Taste Washington, Review #3 – Gramercy Cellars and Long Shadows

On April 23, 2014April 23, 2014 By Bob WattIn WashingtonLeave a comment

It’s no secret, we’re big fans of Gramercy Cellars. We’ve been known to take their wines on our trips and share them with folks in places like Sun Valley and Bordeaux…we just think Greg Harrington is doing a great job. I have a tendency to prefer wines with slightly higher acidity because they work so well with many different types of food, and Gramercy Cellars wines are great food wines. Having good acidity in a wine is so important when it comes to aging as well, and the wines from Gramercy Cellars age beautifully. If you haven’t tried the wines from Gramercy Cellars, you owe it to yourself to buy a bottle and see what makes Washington wine so exciting. Greg’s wines are world-class.

Here’s what we tried at Taste Washington:

2011 Gramercy Cellars – Mourvedre “L’Idiot du Village” – Nice earthy dark red bing cherry nose. In the mouth, sweet dark red cherries and plums combine with a dark earthy and slightly spicy complexity. This wine has very good acidity, moderate tannins and a medium-long sweet dark red fruit finish. This will be a great food wine. You don’t see much in the way of Mourvedre wines in Washington State, but this one from Gramercy Cellars shows some real potential for the grape here. (91 pts.)

2010 Gramercy Cellars – Syrah, Walla Walla – Nice sweet dark blackberry fruit nose. In the mouth, dark blackberries and red bing cherries combine with a slight savory cured/smoked meat flavor. This wine has nice acidity and very fine tannins that keep everything in balance on the long sweet dark fruit filled finish. (93+ pts.)

2007 Gramercy Cellars – Syrah, Walla Walla – Very dark blackberry and spice on the nose. In the mouth, again, very dark blackberries, baking spices and a wonderful savory cured/smoked meat. The wine has good acidity and the savory dark fruit carries through on the long spicy finish. The 2007 Syrah is darker and richer than the 2010 Syrah at present, but it has also had a few more years for the flavors to meld together and evolve. This wine is in an absolutely beautiful place right now. If you have some of the 2007 Syrah in your cellar, I would encourage you to open one – you won’t be disappointed. While the 2007 Syrah is drinking well right now, there isn’t a rush to drink it, enjoy it over the next decade. (95 pts.)

2010 Gramercy Cellars – Cabernet Sauvignon – Nice black cherry fruit nose. In the mouth, dark black cherry, blackberry and black currants combine together with a little spice. This wine has some very good acidity keeping everything alive and singing in the mouth. The wine is very dark, with the primary flavors showing now, but it is just a baby. The tannins are present on the long dark fruit finish, but they are ripe and very fine. This is a very nice wine that you can enjoy now, but you will be greatly rewarded by holding on to it for another 3-5 years as the secondary flavors develop. (93+ pts.)

We also tasted Long Shadows. We had a spectacular tasting at their winery a few years ago, arranged by a friend. We were already familiar with the wines, but the tasting allowed us to learn more about all of the wines and their individual story and philosophy. Here’s some background: Long Shadows brings seven highly acclaimed vintners from the major wine regions of the world to Washington State, each an owner-partner in a unique winery dedicated to producing Columbia Valley wines that showcase the best of the Washington growing region.

After leaving Chateau Ste. Michelle in 2000, Allen Shoup was committed to furthering the potential of winemaking in the Columbia Valley. He spent the next three years developing Long Shadows,with the vision to recruit a cadre of the finest winemakers in the world; give each vintner access to Washington State’s best grapes; and outfit a winery to accommodate a diverse group of winemakers’ exacting cellar specifications. Today, wine legends such as Michel Rolland, Randy Dunn, John Duval and Philippe Melka make up the dream team of celebrated vintners bringing critical acclaim to these Washington wines.

Here are the wines we tasted:

2010 Saggi (Super Tuscan Blend of Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah) – Spicy dark fruit nose. In the mouth, dark red cherries, blackberry and a little red currant combine with a spicy dark earthy character. This wine has very good acidity and a good dose of ripe tannin on the long spicy dark fruit finish. I have always enjoyed the Italian styled Saggi. It is one of the relatively new and different styled wines that Washington State is producing more of these days. (92 pts.)

2010 Chester Kidder – Cabernet Sauvignon – Black fruit nose. In the mouth, very dark black cherries and black currants combine with a slight savory component. This wine has good acidity and very fine tannins on the long but slightly dry dark fruit finish. This wine is still very young and needs a couple more years in the bottle for everything to meld together. (93 pts.)

