Seasons Rieslings

This time of year rolls around and the seasonal beverages start to come out of the woodwork. You'll see pumpkin beers, pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin wine, eggnog, and that weird "holiday spice" coffee blend. All of this pumpkin nonsense is just that. Nonsense. Pumpkin lattes and beers have their place, but that place is not at the dinner table, and let's be honest, the "season" is about eating, not pumpkin beverages. And when it comes to food there is one wine that stands above all others, an uber-mensch of wine that stands alone, and that wine is Riesling. Don't get it twisted.

I know what you're thinking, "Uh, excuse me? Riesling is a white wine." This is the season for cold, crappy, dark, damp weather, right? You think we should be drinking earthy Oregon Pinot Noirs, meaty, funky Washington Syrahs, Cabernets, Southern Oregon Tempranillos. Now is the time, man! Sure, drink those too. Just remember what you must keep in mind: huge dinners of poultry and pork; over indulgence of fatty meats, sweet deserts and appetizer after countless appetizer. All that calls for Riesling. There's no two ways about it.

In order to fully understand why Riesling is such a natural for food pairing, we need to understand German history. Most of us don't (including many of us here at the Anthem, our knowledge peters out after we note that Augustus Gloop, the most famous glutton from Willy Wonka's adventure through the chocolate factory, was German).

The brilliance in Riesling is its variance in styles. The reason for this variety is somewhat historical and somewhat German so it will suffice for understanding German history. The German wine classification system is similar to the Biological classification system. You remember: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order...etc. Only it's completely different because it's just about Riesling. Remember that. The first two classifications you can pretty much forget about because "Tafelwein" or table wine, also sounds kinda like "Awfulwine" and "Qualitatsweine mit Pradikat" obviously means "Quality stats wine with a Prada Cat." This is weird, but that's okay because we're moving up the classification to the wines we actually care about.

The three most common styles of Riesling that pair up well with food are the Kabinett, a style of Riesling that is picked least ripe, followed by Spatlese and Auslese. All of these styles of Riesling can vary in their levels of residual sugar and acidity but all three make excellent food pairing options. Kabinett style Rieslings are predominantly done in a drier style, while the Spatlese and Auslese have a greater range and more body, making them naturals to pair with both spicier lighter fare and hearty food, the seasonal kind of food we spoke about before. Kabinett style Riesling may also be kept in your cabinet (get it?), whereas the other two should be stored elsewhere.

This being the Northwest Wine Anthem, we're taking the Northwestern angle thanks to our good friends at Pacific Rim. Not familiar with them? Pacific Rim is serious about Riesling. How serious? They're making eleven Rieslings. Eleven. Two sparkling Rieslings and one ice wine. They make Rieslings in different styles, with different sweetness levels and four single vineyard Rieslings. The Pacific Rim project started out as a release in 1992 from Bonny Doon's Randall Graham. The idea caught fire and in 2006 a bunch of the ne'er-Doon-wells moved from California to Eastern Washington to focus almost entirely upon Riesling, a Riesling they could believe in. As it turns out, there are several Rieslings they believe in, representing 90% of their production.

While the good folks at Pacific Rim aren't German (the winemaker is French), they are making the Awesomelese style of Riesling and as we move into this holiday season, you might consider Rieslings for your holiday table, Riesling for gifts and Rieslings for stocking stuffers... They are aficionados, after all. With all the upcoming holiday dinner tables in mind, the Pacific Rim Riesling, Dry Riesling and Sweet Riesling will certainly hit the sweet spot when it comes to quality to price, and food friendly flavors. For those of you new to the varieties of Riesling, you're in luck because the good folks at Pacific Rim have placed a Riesling Scale on the back of each of their wines. How dry is the Dry Riesling? Not sure how sweet the Sweet Riesling is? What about just the Riesling, what's that gonna be like? This scale will give you some guidance.

