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

Once again my marvellous nephew, Mathew, introduced us to a winner — Chatter Creek, which we finally had a chance to visit during St. Nick’s weekend earlier this month. As I mentioned at the time, owner and winemaker Gordon Rawson poured us some very balanced, fruit-forward wines and one of our favorites was 2005 Chatter Creek Blend 105.

We brought some home with us and decided it was perfect to open it during the holidays. The bottle modestly calls it “red table wine.” Well, yes it is, but so much more! This is a balanced blend of Merlot (39.6%), Cabernet Sauvignon (35.8%), Malbec (7.2%), Cab Franc (12.4%) and Petit Verdot (5%). And what a finish. Here are the tasting notes:

“This wine sparkles with bright, ruby color. Ripe and forward, a blend of violets, cassis, and black cherry, jump from the nose. Good acid on the attack of this wine carries through the lead pencil and quartz notes, warming to plummy cherry and blueberry fruit. The finish continues the interplay of the fruit and terroir, framed in by notes of toasted almonds and vanilla bean. A wine that boasts of tremendous balance and attentive winemaking.”

According to Gordon, when he makes blends, “I let whimsy take me where it will.” We adored it! And with a $22 price point, we recommend you stop by their tasting room in Woodinville and pick up a bottle or more.

Cheers!

We’ve been fans of Page Cellars for a long time. From their signature Preface Cabernet to their awesome blend called Libra, we’ve enjoyed their wines for several years. But our absolute favorite is Page Cellars Limited Edition Cabernet Sauvignon — and the recently released 2005 vintage is sky-high amazing. (Owner Jim Page was a corporate pilot before founding Page Cellars with his wonderful wife, Rothelle.)

Only 96 cases of 2005 Limited Edition were produced. We purchased some during St. Nick’s weekend last month, and opened a bottle to accompany our steak dinner over the holidays. This wine is impressive. Here are the tasting notes:

“Blackberry, currant and cassis rumble across the palate while balanced soft grained tannins finesse the finish, twenty one months aged in French oak and fifteen months to develop its bottle bouquet.”

We will no doubt be heading back to Woodinville soon, and hopefully we will be able to catch up with Rothelle and bring some more bottles of 2005 Limited Edition home with us.

Cheers!

We heard the buzz about Efeste Wines for months but could never organize our schedule with their openings in Woodinville. So I am delighted to tell you that Efeste’s tasting room is now open every weekend — Fridays through Sundays — from noon to 4 p.m.

As mentioned in a previous blog post, we stopped by on St. Nick’s weekend earlier this month and met Brennon Leighton, winemaker extraordinaire, along with owners Kevin and Angie Taylor, who are very passionate about their wines.

Now, as much as I rave about Washington wines, I do not call all winemakers “extraordinaire.” If you try Brennon’s wines, you will understand. His wines are most excellent — he is creating some softer wines with native fermentation, and they really are unique. And what a mouthfeel!

For example, “Jolie Bouche,” which appropriately means “pretty mouth” in French, is the name of Brennon’s 2006 Syrah, expected to be released in March. We pre-ordered it after barrel-tasting the 2007 Jolie Bouche, which was such a winner!  We would have taken a bottle (or two) home with us then and there, if we could have.

Other Efeste wines that we enjoyed: 2005 Ceidleigh Syrah (pronounced kay-lee), which is dense, lush and elegant and 2005 Final-Final – it’s the last or final blend that Efeste makes. Chris Upchurch of DeLille Cellars, known for his bold reds, consulted on the creation of both these two big reds.

If you haven’t stopped by Efeste, I recommend that you make it a priority in the future!

And in case you’re wondering, their website explains the cool name – Efeste, pronounced F-S-T, is an acronym for Daniel & Helen Ferrelli – Patrick Smith – and Kevin & Angela Taylor, the winery founders.

Cheers!

What are your favorite Washington wines? Sean over at Washington Wine Report is taking a survey, so check out his blog post and mark your faves for 2008. And let me know on this blog too!

