Haven’t had a lot of WA wines yet but I’m working on it.
Favorite so far : 2007 Eroica Riesling: Chateau Ste. Michelle/Dr. Loosen
Loved the layers of flavors and complexity
One of the best American Rieslings I’ve had this year
Had actually a 99′ Quilceda two nights ago. Unreal. Tied for the night with an 05 Cause En Cerise. REALLY great juice. We opened with two Kosta Browne wines. Nice wine night.
A major WA favorite is Bunnell Family Cellars. Their 05 Clifton Hill was amazing. The 04 Horese Heaven Hills was even better.
Anonymous
Big props to the ’05 Perigee! The Apogee is amazing, too. These are the ones that come to mind when it’s time to pull out the “good wine.” 🙂
Adkjenstad
Good Show Gary. Actually flew to Seattle for the weekend to get some R and R and you are causing me to madly search for a short wine trip tommorrow. Any suggestions right outside of Seattle?
Google mapped Walla Walla area but we are too far away.
good episode…still playing catchup here with the blind baggers, and will enjoy them this weekend. Glad to get some confirmation on the NxNW, since I’d heard some oohs and ahs, but fell short even of ‘meh’ when I tasted it…
QOTD: sparkling riesling from pacific rim is pretty sharp for a big production wine…thankfully I cannot remember a ‘worst’
Judi
QOTD a 1996 Quilceda Creek Cab. and we did not drink it til 2004 and it was like
silk,
Anonymous
I don’t remember any specific Washington wines, but I have had good Cabernet and Melot blends from there.
Valentin
Hi Gary it’s me Valentin, the long-time Vaniac (but not lurker!). In Europe, Washington State wine is not very common, so I lack the drinking experience in this matter. Fortunately we can choose from a whole bunch of the wine world even though we traditionally stick with European wines.
John__J
Great episode, I’ll have to keep out for the Amavi
Anonymous
qotd:
Weakest, those sugarfied Rieslings they try and make blah
Strongest: Cayuse, Buty, Woodward Canyon etc and the likes of Walla Walla
Anonymous
Gary – you said left bank with a bit of aussie shiraz… well hello 80% cab, merlot, cab franc, and syrah… you nailed the varietal and missed taking the credit!
Timinspokane
If you are in Seattle, just 10 miles north, in Woodinville, there are about 30 tasting rooms from some of the best wineries in the state!! They are all pretty close to each other as well.
Timinspokane
Amavi is a second label for Pepper Bridge Winery. As with several of the Walla Walla wineries, their winemaker is French! We can buy this wine in the grocery store here, and it indeed rocks. They have received several 90-95 point scores for their wines. Killer juice, especially for the money! I would put nearly any $50 to $100 California wine up against it.
rwino
QOTD: O&S Cab Franc – good juice….
RieslingRich
try German rieslings, you’ll never go back !!
RieslingRich
Crcowden
I think Wine Press Northwest just doubled that number.
Anonymous
Gary, once again: when are you going to ship to Europe?
I’m begging you because some wines you rate are not available in Europe.
Like the Amavi.
PLEASE.
Bill B
Probably 2007 snoqualmi syrah.
Jeff L
Late post – wanted to see this episode but have been busy. Did a WA St wine trip this summer – it was great – lots of serious wine being made there.
Best WA st wine – L’ecole 41 2000 Apogee – had on this trip
Worst – hmmm… can’t remember one that really seriously stood out.
We tasted 55 wines in 3 days on the trip – what was interesting was how you could see the terroir as a common thread among all. Also, for the reds , there seems to be a sweet spot with about 7 yrs of aging, regardless of varietal (found that from this trip & from my own cellar selections
wwgirl
Thanks for sending love to my homeland GV. Amavi wines have been a fave of ours for a few years now. Amavi produces some great QPR Syrah based wines as well. The same winemaker as Pepperbridge at half the price.
Some other producers that we enjoy are:
Rotie Cellars (rhone style red wines made from Wa grapes)
Fidelitas (terroir is unique and amazing)
Five Star Cellars
Would love it if your site would support comments posted via Ipad?
Anonymous
QOTD: I like columbia crest GE merlot
keep doing brown bag shows!!
BlendsRock
Great show – love the brown bag episodes. Washington is my favorite region thus far.
Best Wine – 2006 DeLille Cellars Cahleur Estate
Thumbs up to Chris Upchurch as a great winemaker.
Worst Wine – 2005 Columbia Valley Milestone Red
Anonymous
LOL. I just got this response. Don’t really use this Disqus.com site other than to post comments so don’t know where your comment went to… I get a lot of requests for tastings. I will say that I live by two wine rules – one, once it’s in my cellar, it’s all the same price, and two, wine is best shared with friends. Stay thirsty.
I cannot believe that nobody from WA or Walla Walla has corrected Tim in over a year. The wine maker is not french, he is Swiss. It would be like me telling you that you are from Guatemala Tim… Just because a wine maker makes good wine and is from Europe does not mean he or she is from France.
Timinspokane
Ahhh… My mistake Adam,but you don’t have to be such a dick about it.
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
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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