2010 Sequel – Syrah – Sweet dark fruit nose. In the mouth, dark blackberries and red cherries combine with a little bit of spice. This wine has good acidity and fine tannins on the medium-long sweet/spicy dark fruit finish. (91 pts.)

All in all, these two wineries represent some of the best Washington has to offer, both in quality and price point. We certainly hope they will remain that approachable as the region matures!

Tempranillo Time

On February 26, 2014 By Bob WattIn Spanish1 Comment

It was my turn to host our wine group in January, and since my wife and I had been enjoying some inexpensive Spanish tempranillo recently (see the post on it here), we decided to make the wine theme Tempranillo. By making the theme just Tempranillo and not Spanish Tempranillo, I knew we would get some domestic wines as well as the Spanish variety. I have really enjoyed some of the domestic producers of Tempranillo and I wanted to see how they would compare to the Spanish.

To go with the wines, my wife concocted a Spanish chicken and chorizo dish – the chorizo gave the chicken a little kick, but not too much. We wanted the additional flavors to pair with the wines, but didn’t want it to be too hot and spicy and ruin the mouth-feel of the wines and our taste buds. It ended up being a great match.

It was kind of hilarious to watch the reactions of the group as they tasted through the wines in two flights. The first flight was the older, more traditional Spanish Tempranillo, and you could get the age and burnished notes from it, which many in the group liked, though they also seemed to struggle with truly enjoying this varietal. So when we moved to the younger, bolder, more new world versions, they were not shy in judging them more skeptically. My wife and I have actually had some of these “newer” Tempranillos before, and we both agree that they are great wines – but primarily with food, due to their often high acidity. By the time we were on our second flight, we had not only tasted the older wines first, but we had also finished dinner – I’m not sure the second flight of wines got a fair rap that night.

It certainly was an eye-opening tasting experiment, however. I don’t think any of us would have guessed just how different the Tempranillo grape could taste across the board.

Here are the wines we had, starting with a great white:

2005 Domaine Ramonet – Chassagne Montrachet – Vergers – Ripe yellow orchard fruit and what I call flinty mint on the nose. Flinty mint is a smell that I associate with Ramonet’s wines and it really comes out with about an hour of air time. In the mouth, ripe peach and melon, limestone minerality and a fresh minty lift on the long sweet fruit finish. The 2005 is drinking really well today. I have been drinking the 2005’s before the 2004’s, as the 04’s are still a little tight, but I don’t see any reason to wait any further on the 05’s. (94 pts.)

Flight 1

1981 Lopez de Heredia – Bosconia Cosecha – Brick in color, beautiful nose of sweet & spicy fruit, baking spices and burnished wood. In the mouth very smooth, lots of baking spices mingle with ripe red fruits, good acidity still keeping everything lively. Nice long smooth spiced fruit finish. This is a beautiful wine that is drinking very well, holding up and still has time. Fully mature, but in no rush. (94 pts.)

1996 Faustino – Tinto Grand Reserva, Spain – Darker fruit nose with spices and a little Band-Aid. Nice dark fruit and baking spices combine with very good acidity, to give a lively and constantly changing flavor profile. Nice long dark spicy fruit finish, with some tannins kicking in on the finish. This is a big deep wine that still has some tannins but also a great sense of balance. Still young, this wine should be really good after another 5 years in the cellar. (95 pts.)

1996 Hacienda Monasterio, Spain – Dark earthy fruit nose. In the mouth, smooth dark black/red currant fruit and some spice. It is earthy and rustic in character, with tannins kicking in on the medium long fruit finish. (92 pts.)

2001 Marques de Riscal Grand Reserva, Spain – Very nice black fruit and spices on the nose. In the mouth, the black fruit combined with some baking spices has some lively acidity that makes this wine very savory. Nice long, dark fruit and spicy finish, with the tannins kicking at the end. This is a very nice wine that is still very young, but will be beautiful when it reaches maturity. It can be enjoyed now with a lot of air time, but try after 2020. (93 pts.)