There are so many wonderful wines in this state that I couldn’t submit all of them to the survey. Indeed, I actually listed 12 before realizing that Sean only wanted us to list our top five. Ooops! Here are the first 12 Washington wines that came to my mind:

2003 Darighe, Woodhouse Family Cellars
2004 Dussek Cab Sauv, Woodhouse Family Cellars
2005 Estate Cabernet Sauv, Gilbert Cellars
2006 “Jolie Bouche” Syrah, Efeste Wines
2006 Destiny, Alexandria Nicole Cellars
2005 Limited Edition Cab Sauv, Page Cellars
2005 Tre Fanciulli, JM Cellars
2006 Cab Sauv, Columbia Valley, Fall Line Winery
2006 Bishop’s Blend, William Church Winery
2006 Black Tongue Syrah, Stevens Winery
2003 Vinfinity, Forgeron Cellars
2004 Camille, Nicholas Cole Cellars

I wrote down the names of wines as I thought of them — and as it turns out, not surprisingly, most of the wines were poured recently at St. Nick’s in Woodinville. (Although I still missed Guardian Cellars, Mark Ryan, DeLille, DiStefano, and many others!) 

And I wonder if the Wild Walla Walla Wine Woman will complain to this Washington Wine Wench for not choosing enough Walla Walla wines. (Now that’s a lot of W’s!)

Anyway …. please tell me your favorite Washington wines in 2008 — and be sure to stop by the Washington Wine Report and submit your entries there too.

Cheers!

What a great time we had at St. Nick’s weekend in Woodinville. We spent a lot of time visiting wineries that we hadn’t visited before. And we also were fortunate to experience some barrel tastings of new releases. I plan to write a lot about this in the coming days. But first, I wanted to give an immediate overview. Here are my top-line notes.

1. Props to Woodinville Wine Country for once again organizing an event that lets people experience the amazing wines of Woodinville. There are more than 40 wineries and tasting rooms, just 30 minutes from Seattle. And this event lets everyone visit wineries that aren’t always open to the public, in addition to old favorites.

2. Keep your eyes/ears open for new releases from Efeste Cellars. I plan to write more about this winery in the near future. For now, I will just say that Estefe winemaker Brennon Leighton is doing some native fermentation, which results in awesome, softer wines. We’ve already pre-ordered 2006 Jolie Bouche Syrah, which is coming out in a few months. We barrel-tasted the 2007 release and wow, what a winner! And I love the name, which translates from French to “pretty mouth.” We also met the friendly and knowledgeable owners of Efeste, Kevin and Angie Taylor, so come back soon for more details.

3.  William Church Winery also has some great new releases. It was great, as always, to see owners Rod and Leslie, along with their welcoming assistant winemaker, Marcus Rafanelli. We pre-ordered  2006 Bishop’s Blend and barrel-tasted an incredible new blend called La Rochelle — another winner, which will be released in 2010. (I hope I have the name right – it was near the end of a wine-intense day!)

4. We also enjoyed meeting the winemaker at Stevens Winery, Tim Stevens and his wife Paige. Tim had some great stories to share, which I’ll also write about in the future. And I now see why readers of this blog recommended that we try Stevens wines. Tim was pouring 2006 Stevens Merlot and 2006 Stevens Black Tongue Syrah, and they were both awesome. And then there’s Tim’s incredible art, which is both at the tasting room and on the wine labels.

5. Gordon Rawson at Chatter Creek poured some very balanced, fruit-forward wines for us, and told us some interesting history about the Washington state wine industry. Our favorite wines there were Chatter Creek Grenache 2007 and Blend 105 2005.

6. As always, we had a special time at Woodhouse Family Cellars, where you can find a wonderful holiday blend that will brighten up any party. Woodhouse has so many excellent wines, that it is a must-stop tasting room on any trip to Woodinville. There’s also a case sale going on right now too, which is perfect for entertaining this season. And we met the engaging Auntie Meredith, whose name graces the label of the Kennedy Shah Auntie Meredith’s Picnic Blend, which is one of our summer drinks of choice on the deck.

7.  Alexandria Nicole Cellars always holds a good party, in addition to offering some of the best wines in Washington state, and tasting room manager Kathie Statler added her own unique verbal twists to the pours yesterday. It was great fun! And I’d be remiss to not mention the clever marketing tactic — an announcement about the Dec. 13th release of their excellent 2006 Destiny wine was prominently placed in the restroom!

