OMG! Dirty Dancing, Darth Vader (but don’t be scared), Skittles Rainbow, you don’t like analagies? I can’t decide which of these statements made me laugh harder….

QOTD: I LOVE Washington St wines ever since I went to Seattle on a business trip. I spent two joyous hours in a place that featured boutique wines called The Tasting Room. I currently have on hand:
Brian Carter ’98 Solesce (Columbia Valley),
Buty Rediviva Stones (Syrah/cab sauv) ’03 from Walla Walla,
Reininger 2001 Cab Sauv,
L’Ecole No. 41 2004 Chenin Blanc.

Some of these weren’t cheap, but I agree with you, Gary. The value for what you are buying beats most of what you get in Cali. I will add Cayuse to the list. I have heard that Spring Valley Vineyards is also top notch (and also sold on WL).

Excellent episode. Washington State wines will crash California ones in a very near future.

Hey, Gary, LOVED this episode, to see the diversity in the Washington State wines. A great education! Thanks! QOD: Nope. Never had, to my knowledge, a Washington State wine. Now, of course, I’ll have to remedy that!!

Gary,

First let me thank you for:
1: Sending the love out to your brothers in the North West(Washington), we appreciate having the wines in our back yard featured on WLTV.
2: Focusing on Delille Cellars, I am a HUGE fan of this Winary and am estatic that you gave them the nod.

Second, let me address the QOTD:

Recently, and coincidentally, I have been on a Walla Walla specific kick.
I have had three significant wines from the region.

Hightower Cabernet Sauvignon 2003
Whitman Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon 2003
With those two cabernets I was honestly a little dissapointed, just not “great wines” they were good, but not great, and for the year, location, and price (30 ish), I just expected more.

Walla Walla Vinters Cuvee 2003
The Cuvee is a big favourite of mine, huge flavor, amazing color, dark fruit, chocolate, dirt, what more could one ask for.

Finally,
Sweetbread Cellars Pinot Noir 2005
This wine was actually made by an aquaintance of mine on Vashon Island Wa, and this wine is as you say “stupid good.” And I will leave it at that, oh and the nose is worth just FINDING the damn stuff.

(honorable mention) Washington’s (Hedges) CMS (price point ~ 10 dollars) is quite good, really one of the best “everyday” wines available, I could see it getting a solid 88 points. Really, quite good for the money.

Thank you, and goodnight.

P.S
I have been saving a 2001 DeLille Chaleur Estate Blanc, and hoping for a good opportunity.

Rock on Gary! Recently I have enjoyed ’03 and ’04 Novelty Hill cab. In addition, I have had the ’03 Hedges Three Vineyards Red that is very extracted and firmly structured which should evolve nicely over the next few years. Have you tried any wines from Leonetti Vineyards?

Wait, let me get this straight. You’re riding a unicorn through a rainbow, smoking a cigar when you suddenly get hit in the mouth with a purple paintball that makes you swallow the chocolate shake in your mouth.

Can someone please make a Vayniac shirt of this?

QOTD:

Sagelands cab ( I am surprised you didn’t taste it on the show since it’s in stock)

Bridgemann cab, viognier

Washington Hills Gewurtztramminer

Yuw Gary, been out of town for a few days. So … this is crazy man, no, I mean it: we just did a Wash. St. tasting two days ago with our Orbis! So, yes, even I, here at the other side of the blue ball have had Wash. St. wines.
What do I think about them? I was extremely excited about this, really. I thought: now we are gonna have it. But, yeah … you already feel there is some dissap. underneath. It’s not really the wines, but just the silly prices over here. For an average estate wine you just pay over 30 EUR, that’s silly, almost twice as much as you got to sprinkle the counter for. SO, YOU WITH ALL THE HUGE LOT OF US, will have to do smth. about that, because I am sure that the USA wines will never be appreciated rightfully over here when they are still sold at these ridiculously towering prices (and that’s not the wineries’ fault I’m sure, but the shortsighted politics of stupid wine merchants over here). Anyway, have had my rant here 😀 .
What do I think of them really? Well, not bad, really not bad. The basic Crest’s were OK, a bit onedimensional and fruit forward, but they are just 8-10$ wines (10 EUR over here, so these were quite fair). We even had some of these Col Crest Reserves and they were pretty good, not extremely exciting, but yeah, solid bottles, indeed, especially the Cab’s en Merlot’s. Even the lower price point Stimson’s from Ste Michelle were very nice: good varietal expressions, all of them, and with some interesting caramel and artichoke on them (they had it all, so it must be smth terroirlike???). The higher price points were a bit dissappointing if I am to be honest. The Ethos from Ste Michelle was just a bit light and open knit. Elegant, yes, but a tad bit subdued. For 30 EUR I can just have a very nice bottle of Bordeaux that ‘ll do much more. But okay, this one was okay, truly. The one I was really dissap. with was the Eroica Loosen-Ste Michelle. A curiously fizzy maleic acidity, quite umpleasant and just nothing much to it. A very basic palate of confit lemon peel, some cocos, pear and a very very very very faint hint of gasoline (not kerosine). The day after the fizzy sting was muffled away, but it still wasn’t worth me jumping around and smashing my head in the wall. So, no … this wasn’t it. You know I’m a Riesling fan, and I just was expecting much more of this one, especially because Loosen himself would have said that it was a ‘fairly nice effort’. No, it’s smth I’d have for 5 EUR over here (not 21!) and it would even be outclassed by the basic Devil’s Corner Riesling from Tasmanian Tamar Ridge (at 7 EUR) to compare it with smth. other New Worldy (and you know that I think the NW/OW debate is childish peckering) … .
So, OK, all of them (except the Red Diamonds, awful, horrible, … yuk!), nice wines, but they did not rock. I definitely want to taste those you had yesterday, maybe more convinced then!

