You be nice to Kmurph! She is your right hand Gal. I’ll give the Amavi a try since I see you ordered more. They linked up your high praise on their home page!
NY Pete
WA producers I have enjoyed and would recommend … listed in no paricular order
Nicholas Cole
Reininger
Novelty Hill
Januik
Robert Karl Cellars
Waters
Ryan Patrick Vineyards
Mercer Estates
Columbia Crest
Dunham Cellars
Northstar
Woodward Canyon
Chateau Ste. Michelle
Magnificent Wine Company
Amavi
and by mid November, I hope to add Kaella Winery to that growing list.
NOW … where’s some new thunder?
Anonymous
Had the Nxnw at the W and Chile Fiesta and I agree, it sucked. I really like Quelcida Creek wines but K Vitner are really good and cheaper. Can’t remember the name of the Zindfandel blend from WA on the wine cruise. Maybe GV remembers the name. It was a big hit.
Anonymous
Unrelated question. When it comes to Body of a wine, does it always have to do with sugar content? That’s what I always imagine when I have a heavier bodied wine. Is that true at all? What accounts for heavier body i.e. “Cream texture instead of water”.
More questions coming later
Do you know of any good wineries near Seattle? I go up there all the time to visit family so I’d like to try some more wineries and I don’t feel like driving all the way to Eastern Washington.
Well, you did it! You just put the spotlight on one of the best kept secrets in Walla Walla! I’ve been a wine club member with AMAVI (pronounced AH-MA-VEEEEEE with the accent on the last syllable) for over 4 years. I haven’t even touched the ’07 cab yet. The ’05 and ’06 were very good, too. You now have forced me to break out one of my precious bottles of ’07 Cab to have with dinner tomorrow night. I think I’ll break out a bottle of their ’07 Les Collines Vineyard Syrah, too. That’s one you have to try soon! Cheers to Washington wines!
Well, you did it! You just put the spotlight on one of the best kept secrets in Walla Walla! I’ve been a wine club member with AMAVI (pronounced AH-MA-VEEEEEE with the accent on the last syllable) for over 4 years. I haven’t even touched the ’07 cab yet. The ’05 and ’06 were very good, too. You now have forced me to break out one of my precious bottles of ’07 Cab to have with dinner tomorrow night. I think I’ll break out a bottle of their ’07 Les Collines Vineyard Syrah, too. That’s one you have to try soon! Cheers to Washington wines!
Anonymous
Couldn’t agree more! The wine maker JFP of PepperBridge and Amavi rules. He knows his stuff and the fruit from that area is some of the best on the planet! Thanks!
Anonymous
Killer wine. JFP, the winemaker for Amavi and PepperBridge knows his stuff. some of the best fruit on the planet comes from the Walla Walla area!
Come back to Woodinville. I don’t know how many years ago you were there but it’s closing in on 90 tasting rooms in about a 2 mile radius. You’re literally stepping out of one and falling into another. More and more of the Walla Walla wineries are opening tasting rooms for people just like you, trying to avoid the long trip over the mountains.
Definite wineries to check out:
DeLille Cellars (a little biased because I work there, but really really great wine)
Mark Ryan
Stevens
Pomum
Efeste
Betz
Baer
Pepperbridge/Amavi (I’m not as big a fan of the cab as GV was in this ep, but it’s good… The Pepperbridge cab that happens to be poured in the same tasting room KILLS it.)
I could go on. Next time you’re in the area, come back out.
Anonymous
QOTD: Boy, it’s hard to pick a top Washington wine. This year Quilceda Creek Cabernet, Andrew Will Sorella, Fielding Hills Merlot, Syncline Syrah, Buty Champoux, and Boudreaux Merlot were standouts. The worst WA wine was probably the Haystack Needle Syrah which ended up in the drain rather quickly.
I live in Washington, and I agree that WA wines have way too much of that new oak thing going on (yeah, Quilceda is oaky too). What a horrible way to ruin good fruit.
QOTD: don’t have enough tasting experience with WA wines to answer the question properly.
Good show.
TheSmirkingLurker
Gary….
You sneaky…. little….
Where are you?
~TSL
Anonymous
Gary, it’s AH-ma-vee. I asked in the tasting room this past spring. 🙂
Anonymous
Also, Amavi is the second label from Pepper Bridge, so you are getting really amazing fruit and winemaking.
LurkerKing
Pinot Noir is over rated.
LurkerKing
Once I had a wine that tasted like bacon… If only I could remember the name of it… *sigh*
LurkerKing
Once I had a wine that tasted like bacon… If only I could remember the name of it… *sigh*
Anonymous
Love the content Gary. Nice work K-Murph! Come on Mott give K-Murph some face time.
