You had me at Walla…

Feb 28 2010

When my friend/roommate told me she had never been wine tasting, the ideas just kept running through my mind. Should we make a weekend of it? Where should we start? Just the two of us? Tri Cities, Woodinville or Walla Walla? I have a dear friend, Toni, that I haven’t seen for awhile so I decided on Walla Walla and when I got a Saturday off (which NEVER happens) I decided it was fate, and captured Miss Kendra.

On the road by 11am, ok 11:15, we put on John Mayer and hit the road. First stop – L’Ecole 41 right outside of Walla Walla. The story is fun and I’ll give you the basics: old schoolhouse transitioned to a winery in 1975-1980 and was most recently named Regional Winery of the Year in 2009 by Wine & Spirits Magazine. I figured it was a good place to introduce Kendra to wine tasting because it has a rich background, the staff has always been very friendly towards me and they have a wide selection of wines. She ended up buying their 2008 Columbia Valley Semillion ($13) and our tasting room attendant(s) were very helpful in pointing us in the right direction for food and wine, even drawing unknown locations on our map. Yes, we had a map. Yes, I felt very touristy.
We had planned on eating at Aloha Sushi, one of my favorites in Walla Walla, but since our next winery was only open until 2pm, we had to get there quickly so lunch was put on hold. Besides, who needs lunch when you have wine!?

With map in hand and wine on the mind, we headed out in the country to Rulo. Thank goodness for our drawn in map because this is a winery you do not want to miss! They have 3, almost 4, white wines (Viognier, two Chardonnays and a Sauvignon Blanc that isn’t quite finished) and 4 reds (Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrca – 70% Syrah 30% Cab, and Silo – which is another Syrah). These are wines you must try when you go to Walla Walla. The owners/winemakers/distributors/tasting room attendants Kurt & Lisa are wonderful and make you feel like you are a part of the process. The wine pairing they mention is fun also; their Viognier with “a spoonful of Jif extra-crunchy peanut butter- – no bread involved.” I got to taste their Sauvignon Blanc out of a beaker and wow, it is so interesting. Key word – interesting. It smells so beautiful and floral but then when you drink it, kind of kicks you in the ass. It has typical Sauvignon Blanc taste multiplied by 10. Very acidic, very lemon and very much a food wine. My favorite of theirs is most definitely the Syrca. I’m a huge fan of Syrah, and this is blended with Cabernet and just has such richness to it, I felt I was drinking 70% gold and %30 diamonds. Cheesy, yes. Delicious, yes.

After many thanks, and 4 more bottles to add to our case box, Kendra and I were sent down the road to Isenhower Cellars. I was happy right away, because I saw that they had Syrah and also a Roussanne/Viognier blend called Snapdragon. Roussanne is a varietal you don’t see too often, but is one I enjoy so I started there, with Kendra right behind me. It had a great aroma full of mandarin orange mixed with bright floral notes, and the taste was right there to match. Very smooth and we both really enjoyed it and went down the whole list, still on an empty stomach. The tasting room attendant, Dary (sp!?), was very sweet and if you go in there, I’m sure she will treat you right.

We found our way to meet up with Toni, where she was the lucky recipient of the Snapdragon and she sadly informed us that Aloha Sushi closes for a few hours on Saturday and we were in that few hour period. Disappointed but still hungry, and desperately needing wine we took her advice and headed to T. Maccarones for lunch. We had a beautiful cheese and meat plate, macaroni and cheese, and obviously wine, red for me, white for Kendra. Our server was great and compiled a list for us to hit in our last hour-ish before the dreaded 5pm when things shut down.

