thick berry fruit with black raspberry coulis like fruit big and bold but still has good freshness through the finish, long and layered. Finish 50+ Most Excellent +
Lost Soul Syrah 2010
This wine if from Yakima Valley so a bit cooler notes of dark spices, plummy jammy fruit,
The Ghost of 413 2009
This is a 100% negociant label, all of the big wineries make more wine than they need just in case of a frost.