Flight 2

2008 Gramercy Cellars – Inigo Montoya Tempranillo, Walla Walla Washington – Dark black/red fruit and spice on the nose. In the mouth, black and red fruit flavors mingle with baking spices and a little earth. Very good acidity makes this a very lively wine in the mouth and gives it a savory aspect to the fruit. This wine has a beautifully long, dark, spicy-fruit finish. There are tannins present, but they are subtle because of the wealth of spicy fruit. I personally think that Gramercy’s 2008 Tempranillo is one of the best Tempranillo made in the US. I have loved this wine since release and I so look forward to seeing what it has to offer after 2020. Greg and Pam Harrington have made some really incredible wines at Gramercy Cellars. This is a wine to search for. (95+ pts.)

2003 Altocedro – Desnudos, Argentina – Sweeter dark fruit on the nose. Very sweet dark red/black fruit in the mouth with very high acidity. Noticeable high-octane fruit and alcohol, 15.9% compared to 13.9% for the Gramercy. This wine seems like a just a combination of smooth sugar and acidic pin pricks in the mouth. Lots of dark fruit, sugar and alcohol on the medium-long finish, with some tannin kicking in on the end. (89 pts.)

2007 Cayuse – Impulsivo, Walla Walla Washington – Very dark fruit with some spice on the nose. In the mouth, rich lush very dark red and black fruit, some baking spices and good acidity, smooth in the mouth. Rich decadent dark fruit and spice on the long finish, with a little tannin at the end. A very nice wine, that is drinking well, but also very modern in style. (93 pts.)

We finished it all off with a nice dessert wine:

2005 Domaine des Baumard Quarts de Chaume, Loire France – Beautiful floral white peach, pear and spice on the nose. In the mouth, ripe white peaches, pear, some melon and baking spices, but with a stony aspect to the fruit. This wine has excellent acidity and a very long stony white peach/pear and spiced fruit finish. This is really an excellent wine that is drinking great and is a little bit more open than the 2004 version. (95 pts.)

It was a wonderful evening, with some very interesting wines and lively conversations. It’s a great group of guys who are always willing to pull something unusual out from the dark recesses of the cellar.

Dinner with Friends

On September 15, 2013February 4, 2014 By Bob WattIn Argentina, California, France, WashingtonLeave a comment

We had a very nice evening with two couples over a salmon dinner a few weeks back. It was a great time to share some nice wines and catch up from what had turned into a busy summer.

We started the evening with two refreshing summer wines, a 2012 Round Pond Sauvignon Blanc from Napa Valley and a 2012 Miraval Rose from Provence, France. The Sauvignon Blanc was a nice light and crisp wine with decent fruit (86pts.).

I was curious to try the Miraval Rose – I kept hearing about it, but admit to being a little skeptical. The wine is being produced from Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s property in Provence and this was their first release. I wouldn’t generally think about buying a wine that some celebrity endorsed, but in this case the wine was made in partnership with the Perrin family, who are good long time producers in the southern Rhone region. The wine was nice and dry and had a good body of fruit and acid (88pts.)

Now on to the reds. Our friends Jeanne & Will brought a nice aged bottle of 2003 Woodward Canyon Merlot. The wine had some great mature fruit and was drinking very well, with a lot of secondary nuances(spices) coming through on the long smooth finish (94pts.). Woodward Canyon’s wines will age very well over a decade or even two for the cabs.

Next up from Brian and Laurie, was the first release of the 2010 Hand of God red wine from Mendoza, Argentina. This wine was a blend of 55% Malbec, 35% Syrah and 10% Petit Verdot. The winemaker is Santiago Achaval, who also produces the wines for the award winning Achaval Ferrer winery in Mendoza, Argentina. The 2010 Hand of God is a nice wine with good dark red fruit, good structure and a medium-long finish (92pts.).

Next, I pulled a bottle of 1996 Leonetti Cellar Reserve Seven Hills Cabernet, from Walla Walla, Washington. I have not had this particular wine in a long time, but I bought this wine on release and this was my last bottle of it. The wine was a very dark red color and surprisingly youthful. The fruit was really singing, but it also still had some decent structure and good acidity. The fruit with a little bit of spice and chocolate followed through to a nice long finish. Blind, I would have never guessed the wine was 17 years old, it tasted more like 5-7. This wine could have aged another decade or more without trying and possibly still improve. But what the heck? Why wait? It’s drinking beautifully now (95pts.).

Everyone was have such a great time catching up, so we needed one more bottle to taste. I pulled a bottle of 2001 Cadence – Tapteil Vineyard red wine from Red Mountain, Washington. The wine was a deep red color and drinking very well. The dark red/black fruit combined with subtle baking spices really came through on the medium-long smooth finish. This wine is still youthful with another 10 years ahead of it (93pts.)