8.  It was wonderful to see Rothelle Page at Page Cellars again too — although we have yet to meet her Canadian husband, whom I’m looking forward to trading stories with from the homeland. But we can say this — their house band, “Nice Legs” (as in wine legs) rocked the house! Son Brett Cummings wailed that saxaphone, and we just hated to leave. We also had an opportunity to taste the 2005 Limited Edition Cabernet Sauvignon, which was just released on Friday. Magnificent! You’ll find more about Page Cellars’ 2005 Preface and 2005 Libra in future blog posts. Every year, these three wines have been on our list of favorites.

9. I hate to end on a sad note, but we were so sorry to hear that Arlington Road closed its doors yesterday. We are big fans of Arlington Road’s 2005 and 2006 Monolith and it was heart-breaking to hear the news. We wish the best of luck to Ken Nydam and Robin Rutz in their future endeavors.

Thanks to the wine makers and tasting room managers and welcoming people in the Woodinville wine industry! And please come back often to read more about our experiences at St. Nick’s weekend. And if you didn’t get a chance to go, do not miss Passport in April.

Cheers!

The Washington Wine Wench reminds everyone that this weekend is major in Washington wine country! As mentioned earlier, the annual St. Nick’s weekend is in Woodinville on Saturday and Sunday. It’s one of our favorite wine events of the year because we can visit our favorites plust lots of wineries that are rarely or never open to the public.

Participating wineries include: Adams Bench, Alexandria Nicole Cellars, Anton Ville, Arlington Road Cellars, Brian Carter Cellars, Chateau Ste. Michelle, Columbia Winery, Covington Cellars, Cuillin Hills Winery, Des Voignes Cellars, Di Stefano Winery, Edmonds Winery, Efeste Wine Cellars, Hestia Cellars, Hollywood Hill Vineyards, Januik Winery, J. Bookwalter Winery, Matthews Estate, Northwest Totem Cellars, Novelty Hill Winery, Page Cellars, Red Sky Winery, Ross Andrew Winery, Silver Lake Winery, Sparkman Cellars, Stevens Winery, William Church Winery, Woodhouse Family Cellars, Woodinville Wine Cellars and XSV Wines.

Meanwhile, it’s also a big weekend in Walla Walla. From Thursday through Sunday, more than 80 wineries are  celebrating harvest with special barrel tastings, food, music and good cheer. Find out details at the Walla Walla Wine News website.

Information about St. Nicks can be found at Woodinville Wine Country’s web site. Note: Sunday-only tickets are sold out.

Cheers!

Don’t say I didn’t warn you – tickets are going fast for one of our favorite wine events of the year, St. Nicholas Open House weekend in Woodinville on Dec. 6 & 7. Most of the $35 ”Sunday-only” tickets are already gone, but there are still $50 tickets that will extend your experience to both days. But you’d better move quickly. The tickets are being sold only on Woodinville Wine Country’s website.

We love this event for a number of reasons — we can visit wineries that aren’t frequently open to the public, stop by our old favorites and finally drop in on all those other wineries that we’ve been meaning to try all year long. It’s also a great time to stock up on wine for the holidays — whether you want to add bottles to your own cellar, purchase wine for family and friends, or buy a special bottle or two to take to parties.

Participating wineries to date include: Adams Bench, Alexandria Nicole Cellars, Anton Ville, Arlington Road Cellars, Brian Carter Cellars, Chateau Ste. Michelle, Columbia Winery, Covington Cellars, Cuillin Hills Winery, Des Voignes Cellars, Di Stefano Winery, Edmonds Winery, Efeste Wine Cellars, Hestia Cellars, Hollywood Hill Vineyards, Januik Winery, J. Bookwalter Winery, Matthews Estate, Northwest Totem Cellars, Novelty Hill Winery, Page Cellars, Red Sky Winery, Ross Andrew Winery, Silver Lake Winery, Sparkman Cellars, Stevens Winery, William Church Winery, Woodhouse Family Cellars, Woodinville Wine Cellars and XSV Wines.

