L’Ecole 41 released a number of remarkable new white and red wines in the last few months, including two of our perennial favorites, 2022 Apogee and Perigee. Other impressive 2022 reds released recently: two Cabernet Sauvignons and Ferguson Estate. In addition, two whites enhanced the warm days, as well as the crab season here: Luminesce 2024 and Chardonnay 2024 Stillwater Creek. Meanwhile, L’Ecole will release Chardonnay 2024 Columbia Valley in January. Each of these eight wines, crafted by talented winemaker Marcus Rafanelli, is outstanding. And they continue the trend of captivating wines from the historic schoolhouse in Walla Walla. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Washington wine
Obelisco Estate
Back in 2012, we met Doug Long, co-owner and winemaker at Obelisco Estate, at a Washington Wine Commission event in the “other Washington” — D.C. We were immediately drawn to his friendliness, his humor, and his knowledge of the grape. Subsequently, we quickly became friends and frequently visited his Woodinville tasting room. At the time, I wrote “Obelisco meets our personal criteria for incredible wine and great people.” Sadly, Doug passed away in 2017. But his legacy continues. In August, we had the wonderful opportunity to sit down with Doug’s daughter and Obelisco General Manager, Melissa Long Vilar, and her husband, Jacques Vilar. What lovely people. They poured six tasty wines in the Obelisco lineup. And they raved about their winemaker, David Rosenthal, who is returning to the winemaking style that Doug Long pursued, and we adored.
Beautiful Bubbles
Our new must-stop for beautiful bubbles in Washington is Elentone in Woodinville. Elentone specializes in limited-production, premium sparkling wines using the traditional or Champagne method. We visited for the first time in August, and chatted with co-founder Miguele (Miggy) de Quadros-Sherry and her co-founder husband/winemaker Chris Sherry. Chris poured five beautiful bubbles from their lineup, all of which danced on the palate. Read on for details.
Sagebreaker Wines
Sagebreaker wines are named after George Smith, who broke sagebrush from the ground in the Horse Heaven Hills a century ago. Today, his descendants – the Andrews family – carry that legacy forward at Andrews Family Vineyards, with groundbreaking Sagebreaker and Trothe wines. As winemaker of the impressive team, Ray McKee crafted these three noteworthy Sagebreaker wines. These wines show the same structure and finesse as Trothe’s luxury lineup, but feature more integrated oak. In a recent chat, Ray told us that he lovingly makes Sagebreaker like Trothe. However, he described Sagebreaker as “wines of yumminess meant to be enjoyed by anyone and everyone with food anytime. Sagebreaker helps people light up their mouths and progress on their wine journey.” Read on for details.