In Search Of...Unusual Washington Wine Varieties

From Marty Sparks

Do you remember that old TV show “In Search of…”hosted by Leonard Nimoy?  It wasn’t quite as cool as Star Trek, but Nimoy did explore some crazy stuff including Big Foot.  The Sasquatch is a mythical creature and up here in the Pacific NW there are a lot of people that claim to have seen him, uh her, or whatever…  Just like Big Foot, we grow grapes up here in Washington State that are rarely seen.  

We see plenty of Bordeaux and Rhone varieties growing in Washington.  We also have more than our fair share of white wine grapes from Burgundy and Germany.  But, what about Spain, Italy, South America and Southern France?  My mission on day two of Taste Washington was to seek out wine grapes from these countries and regions.  Come explore the outer reaches with me as I go in search of… unusual grapes.

Carmenere is a grape from France, originally grown in the Bordeaux region.  Today, you are more likely to find Carmenere growing in Chile rather than France.  This wine grape also has fans in Washington State. The most unusual wine I found at Taste Washington this year haled from Bartholomew Winery.  

Bart Fawbush at has always made unique blends featuring unusual varietals.  For 2013 he has outdone himself with a rose’ of Carmenere  You would never recognize this rose’ as being made from Carmenere in a blind tasting.  Bart pressed this whole cluster with extremely minimal skin contact.  His goal was to avoid the overly herbal and spicy character that you would typically associate with Carmenere.  Success!  This rose’ is extremely light in color, it takes on an almost tangerine hue.  It shows notes of dried straw and herbal dusty strawberries with a hint of melon all riding on a bountiful streak of acidity.

Not too far away, I came across another Carmenere.  This one was being served up by Beresan.  I was drawn to this Carmenere for two reasons.  First, the profile was showing notes of dried dark cherries along with dry cedar and white pepper giving way to a herbal cracked pepper finish.  Second, Beresan’s Marketing Director, Dominique Calle, recommended an inspired pairing of their Carmenere with white cheddar Pirate’s Booty.

Moving on, I made my way toward a grape the French still grow, although it is rarely bottled on its own. Mourvèdre is most commonly used as a blending grape with Grenache and Syrah in the South of France. You do find single variety Mourvèdre from Bandol, which is about as rare as single variety bottlings of this dark, robust grape in Washington.  Only two wineries were pouring a Mourvèdre this year.  Eleven Winery, named for the smallest cog on the rear of a 10 speed bicycle, was one of those wineries.  Eleven’s owner/winemaker, Matt Albee, is making some nice wines and he says that Mourvèdre is his favorite grape.  2010 is the second vintage of Matt’s Mourvèdre which features grapes sourced from the Sugar Loaf Vineyard.  The wine shows great dark and meaty character with dark currants and earthy smokiness that is followed by a finish of dry cedar and white pepper spices.

Winding my way in search of more unusual varieties I started searching for wines made from Italian grapes.  Sangiovese is prevalent enough these days that it clocks in at number 20 on the list of wine grapes grown in Washington.  Making the US Census report means you are no longer eligible for the “unusual” label and the In Search Of… directors have banned you from their programming.  Instead, I found two excellent Italian alternatives: a Barbera and a Nebbiolo.

Cavu Cellars brought their Barbera to Taste Washington this year.  The grapes are sourced from the Alder Ridge vineyard in the Horse Heaven Hills AVA.  The Cavu Cellars 2011 Barbera is smooth and dark featuring cherries and some notes of dried mint.  The finish is dry with a nice touch of tannin inspired spices.  This wine would definitely pair well with your favorite Italian dish.  Cavu also had a secret pour behind the table.  The rose’ of Barbera came straight from the tank and was showing herbal notes of huckleberry and light touches of melon backed up by a beautiful streak of acidity.

Moving on to a grape heavily featured in the Piedmont region I discovered an awesome Nebbiolo being poured by Lou Facelli of Facelli Winery.  Lou said he was going for a Barolo style with his first Nebbiolo.  I would say he hit the mark with this 2008 Nebbiolo that was just recently released.  It shows excellent character of dried cherries, raspberry, olives and mineral earthiness finishing off with layers of tart menthol spices.

Finally, I ventured into Spain with Victor Palencia’s Albarino made with grapes sourced from the Ancient Lakes AVA.  Albarino is most commonly found in the Northwest of Spain in the Rias Baxias region.  This white wine grape is known for its minerality and acidity, two characteristics that are abundantly evident in the grapes grown in Ancient Lakes.  Victor’s Albarino is dry and crisp with notes of light green apples, mineral laced honey dew melon and some herbal characteristics followed by white flowers and a zingy acidic finish.  