2009 Dry Riesling is an acidic dynamo. The aromatics come across with very sweet floral notes and fresh cut green apple. The acidity is the star of this wine and that is what makes it such a wonderful food pairing option. The tropical fruits mix with early season stone fruits continuing that hint of sweet that is really brought home with a puckering acidity on a flavorful finish.

2010 Riesling is the mid point on the Pacific Rim Riesling scale. This wine is a harmony and balance to your search for sweet and dry. Smack dab between sweet and dry, floral and fruit components on the aromatics, tipping towards peach fuzz and honeysuckle. The rounder mouthfeel and sweetness on this Riesling (compared to its dryer counterpart) makes it a good match for spicy dishes. This wine was the #1 wine on the Wine Enthusiast's Top 100 Best Buys of 2011 and it packs a serious QPR wallop.

2010 Sweet Riesling is certainly sweet but the acidity makes it a can't miss for food pairing.  Aromatics include sweet grass, lemon zest and peach.  The sweeter and fuller palate comes across with candied orange peel, grapefruit and loads of honey.  This is no Def Leppard Sweet Riesling, a la "I'm hot, sticky sweet from my head to my feet."  This is a sweeter wine with complexity, acidity and balance and it is one that certainly deserves it's place at your holiday table this season.

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Fairytales Can Come True, It Can Happen To You, When You're Young At Heart...

On a freezing Saturday night in November, hundreds of young Seattleites in party dresses & their going-out best poured into Fremont Studios amidst club lighting, great beats from KEXP, and pink glowsticks. A swanky rave? A temporary nightclub? Nope – this was a wine tasting, built for the millennial set. Now in its 3^rd year, the Washington Wine Commission’s 20 Something: The New Vintage, has found the formula to bring Washington winemakers and the young folks together, a big win for both parties.

Walking into the Fremont Studios space, it’s immediately apparent that this isn’t your typical wine tasting. With a red carpet entrance and photo booth, guests could channel their inner celebrity (do we all get a turn? Because I think they’re just handing out celebrity status at this point…) with friends, new friends, or fun people who happened to be near the booth with them and find their pics for free on 20 Something’s Flickr site. A brilliant move that meant come Monday morning, 20 Something was occupying the valuable real estate of many a Seattleite’s Facebook profile picture.

Last year 20 Something gave tasting a twist with wineries making the rounds rather than remaining at a table. Guests were able to collect winery cards with information on the winery, wine and where to find them online if they were interested. This year, 20Something made the process a little more tech-savvy and a lot more festive: winemakers sported QR codes on their names tags, allowing guests to snap a shot with their ever-present smart phones and be immediately directed to the winery’s online presence, including social media. The number of excited tweets virtually squealing over the QR code up on the live-tweet board tells me it was a well-utilized feature. Not only were the winemakers sporting QR codes, but this year they sported pink glow-in-the dark necklaces. While this didn’t eliminate the Where’s Waldo element if you were looking for a specific winemaker, it certainly made it easier if you were looking for wine in general.

The hunt for specific wine – and winemakers – is part of the fun of the evening. Many a Coug in the house spent a portion of the night scouring the dark rooms for our favorite NFL quarterback turned winemaker Drew Bledsoe, who was there representing his Doubleback label. Fortunately for me and the lovely Taryn Miller, he’s 6’5” and you can’t pass up an opportunity to “Go Cougs” a legend of your alma mater. In addition to being one hell of an athlete and a nice guy, he makes a great wine. We got a sneak preview of the ’09 Cab Sauv, which is gearing up for a January release. Even a few months out, there was nice complexity and a touch of spice. Attendees can do a before-and-after taste test when it hits the world in January. This picture was a great item to check off the life-list. Fairytales can come true…

The great thing about wandering winemakers is that you’re bound to find something brand new (especially with over 75 wineries roaming the venue). Normally these events require a plan, a route, a backup route...possibly a compass. But when you can’t easily find specific wineries (unless they’re repped by a 6’5” former NFL quarterback), it’s best to sit back, go with the flow, and see what treasures come to you. In addition to some of our Northwest Wine Anthem favorites, I found myself tasting a number of wineries new to me and varietals outside of my usual go-to’s. Buried Cane and Yakima Valley Vintners were great new finds, and Treveri Cellars wowed with their bubbles. I wasn’t the only one wowed – they just secured a contract to provide the White House with their bubbles for future events.