QOTD: Worst:Red Diamond Cab
Best: Charles Smith Wines ?Chateau Smith? Cab
Don Simpson
Haven’t had very many Washington State wines so I don’t have much to offer on this topic.
Sorry Gary – maybe you had an off bottle, but the NxNW that I’ve had has been really good. Lighter than a Pinot Noir? Please….
J. Bookwalter has some nice Cabs and Boedecker Cellers has some good Pinot Noirs.
Anonymous
Yeppers. I admit to being cheap, but for $22, I would expect a lot more than a barely B+ wine.
Anonymous
but it’s so expensive…
Troytee
Love the Ryan Patrick stuff too. Have not had them in a few vintages. Thanks for putting them back on the radar.
Anonymous
Last couple years I managed to visit Walla Walla (2x) and Red Mountain. From the latter, I found that Terra Blanca has some amazing white wines – top notch chardonnays. From Walla Walla, I found in price to quality ratio, Spring Valley sets the standard. Their 100% Merlot is dynamite, and their Uriah would consistently rival Bordeaux blends 2x and 3x the price. BTW, they got great taco stands in this area.
Anonymous
Agree with you on early Northstars. However, I have found recent vintages have been very good and approachable in their youth.
Anonymous
Reininger’s Carmenere is outstanding!
passion4wine
It’s not available in BC and Alberta cannot ship to BC.. unfortunately that is the story with a lot of wines Gary showcases. You’re lucky Alberta has more to offer for wine selection, sometimes I am discouraged about watching the thunder since I cannot try the wines.
Anonymous
QOTD: BEST: 2007 K Vintners “The Deal” Syrah, Sundance Vineyard, Wahluke Slope is probably the best wine I’ve had frome Washington with it’s balance of dense, complex fruit, rich mouthfeel, levening acidity and secondary flavors of leather, bacon, and spices.
WORST: I cannot think nof a particular terrible WA wine, but I do remember a couple of Viognier that I had from (I think) the hot Wahluke slope or Indian Wells that were just too alcoholic, flabby, and slightly bitter. This is my general problem with many over-extracted domestic expressions of Viognier…
Anonymous
WL got some more!
Anonymous
Columbia Crest wines have to be one of the best deals on the planet for QPR. I have tried all price points and the wines deliver the goods.
Anonymous
Do yourself a favor and find some Columbia Crest, Chateau Ste Michelle etc and be blown away with the purity of fruit and reasonable prices.
Anonymous
That is a great list. Can you ship them to Vancouver,Canada for me?!!
Anonymous
When are you having a wine tasting for the Vayniacs?
Anonymous
Adrian, I am inquiring about the Amavi for BC distribution. I will post here when I track it down!
Anonymous
K Vintners is awesome!
Anonymous
Gary,
I have noticed that a lot of the Canadian contingent cannot get their hands on the wines that you recommend on the Thunder Show. Maybe you could hook up with a local wine shop in say Vancouver and they could offer your “Gary Vaynerchuk Selections”. This would make for very happy VV’s (Vancouver Vayniacs).
Jim McCowan, Realtor
Long & Foster North Arlington Office
4600 Lee Highway
Arlington, VA 22207
Work: 703.522-0500
Cell: 703.395.0166
Fax: 703.525.0387 http://www.jimmccowan.com
Jackie Gleason is daaaa booommmbbbbbb, MelbaLI !!!
:oP
Allan
YEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!! INDEEEEEEEEEED, Mr El Presidente.. 🙂
Anonymous
Great show! Love this topic. Very applicable, as I greatly enjoy WA state and find it a respectable value compared to many of the CA counterparts. I have found past Amavi’s quite enjoyable and I immediately went out and grabbed two off a local store shelves, as this retailer is the only one I know to bring in this producer.
QTD – I have greatly enjoy Cht. Ste. Michelle Cold Creek cabs from the mid-90’s, however current producers like K Vintners and A.Will compete right up there. As far as bad, no single WA wine stands out. Across the board, I have found them consistently good.
Yeah. They should be more like classed-growth Bordeaux; I mean, you’re not going to catch Chateau Latour or Margaux ruining their “good fruit”…wait, they all use 100% new oak too…damn!!! Seriously, the oak takes a fair amount of cellar time to integrate, and I’ve noticed many folks around here seem to be unable to defer their gratification, hence the dominate oak. Big wines like the Quilceda Creek will richly repay extended cellar time -the fruit will “absorb” the oak, but it doesn’t happen overnight. They don’t seem to really “blossom” before their 8-10th birthday.
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luca bercelli
90/100
line of the day – ‘It’s like a Southern Belle form the 60’s who got a littler freaky when disco come out.’
Classic line of the day and good show due to the brown bag surprise