While each of these grape varieties is well known in other parts of the world, when in Washington you need to go “In Search of…” to find many of these wines.  Once you find these unusual wines there is no guarantee that the wine will be a good representation of the grape.  Similar to a Sasquatch sighting: you never know if it is true or a just hoax.  The sightings I made a Taste Washington are all legit.  I believe that I found winemakers that are holding true to the character of each of these grapes.  If you are feeling adventurous,  I would recommend going “In Search of…” each one of these wines.

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Tidbits from Taste Washington 2014

Well, just like that another Taste Washington is in the books, the 2014 version has come and gone this past weekend. The event, now in it's seventeenth year, if my googling is accurate continues to impress with the sheer volume of wines and wineries available for your perusal, somewhere north of 230.

Me, Rick Bakas & Madeline Puckette, really disappointed in my hair in this photo

Unless one plans to spend the evening in the ER trying to sample 230 plus wines is a very,very bad idea and so I typically go into Taste Washington with a specific strategy. It is the largest regional tasting event in America. If you don't have a plan you'll find yourself staring at cupcakes, or oysters and then the next thing you know, it's 5 o'clock and you still haven't moved beyond the first three tables. Once the general public time rolls around it gets mighty crowded in there, particularly if you're near the As. If you wanted to avoid the crowds hanging out in the wineries that began with the letter S through Z and you could almost lay down on the floor there was so much room.

I more or less failed at writing my strategy down when I left the house, which is nearly the same as not having a strategy. As I stood outside talking with Taryn, a friend and fellow wine blogger, which is exactly how I started last year's Taste Washington I was able to recall my strategy more or less. A few wineries I definitely wanted to hit that I hadn't had were Lauren Ashton and Proper and Array, the latter I never made it to, likely because they begin with A and it was very crowded over there. Also, I wanted to spend the first 15-30 minutes with the oysters and the white wines along the back wall. After that try to track down wine blogger and Twitter personality Rick Bakas and maybe arm wrestle him.

Everything more or less went to plan, except the whole Array thing but I've already explained that. Rick is a really nice guy and we talked shop about how to manage caring for infants and still more or less resemble a functioning human being. We never did arm wrestle. I also met the elusive Madeline Puckette of the now world famous blog Wine Folly. She's quite quirky and I think would also make a force to be reckoned with when it comes to arm wrestling.

As to the wine?  I did try a lot of new wines and some were really exciting, favorites included the Lauren Ashton Cellars . All of them. The rosé had a dash of effervescence and the Sauvignon Blanc-Semillon blend was done in a oaky style, however the bright acid really lifted the wine and offered excellent balance. Of the red wines they were all quite good but a 2011 Cabernet that was poured from maybe "under the table" was stellar. This is a relatively new Woodinivlle winery and I got to speak with the winemaker, Kit. The labels are also fantastic, they are scenes from his wife's native Estonia. 

Other new wines that are definitely of note; the Gruner Veltliner from WT Vintners, out of the Columbia Gorge. This is certainly not a common wine but of the Gruners that I've had from Washington and Oregon, this was as good as any. Fruit forward but with good minerality and great acidity. I was really taken by the wines of Bainbridge Island Vineyards. I always make it a point to taste through some of the wines from the Puget Sound AVA because they tend to be higher acid whites or Pinot Noir and after tasting a lot of the bigger red wines that Washington is so well known for, they can offer a great contrast, not to mention help revive your palate a bit. Betsey Wittick is the owner and winemaker and she's doing a nice job with grapes that are grown right there on the island.

Another rosé to be on the lookout for was the Rosé of Carmenere by Bartholomew Winery. Really outstanding, bone dry, lots of juicy citrus and great acid and only $15. The Gilbert Cellars Rosé was once again very well made, they're also changing it up with the labels over there. I also really dug Syrahs from Proper and II Vintners, particularly the Stoney Vine vineyard designate.

My wine of the night (day) though was the Cinsault or Cinsaut, you know, tomato or tomahto from Dusted Valley. This wine was fantastic. Medium bodied and bright, only neutral oak so the fruit really came through, but from the Rocks so it had darker minerality and that "funky" character that this particular part of the Walla Walla Valley has come to be known for. The wine finishes with really great acid to give it an elegance and balance. Nearly like a Pinot Noir. A great wine, very well made but also it's unique in Washington and that made it really stand out for me. The bad news? Only 72 cases were made. Hustle!