While wine is certainly the star of the show, there were plenty of other goodies in store. A Mini Cooper decked out in whiteboard paint was available for guests to leave their mark. Some of the area’s hippest restaurants, including Brave Horse Tavern, Hook & Plow and Urbane, were serving up everything from smoked salmon and marshmallow skewers to lasagna to sushi. For the red-meat-friendly crowd, the Washington Beef Commission served up a blind taste test of Top Sirloin, and Dianne’s Delights practically had to fight back the crowds who came back for seconds and thirds of the Chocolate Shop cake balls. Beer & Cider even made an appearance for those needing a little palette cleanser.

The 20 Something event has been going strong since its inception, and this year’s small changes tapped in even more to connecting young Seattle with Washington wine. With many of the wines poured coming in at a reasonable $15-25 price point, Seattle’s millennials can afford to keep the party going on their own until next year’s event. It’ll be up to them to provide the glow sticks.

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Friday Find, November 25: Black Friday!

From our masked homeboy Lucha Vino.

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.



Buried Cane refers to the vineyard practice of burying a young grape vine to protect it from the winter weather.  The dirt creates an insulating layer over the cane saving it for the spring time when it can be unearthed and released to grow a fresh crop of grapes.  The 2008 Buried Cane Cabernet Sauvignon is going to send some much more expensive Cabs for an extended "dirt nap."  Repaying the favor for being spared the winter cold by giving us a fantastic Washington State Cabernet at the affordable price of $13.99.

The Buried Cane Roughout Cabernet Sauvignon offers up a blend of 75% Cab from the Alice Vineyard on the Wahluke slope and the Arete Vineyard in the Columbia Valley, 23% Merlot from the Florence and Virginia Vineyard in the Yakima Valley and 2% Syrah from the Gamache Vineyard also in the Columbia Valley.  

This is a big classic Washington Cab.  On first opening the nose is showing sour currants, earth and light spices with a palate of currant and herbal spicyness and a tart semi-sweet chocolate finish.  With an hour of air the nose is much richer with currants, chocolate, cinnamon and cloves with a hint of citrus.  The palate also shows currants and some tart green herbal tones with a semi-sweet chocolate and clove finish.  One day later the nose has added some more earth and leather along with dark currant and spices.  The palate has continued to build with currant, espresso bean and some light spices finishing with ripe plum and more notes of semi-sweet chocolate.  The Wahluke slope character is really present in this week's Friday Find giving it the essence of a true giant slayer. 


So many wines at this price point start out strong and falter over time.  The Buried Cane reverses the trend growing bigger and bolder over time.  Go out and find yourself some Buried Cane.  This giant killer is available at many local wine shops or directly from the Buried Cane website for 14 bucks.  You might find that your more expensive wines take an extended dirt nap in your cellar.  Don't say I didn't warn you.

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Day Tripper - WV Wine Country Thanksgiving

Black Friday’s straight dangerous, it’s too early to start baking for Christmas, the in-laws are here for three more days, and you’ve run out of ways to entertain them?

This weekend, the Willamette Valley Wineries Association gears up for the 29th annual Wine Country Thanksgiving event. Over 160 WV wineries open their doors for you and yours with hors d’oeuvres and pairings, winemaker meet and greets, live music, case discounts, and great deals on your next holiday or gift wines. Some tasting fees do apply and range from $5 - $30.