We went to one of our final destinations, a wine shop downtown, Walla Walla Wine Works. The great thing about this place is that you can taste from a bunch of wineries, without having to go to each of them. Their list changes regularly and it is organized very well, guiding you through your tasting. Our tasting room attendant was full of coffee and ready to help us drink; I mean taste, a bunch of wine. Since I was the driver and had already been to several wineries, I skipped the whites and went straight for the good stuff. We had a great Temperanillo and several yummy Syrahs before skipping to a tasting I’ve never even done before, sparkling wine. I’ve had sparkling wine before, but never done a tasting with it. I just buy and say “Hope it’s good!” The sparkling wine was from Covet, made in the Columbia Valley and they have a Riesling, Syrah and another wine that I cannot for the life of me remember but we walked away with 2 bottles of sparkling Riesling, and 1 sparkling Syrah. I also took home a bottle of 2008 Originals Syrah and Kendra picked up a 2008 Originals Riesling.

Last place, Otis Kenyon. If you love history, wine, and good stories, this is the place for you. Otis Kenyon, the man, burnt down a dental office, had his family abandon him, and generations later, his grandkids found him living on the Oregon coast, reunited and now his great granddaughter, Muriel, runs the tasting room. They give out matchboxes instead of business cards, and their red blend is called Matchless Red. They have some delicious wines, in fact, I’m drinking the Matchless Red right now and it is full of dark cherry, with a nice structure and some light tannin in the back jaw area.
Heading home at around 630pm, we had bought 11 bottles of wine and were ready to fill our wine rack. On the drive home, I thought about all the stereotypes of Walla Walla, and how I find them mostly false. The wine ranged in price from $15-$40 and hardly anyone had their nose in the air. Maybe it’s the places I chose to go but Walla Walla is a great place for any wine drinker, beginning or old.

As always, remember to enjoy every glass and every taste, because the bottle empties quicker than you think.

Cheers!

Wine as mouthwash? Yes please!– Barnard Griffin Syrah Port 2008

Nov 25 2009

I’m nervous.  I’m about to make the jump to the left of the page– to the “wine” section of the PalateBomb archives.  Always being immediately relegated into the “not wine” section on the right has left me with a constant feeling of inferiority I haven’t felt since the days of dodgeball.  It’s like the hot or not of the wine blogging world.  Now, this 2008 Syrah Port by Barnard Griffin is going to move me on over to the left for the first time.  The last thing to move me to the left had a Yale and Harvard education (supposedly), refused to use words from the English language, and choked on a pretzel once (well, only once that we know of).  I imagine this Port tastes much better.

I’ve held onto it for awhile ever since it was bestowed upon me to review.  It was a test in patience that I think I passed with flying colors.  But this Friday night, after going out with a friend fell through at the last minute, I needed something to do.  Naturally, I retired to my wine cellar and the Port stood out like an oasis in the Sahara.  Actually, it was at the foot of my bed as I went into my room to change into my cowboy pajamas.  The point’s still the same.  My patience ran out, I ripped the bottle out of the bag that had been protecting it from light for the past two months, and kept my clothes on because I felt that my outfit that day was especially wine reviewer-esque.  Even if no one was there to see me, I looked the part.  You’ll have to trust me because I refuse to take pictures of myself in the mirror or have a MySpace account– two things that go hand in hand.  Regardless, my outfit was more suitable for my big wine reviewing debut than cowboy pajamas would have been.

I took the bottle to my kitchen and was thrilled to see that I required no corkscrew, or shoe and hard building.  I only had to unscrew the top.  As I let that breathe, I considered some food to have with it.  I’m bad with decisions, so I pulled out a bit of everything.  I had some dark chocolate, some walnuts and almonds, and half of a bagel with Nutella.  I thought some fruit would go well with it as well, but it was the end of the week and the only fruit– although it’s not really a fruit either– remaining was a pomegranate.  I wanted to get to this wine; opening up a pomegranate would only keep me from it longer.  Next time.