I picked up a latte from Fonte, whoa they make great coffee and made my way home via public transit. Careful not to bump into the crowd who clearly did not understand the spit bucket concept. On the bus I met a couple, they were older, who had been coming to Taste Washington every year...from Oklahoma. They were really excited about the Cadaretta wines, and also shared that they had cases of Chateau Ste. Michelle wines from the 1970s at home. They'd fallen in love with Washington wine decades ago and continue to come to Seattle each year to see what's new. Pretty cool.

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Who's Your (Sugar) Daddy?

From Lucha Vino aka Marty Sparks

The Seattle Urban Wineries are sponsoring a Passport to Wine, Chocolate and Love to promote the exploration of their collective of Seattle Wineries in February. The event kicked off this past weekend with most of the participating wineries hosting Wine & Chocolate events. I had the opportunity to visit many of the Wineries located in the South end of Town.

Here are a few highlights.

Bartholomew Wine and Tease Chocolates. The 2009 Tempranillo’s dark berries and barrel spices paired nicely with the Spicy Mayan chocolate’s cinnamon notes. As a bonus, the 2009 Malbec stood on its own featuring black cherry, toffee and chocolate notes along with nice hints of clove.

Nota Bene provided a variety of chocolates to try with an extensive lineup of their Bordeaux and Rhone inspired wines. The 2008 Dineen blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc featured dark cherry, espresso bean and a nice tart finish that worked well with a creamy Lindal milk chocolate truffle.

Laurelhurst and Yukon Jackson. The El Humidor 2009 Petite Sirah seems to be hitting its stride after about 4 months in bottle. Living up to the El Humidor moniker, there are loads of blue fruits, cedar, menthol and white pepper all leading to a dry finish. The cedar spiciness went exceptionally well with the caramel in the Yukon Jackson chile turtle.

Cloudlift cellars featured three different hand made truffles from Reona Chocolates including one that was infused with Cloudlift’s Cloud 2 Merlot dominant Bordeaux style blend. My favorite was the 2009 Panorama that is 56% Merlot and the remainder a mix of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. The notes of cherry and dry light white pepper went very well with the smooth creaminess of the Mocha truffle.

Stottle winery recently opened their West Seattle tasting room on Harbor Avenue. This was my first opportunity to meet Josh and taste through his wines. Josh is inspired by food friendly Italian wines. He has three locations where you can sample his offerings: the winery in Lacey, a tasting room in Hoodsport and the Harbor Avenue location. The 2009 Barbera went well with dark chocolate. The notes of cherry and savory brambles give way to a nice dry spicy finish that seemed like a match made in heaven for the dark chocolate’s sultriness.

There are two weekends left in the month and many of the wineries are open on Saturdays and Sundays. If you are in Seattle and looking for something to do you should really get out and explore these great wineries. They are making some great wines right here in our own backyard!

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Friday Find, February 10

Each Friday we highlight a wine from the Northwest that we think is a real "find." By find we might mean that it's a steal, as all of these wines we'll feature weekly are under $20. We might also mean "Hey, you really need to go find this" and it might be a wine that we feel not enough people know about. In any case, with the weekend pending we're hoping to help you "find" a wine to kickoff the weekend right. We'll tell you a little bit about the wine and try to help you track it down here in the Northwest.

Rules were made to be broken, or at the very least bent and this week, we're going to have to bend our own rules just a bit.  Rule bending historically has resulted in some great things.  For example the New England Patriots secretly video taped their opponents practices and they won three Super Bowl titles. In the 1986 World Cup Quarter final match, Argentinian footballer Diego Maradona used his hand, well at least partly his hand, and maybe partly God's hand to direct a goal, and his national team past the British team. Wine historically has been fairly bound by tradition, blends commonly still follow those rules, and many times this is done because of that respect for tradition as well as that Rhone varietals blended together tend to make a really nice wine.  But when you step outside of those rules, or make your own sometimes the results turn out really nice.  When it comes to value priced wines you tend to see this rule bending applied a bit more liberally.  What can happen when it's done well is a completely different wine experience.

This week's Friday Find, our first Friday Fudge is the $22 Railway Red from Bartholomew Winery.  The unconventional blend is Cabernet, Pinot Noir (yes, that's right) and throw in some Syrah and Malbec.  Bending the rules?  Bart is straight smashing them.  So by comparison, two dollars is really nothing.  The wine comes off as uber-approachable, the Pinot Noir mellows out the Cabernet structure and you get a super drinkable food friendly red blend.  This wine kind of reminds me of the Sokol Blosser blend Meditrina that was recently put to rest, may she rest in peace. A great burger or pizza wine this blend will go with damn near anything.  Go pick this up at the tasting room down in SoDo, in the old Rainier Brewery.  You can also find this blend in Bellevue at George's and the Matthews Thriftway and in Lakebay at Blend.

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