The event is made even more accessible via the launch the new Willamette Valley Mobile Wine Tour application for smart phone users. The application is your complete guide to the Willamette Valley whether you’re searching for winery hours, specific varietals, or wineries that are just plain nearby, so shake out of that tryptophan coma nap at some point this weekend and take a drive. Plan your trek through the valley by scanning the QR code below with your smarty-pants phone and get to tasting!

{if you don’t have a smarty-pants phone, I bet there’s some Black Friday, 3am deal you can score before the big weekend}

Looking for something a little more north? Some of the WV wineries will be pouring in the downtown PDX area and are noted in the Thanksgiving Weekend guide. The Columbia Gorge wineries also host a Thanksgiving Open House Weekend on both the Oregon and Washington sides. Their events and hours can be found here.

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Local & Lively: LaVelle Vineyards

We know that they're making serious Pinot Noir up and down the Willamette Valley. From the Northenders like Chehalem, Cameron and new hotshot Colene Clemens to the farthest south sub-appellation Eola-Amity Hills and producers like Evesham Wood, Cristom and St. Innocent. Yet little of what's happening south of that southern point is on the radar of the Pinot Public. Fact is, there's a whole world of wine happening down in the Eugene, Oregon area, and it doesn't all begin and end at King Estate.

LaVelle Vineyards is one such place: a family operation founded by Doug LaVelle after a long corporate career. The vineyards and winery, formerly Forgeron Vineyards, was South Willamette Valley's oldest, planted in 1972. Forgeron closed its doors in 1992 and Doug opened LaVelle in 1994. At its inception, in addition to being a small winery, LaVelle Vineyards was also a substantial custom crush facility. Throughout its evolution, LaVelle has seen significant changes and some serious talent walk through its doors. Syncline's James Mantone, Anne Amie's Andy Gribscov and long time consulting winemaker and Willamette Valley stalwart Gary Carpenter have all been part of building the LaVelle brand.

In 2006 Doug's son Matthew took the production reigns and as a winemaker and owner aims to put LaVelle's best foot forward. At his disposal is a 16 acre vineyard with some of the region's oldest established plantings and a state-of-the art winery. LaVelle Vineyards and Matthew have turned their focus toward crafting the finest Pinot Noir their vines will give them and creating a destination for locals and visitors to gather and enjoy their wines. In addition to a production facility, the winery (located in Elmira, just outside of Eugene) is very much an event and gathering space. The focus is certainly on the wine; not just the technical aspects, but providing a place to enjoy it, often accompanied by live music, local food and several companions. LaVelle has more or less eschewed distribution, having none outside of Oregon, and just a trickle outside of Eugene. The bulk of their wine is sold through the winery, wine club and their downtown Eugene tasting room at the 5th Street Public Market, where they again place emphasis on the experience.

The wines that LaVelle Vineyards are producing have two aims: being true to the fruit and style. Stylistically, Matthew fancies his Pinot a feminine one, not over-extracted or dumbed down by oak. Matthew wants the true character of Oregon's crown jewel varietal to come through. Pinot Noir is intended to lighter in body, Oregon is renowned for it's "fresh" fruit expression and this is all underlined with a fine structure. The second aim is to be true to the high quality fruit that is being grown in Oregon's little-known South Willamette Valley. What is it about the South Willamette that's special? Consistency, says Matthew. "There are probably less "fantastic" Pinot Noir vintages in the South Willamette Valley when compared with the North Willamette Valley, but there are [more] "less than average" vintages up North than we have down here." That kind of reliability makes the production and sales of your wine less of a guessing game. (LaVelle also produces a Columbia Valley line sourced from Washington state which allows them to provide variety both in the tasting room and to their club.)