Kudos to SS for the quick update!!! Good to be able to see the recap as that was A LOT of information.

QOTD: Mostly the major producers (Chateau Ste. Michelle, Columbia Crest, Hogue). Have had a couple of the Snoqualmie Reserves (which I really liked). I think A to Z is Wash St, the Pinot Noir was a dissapointment. Looking forward to trying more!

Yo man

What a “stupid” episode….hehe

I love the vocabulary you have, or should I say “Vaynercabulary”….hmm that’s got a nice ring to it doesn’t it?

Peace

PS – I don’t know if you have Jets season tickets, I do, if you don’t you’re welcome to come to a game with me next season…I have a feeling it’s going to be a serious one.

I really agree that Washington State puts out some of the best wine the US has to offer. Just about every WA wine I have had (granted, the # is probably under 10) was rememberable and I just can’t say that about other regions. That being said, the best WA wine I have had to date was a 2000 Snoqualmie Reserve Merlot. I posted TN somewhere in the forum a while back. Looking forward to trying some of the wines GV pointed out today………

I really agree that Washington State puts out some of the best wine the US has to offer. Just about every WA wine I have had (granted, the # is probably under 10) was rememberable and I just can’t say that about other regions. That being said, the best WA wine I have had to date was a 2000 Snoqualmie Reserve Merlot. I posted TN somewhere in the forum a while back. Looking forward to trying some of the wines GV pointed out today………

Excellent job Gary!!
Never had a Washington State wine. Will try one after seeing this ep.

great episode! had a somme steer me into Fielding Hills and then Betz one Monday night in Vegas a few years ago. he got the big KEESH tip as my buds and i had an AWESOME night. we pounded Farve on MNF – the game where his dad had passed away – and he stomped Oakland flat. whole night was gratis thanks to Brett.

both of those wines are hard to find in CA but quite memorable. had a 98 Cos D Estournel 2 nights later in Del Friscos and it paled – for real.

Nice episode Gary! Nice to see and hear about some of these nice wines from Wash. I have a couple bottles of Andrew Will Merlot (1999 I believe) in my cellar. I’ll crack one open soon!

Nice episode. We are big fans of the Pacific Northwest, although we enjoy California, also. Cayuse and Betz are our favorites but we also love the Columbia Crest Reserve selections–great values as Gary notes–their Cab reserve is almost always exceptional. Quilceda Creek cabs are, as many of you may have heard, unbelievable but almost impossible to get now. We have enjoyed some nice syrahs also from L’ecole and Isenhower. Many of the Washington State vineyards are heavy on the biodynamic approach which is great (Cayuse is biodynamic, for example). Our only disappointment was a few years back when Wine Library had a big push behind the Klipsun Granite Peaks Reserve (a cab/merlot blend)–that one has never stood out as we expected, although we keep going back to it and maybe it will age well…

We typically recommend Covey Run and the Grand Estates line of Columbia Crest to people just getting into wine. They are excellent values which typically can be found under $10. And they usually score in the 85-90 point range so they are terrific values. Cheers!

Gary,
Great episode. I am a Columbia Crest Reserve fan. CABs
and Merlots. Glad you did the Wash State thing, Thanks.
I would much rather spend $30 on a Wash than Napa.

Chris: I second the thanks for the Spreadsheet….
Gary: I want your signature “Vane Nerrr Chuck”

As I live in Olympia, a good half of the wines in my cellar are from Washington. I’m glad to see them getting respect. As a side note, I don’t think people mistakenly believe there are 460+ wineries (or 30,000 acres of vineyards) somehow distributed throughout all 68.3 square miles of our U.S. Capitol. In my opinion, they are Washington wines (minus the “state;” you don’t say “Oregon ‘state’ wines,” for instance).

QOTD: I’ve been a fan of Bob Betz’s wines for 4+ years now. Still have many bottles laying down, and the wife and I will drink a Betz wine at least once a month now. Just got a shipment from Cayuse, but haven’t really compared it side to side with Betz so far.

QOTD: Without a doubt…as so many people before me noted Owen Roe is a star. Their wines in both WA ond OR leave most others in the dust. Seriously great wines that will become hard to find the more we talk about them. Spring Valley and Copain should also be noted…hard to find…but worth the hunt.

Very informative and one of your best pure shows yet. I have not been a WA state fan primarily because I generally have only tried their everyday wines. I did try a 2003 Ch Ste Michelle Horse Haven Sauvignon Blanc that was above average but nothing spectacular. I now have new wines to explore and thanks to you and your commentors many great recommendations.

Ciao

I am fan of Washington Wine and I have had Kiona Cab not long ago and it was great.

So… what’s with the birds in the background? Are they pets or just background noise?

Nice episode – love Washington wines.

Hey David K,
I am guessing that the number behind Gary everyday is the number of days until the Jets play again.

Thanks to Gary (#53) and the many VaynIACS for the nice words.

It makes me happy to know people utlize the SS. 😀