Write for Wine: It's Wine O'Clock Somewhere!

The Washington Wine Commission held an amazing media tasting to kick off their promotion of Taste Washington,  which will be held at Qwest Field on April 5 and 6. For details about Taste Washington, have a look at my previous post about the event — and buy your tickets now.

The media tasting was held at Hotel 1000 in a meeting room that featured three tables filled with bottles of Washington state wine and one table of some amazing appetizers from the hotel’s hot BOKA Kitchen and Bar. The wine was flowing and the appetizers were in abundance  — I wish I had BOKA’s recipe for the most incredible scallops that I have ever tasted!

Back to the wines … I decided to only taste wines that I have never had before. (Yes, that put a major limit on my choices!) My absolute favorite was from Nicholas Cole Cellars — the 2004 Camille from Columbia Valley. After tasting the superb Bordeaux-style blend, I totally understood the many accolades given to the 2004 Camille: 92 points from Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate, 90 points from Wine Spectator and #32 on Paul Gregutt’s Top 100 list.

The 2004 Camille blends 64% Merlot, 23% Cabernet Franc and 13% Cabernet Sauvignon. I could not describe it any better than the tasting notes: “The 2004 Camille oozes with decadence.  This wine, with layer upon layer of balanced fruit and spicy oak blended with aromas of dark chocolate, fresh ground espresso and a hint of sweet pipe tobacco, will entice your senses.  Intense, dark color, with a complex structure embracing velvety tannins leads to a long caressing finish.  One of our most sophisticated wines to date, your palate will desire more of this silky, sensuous Bordeaux style wine.”

We also very much enjoyed the 2004 Fidelitas OPTU and the Otis Kenyon 2005 Syrah.

These were just three of 850 wines from more than 200 of Washington’s fine wineries that will be pouring at Taste Washington next month. You do not want to miss it. We won’t!

In the next few weeks, we also intend to stop by Studio 1000, across from BOKA in Hotel 1000, to try out the Bites & Flights menu one evening soon. So watch this blog for more information!

Cheers!

Last June, I wrote a blog post about BLT Barrel Select, a superb, subtle and structured red blend from Woodhouse Family Cellars. The BLT Barrel Select is 75 percent Cabernet and 25 percent Malbec. But it was only available for sale in Washington state in June for members of Woodhouse Family Cellars’ wine club. The only other place you could find it was at New York’s BLT Restaurants: BLT Steak, BLT Fish and BLT Prime.

A few weeks ago, I found a bottle that I had stashed in the back of our cellar. So we opened it up to have with our spaghetti dinner. It was just as good as I remembered it. Better really, with eight more months on the shelf.

And the good news continues — BLT is for sale again at Woodhouse Family Cellars. We were at a wine club release party last night, and my nephew from Vancouver bought a few bottles. Next time you’re in Woodinville, stop by Woodhouse’s tasting room. You’ll be glad you did!

Cheers!