We’ll be there on Sunday, Dec. 7th. Hope to see you there too!

Cheers!

Tickets have just gone on sale for one of our favorite wine events of the year, St. Nicholas Day Open House in Woodinville — known fondly by regulars as St. Nick’s weekend. It’s a two-day blast and we highly recommend that you attend. We went last year and loved it. (At the end of this blog post, I’ve linked my descriptions of the wineries we visited last year.) We will definitely be there this year too.

Woodinville Wine Country hosts the event, which is becoming as popular as their long-running Passport to Woodinville weekend. Wineries that aren’t frequently open to the public participate in this event, along with your old favorites and all those other wineries that you’ve been meaning to try.

Participating wineries to date include: Adams Bench, Anton Ville, Arlington Road Cellars, Brian Carter Cellars, Chateau Ste. Michelle, Columbia Winery, Covington Cellars, Cuillin Hills Winery, Des Voignes Cellars, Di Stefano Winery, Edmonds Winery, Efeste Wine Cellars, Hollywood Hill Vineyards, Januik Winery, J. Bookwalter Winery, Matthews Estate, Northwest Totem Cellars, Novelty Hill Winery, Page Cellars, Red Sky Winery, Ross Andrew Winery, Silver Lake Winery, Sparkman Cellars, Stevens Winery, William Church Winery, Woodhouse Family Cellars and Woodinville Wine Cellars.

But note: tickets are in limited quantity and they sell quickly. A limit of 2,500 two-day tickets ($50) and 800 Sunday-only tickets ($35) will be sold only on Woodinville Wine Country’s website.

So think about getting your tickets soon – before they sell out and before your December gets too busy with holiday events. And by the way, this is a great event to not only taste fine Washington wine but also to purchase wines for holiday entertainment and/or gift-giving.

Here’s what I wrote after last year’s St. Nick’s Weekend:

• St. Nick’s in the Snow
• Di Stefano Still Delicious
• Woodinville Wine Country
• Mark Ryan Winery
• DeLille Cellars
• Arlington Road, Baer, Cuillin Hills and Edmonds Winery

We hope to see you there!

Cheers!

Anything with a name like WineCHATr is naturally going to pique my interest! And I decided that it was finally time to blog about it.

We first saw WineCHATr promoted at Woodinville Wine Country’s St. Nick’s weekend last December. A few months earlier, I had discovered WineCOW (Wine Connection of Washington) when I linked to it in this blog. But it wasn’t until early this month that I made the connection between WineCHATr and WineCOW. Perhaps the caps in both names should have been a hint?

That connection is Marcus Pape, who also happens to be an author!

Earlier this month, I discovered that Marcus was holding a signing for his new book, Eat & Drink in the Northwest, at Brian Carter Cellars in Woodinville. So it seemed time to finally meet him and also taste the latest vintage of Brian Carter’s flagship wine, Solesce. My conclusions? The BCC Bordeaux-style wine continues to be rich and robust. Eat & Drink in the Northwest is an inspiring collection of seasonal “Northwest-inspired” food and wine pairings. And finally, Marcus has some great ideas for WineCHATr.

What is WineCHATr? Let’s go to the Web site to see how it’s described: WineCHATr.com is bringing both sides of the wine community together, wine drinkers and wine businesses, in order to create the ultimate online resource for everything wine related. … We’ve built upon the popularity of social networking and added a purpose. That purpose is to connect people and businesses with similar interests, in this case WINE, and provide them a space to share and learn.

The Web site goes on to explain the benefits to both individuals who love wine and businesses in the wine industry. Stay tuned for some exciting growth in the months ahead.

Cheers!

Unfortunately, I was not able to attend either of these awesome Washington wine events after all. Did you go? What are your thoughts? What were your favorite wines and/or wineries? Did you meet any interesting winemakers? Other industry peeps? New friends? Did you get to wineries that aren’t usually open to the public? How were the appetizers at Passport wineries? (They were awesome at St. Nick’s wine weekend last December!)

Please share your thoughts and observations about Passport and/or Taste Washington with all my readers, since I wasn’t there! On the bright side, I am planning to attend Washington Wine Highway next month!

Cheers!