I chose the walnuts because when I first tasted this, and it was my first Port at the time, I was told by an intelligent Port veteran that Ports taste like walnuts.  I quickly agreed, and not just out of politeness.  I honestly agreed, but afterward I realized that I couldn’t remember the last time I had actually eaten a walnut.  So I wanted to eat walnuts side by side with the wine to make sure I hadn’t simply been affected by one of the same fallacies of wine reviewing summarized in this sure-to-be controversial Wall Street Journal article which mentions that one California wine was described as “Dusty, chalky scents followed by mint, plum, tobacco and leather. Tasty cherry with smoky oak accents…” in one publication, and “promising aromas of lavender, roasted herbs, blueberries, and black currants” in another.

But sure enough, that taste is walnuts.  And the taste of walnut is much better in a wine.  I now know why I hadn’t eaten a walnut in a while.  The description provided by Barnard Griffin makes no mention of walnuts; apparently instead it’s “shadings of earth.”  I’m no marketer, but I’d prefer to call it walnut than dirt. They also say there’s cherry and plum in there.  I can taste the cherry just about as strongly as the walnut.  When sipped quickly, it goes down smoother than any red wine I’ve had.  I think the Syrah and cherry tastes blend to overpower the bitterness that usually comes with (and turns me off of) walnut, preserving only the unique and tasty meatiness of it.  When I keep the wine on my tongue for a bit– maybe that’s a strange thing to do, I wouldn’t know– it turns spicy, a completely different feeling than when I swallowed immediately.  It tasted like Listerine, if Listerine had come out with a delicious new wine flavor.  I did not swish it, but I did like achieving this spicy effect right after nibbling some of the chocolate.  Perhaps the spiciness came from the mysterious plums.  Are there spicy plums?

I have just one beef with this Port.  What’s with the bottle being so small?  Let’s make it a little bigger next year, okay?

As I’m trying more and more red wines, and finding ones that I like, this is the first one I can say I truly enjoyed.  Yes, I’ve found others I liked the taste of, but this is the first one I remember the taste of long after, just as I have long done with beers I truly enjoy.  This was an excellent introduction to Ports, and I hope it’s a gateway to many more.  Additionally, I hope the others know that the bar has been set high by Barnard Griffin.

Now that I’m done with my first review, I just have one question for next time.  Is there any sort of rule against reviewing the same wine twice?

Middle Sisters have a wine of their own – Rebel Red!

Oct 30 2009

I am part of a trio of sisters. To be exact, I am right in the middle. Not the oldest who carries the bulk of the responsibility or the youngest who enjoys here own type of pampering, but right smack in the middle. Being the middle sister, I have learned to have thick skin, be a mediator, and act as therapist when necessary. The only people who truly understand the complexity of my birth order are other middle sisters. It was a pleasant surprise on a shopping trip to come across a wine called “Middle Sister.”

I was a little hesitant to pick it up because of where I was getting it from, but I decided that the picture was a great representation of a middle sister, so I decided “Why not?” Haven’t I heard somewhere that women wine buyers tend to buy based on label? It sold me! And at $10.99 it was worth every penny. The one I picked up was Rebel Red (how appropriate for a middle sister!).

Rebel Red is a blend of different grapes, 38% zinfandel, 34% merlot, 21% cabernet sauvignon, 5% syrah, 2% mixed red varietals. When I took a sip, I was pleasantly surprised to see how smooth it was. It wasn’t too sweet or too dry, which is perfect for me.

Since then, I have tasted other Middle Sister wines – both red and white – and have not been disappointed with any of them. The wines all seem to have a balance that will fit many wine drinkers’ palates – a nice, smooth sipping wine that is easy to enjoy. Middle Sister wines have quickly become one of my favorite to pick up when I want to relax with a nice glass of wine or am joining friends for dinner.

The only issue is that I have not been able to find it anywhere but in Target. I’ve looked at my local wine shop and grocery, but no go. This is such a delightful wine, that I can only hope they will expand their distribution – Target is not a place most people go seeking out wine and I fear this enjoyable tasting wine will go largely undiscovered in the aisles across from CDs and cameras.

Even if you aren’t a middle sister, I recommend checking this one out. I have recommended it and shared bottles with several friends, and they’ve all been pleased. Give it a try!