The wine I found most surprising and refreshing ofthe LaVelle wines that I sampled (all Pinots) was the Reserve Pinot Noir, Matthew's Reserve. The 2008 Reserve is an outstanding Pinot Noir, and while the 07 and 08 Pinots are also fine wines, this one is clearly head and shoulders above them. I'll wrap this piece up with tasting notes, but the thing is, before the 2008, they hadn't made a Reserve since 1998. I was intrigued by this as '06 was a really nice year for Oregon, but there was no Reserve for LaVelle. Matthew's response? "The most likely years for reserve Pinot Noirs in the South Willamette Valley are the coolest, dryest ones. 2010 was a cold year but there was too much rain [...] only having a reserve wine when the wine is good enough is something that doesn't happen much anymore."    I've spoken with winemakers who've said "There won't be a reserve this year" but to go ten years, that's a serious standard to uphold and whether you find yourself a fan of LaVelle's wines or not, you have to respect that kind of discipline.

The 2007 LaVelle Pinot Noir ($24) is indeed a feminine expression of the varietal, and in many ways similar to the 07s that are now coming into their own. The aromatics are mostly red fruit from this cooler vintage and a hint of moss. A Burgundian styled, medium bodied Pinot Noir typical of the 07s that continues with red currants and raspberries on the palate and a touch of spice on the finish.

The 2008 Pinot Noir ($24) is a bit more broad shouldered and fills the mouth with darker, more concentrated fruits while retaining the elegance of the varietal. Aromatics exhibit more spice and smoke with darker fruits. This well rounded Pinot bring ripe dark cherries, blackberries and earthen character. The structure is substantial and the finish goes on quite a while.

The Matthew's Reserve 08 ($48) is an excellent example of the capability of the South Willamette, with aromatics of bramble berries and earthen forest floor. Layers of flavor complexity, including currants, blackberries, cloves, and the 35% new oak makes an appearance imparting smoky flavors throughout the finish. This is a wow wine to be sure.

Samples provided by the winery.

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Friday Find, November 18

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.



In the 1990 "hit" The Forbidden Dance, a princess emerges from the Amazon in an effort to fight a multi-national conglomerate threatening her people's land and forests. She makes her way to L.A. the land of broken dreams and high heels in an effort to save the day. Huge mistake lady. Anyways, she mixes it up with some guy and we all learn a valuable lesson; "there's only one dance that can turn feeling into rhythm, strangers into lovers and passion into fury. The Lambada, The Forbidden Dance..."

The Forbidden White from Patterson Cellars is basically the same thing, except for the whole Amazon to L.A. and passion into fury thing. I mean let's be honest, you and a stranger drink a whole bottle of wine together, there's no telling what can happen, maybe you do end up lovers. The Forbidden White is a nice bottle to share with a stranger for a couple of reasons. It hits a couple different high notes on the way to a really well made, bright crisp and fun wine. The varietal blending is if anything unique, barrel fermented Chardonnay (56%) Viognier which was subject to extended exposure to the lees (32%) and at this point with the combination of barrel fermentation and sur lie Viognier you might expect a really rounded almost buttery wine, au contraire. This wine is all kinds of fruit forward, though the varying fermentation combinations give it a beautifully full mouthfeel. In comes the Siegerrebe (12%) grown over on this side of the Cascades in the Comfort Vineyard on Whidbey Island.

The result is a unique white wine blend that hits many geographic points on the map of Washington and provides dizzying fruit and floral aromatics. The wine is not an acid bomb but rather a complex white wine that can be sipped all into the evening without food. Much like the Forbidden Dance it will awaken your furious passion for white wines from Washington. The label is a bit of a mystery and while I'm not necessarily a fan it's apparently a Chihuly piece. The wine is carried by Vinum and so if you're not seeing it in your favorite local wine shop, ask your steward. You won't regret looking past the label at a fantastic wine at $16-18 it's a great find. If you do decide to go all Lambada and drink this wine with a stranger, be safe, use protection.

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The Final Word on Thanksgiving Wine Pairing

Drink whatever you want.  Seriously, if you like it, go ahead and drink it.  That's our advice.

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