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Cellar notes Summer 2010
The great wine values just keep coming. Those that have added your names to our e-mail list continue to get the first crack at some stunning values, extremely rare wine offerings (‘70 Petrus anyone?) and weekly updates about what is going on. Check out the great tastings on the way as well as the ded. reckoning release party and Summer Sale. I have gotten some questions from curious sorts lately wondering how we can sell so much wine and why we do what we do, so I will give a nutshell account of what makes us different
Spring has teased us with a few days of nearly summer like weather, and then she turns around and slaps us with some wind, rain and a dusting of snow. We even had a hard frost on the west side of the state last week that nipped back quite a few plants and trees in the local gardens. No damage in the vineyard from the weird spring, but there have been some reports of damage found while pruning from the hard freezes that came early last fall. Getting a shorter crop this year would not be a bad thing considering the quantities of fruit that got left on the vine last year.
As I write this, it seems as if we are going to get off pretty easily in this neck of the woods this winter. After the brutal cold and snow of last year and the early icy spell in December, it has been pretty much of a yawner for us. I think everybody else got the bad weather this year. Today it is in the upper 40’s, the plants are starting to bud, folks are actually using tractors already in the wine country and as of now, no big issues with rain and wind are on the horizon for us. Let’s all keep our fingers crossed.
As of now, we have heard of no real damage to the vineyards this year so unless we get some weird frost, freeze or downpour during bud set, we actually may see a bumper crop of fruit. This may not be the best news for growers as a lot of grapes went unsold last year, but it could mean good news for the consumer. Regardless of the economic model used, an increase in quantity always spells better prices. Now, we all need to knock on wood that the dollar continues to gain ground on the Euro!
It is time for our annual ‘Washington Wine of the Year’ awards. I do need to give the ground rules in advance, as questions always pop up. I pick 10 reds and 5 whites that we deem the most subjectively important to our staff, customers and whoever else cares. We don’t use points or other peoples opinions, we will not include any of our own labels (ie: ded reckoning, Salish Sea etc.) and we will only pick one wine from each winery. This year we also need to define ‘winery’ due to the various joint operating agreements, consulting, partnering and second labels that now play a major role in our state. Primary wineries are obvious. However, included in this as part of the primary winery for our purposes are all secondary labels that are recognized as being the sole property of said winery, ie: Clubhouse Cellars, Envious Winemakers, Fruit Bomb etc. Partnerships of various winemakers and investors with a name different from the primary wineries are considered separate wineries, ie: Giant Wine Co., Long Shadows, and all of Charlie Hoppes consulting contracts. Wineries with multiple winemakers making wines of the same name, yet different from the names of the winemakers at task’s own wineries, are considered a single winery into itself yet separate from the winemaker’s own primary wineries, ie: Grand Reve. Those wineries that try to BS me into thinking they are making their own wine when in fact are buying bulk, slapping on a label and claiming proprietary ownership of said wine will not knowingly be sold here, so it doesn’t matter anyway. (you know who you are) Next I will define ‘healthcare’ (only kidding).
Cellar Notes late fall 2009
After a topsy turvy vintage of record cold and snow in January, record heat and dryness in July and now a gorgeous autumn, it looks as if the vintage in Washington is going to be great. Other than all the fruit coming in at exactly the same time, driving all the poor winemakers nuts, sugar levels look good, acids are a tad high, but that is not really a bad thing in my book, and ph is in check. The one real fear is a hard frost is predicted for tonight over there, so the later hanging Cabernet and such may need to come in before the wineries are ready, and before all the acids drop out (again, not really a bad thing according to my palate). The vintage started out weeks behind due to the cold and wet spring and there were fears that we may have a real stinker. Then it got a tad too hot and sugar levels skyrocketed before the acids in the grapes moderated. Luckily, the temps came into check at the right time. I guess Bacchus is looking out for us this year.
Cellar Notes Fall 2009
What a weird year this has been. After our coldest and most snow covered winter in history, we just sweated through the driest and hottest summer in history. From zero to over 100 in the same year is not a normal occurrence in our ‘temperate rain forest’ climate zone. The big benefit as far as wine production goes is that the vineyards that were so far behind to start the season, have caught up completely, with a few actually ahead of schedule. We have even heard rumors of some Merlot coming in before Labor Day, which is early to say the least. We are keeping our fingers crossed for the weather to hold and not do any weird zig zags, so that we can have the great harvest that is on the horizon. Some judicious pruning from the hard freeze in the winter, combined with the hot summer should yield concentrated and rich fruit. No worries about greenness this year!
Ah, the island breezes of summer are finally upon us. After the cold and wet spring we had, just about everybody in these parts is more busy scraping moss that spreading tanning lotion. It has been a frantic spring release season and with all the new wines arriving, we are finding some incredible deals on wines that ‘need to go away’ to make room for the new stuff in the various wholesaler warehouses. Check inside for all the details.
Cellar notes May 2009
Can it be true? It actually passed 50 degrees today and not a snow flake in sight! When we worry about wine freezing during shipments in April, we know it has been a hard winter. After the hard freeze in December, lots of plants got whacked again in January, and again in early March. I was pruning at my place this weekend, and can see that I have more winter freeze damage than I have ever seen in the 20+ years I have lived there. Not only damage from the sub zero temps at Christmas, but new growth that started in February got blitzed hard a couple of weeks later, and died all the way back to the ground. As the vineyards start to break dormancy, we will see the full effect of the cold, but needless to say there will be damage, and some serious damage can be expected in certain areas. If the weather warms up in time, we should have typical Washington fruit, but brace yourselves for a potentially short crop, and so far things look late by a few weeks. Everybody need to pull out the hiking shorts and backpacks and do a sun dance.
After a brutal winter in terms of snow, ice, floods, a tanking economy and even a volcano, I am ready to shed my layer of winter ‘insulation’ (too much glogg and lefse when we were snowbound I think), soak up some 50 degree sunshine, scrub the moss off the car and welcome spring. I think the whole country got walloped this year, so we all must be ready for some primroses, magnolias and the roar of lawn mowers. In Spain they have the “Running of the Bulls.” At my house, we have the “Dodging of the Swallows” as we head out the front door. As cold as it got in the vineyards this past holiday season (I heard -20 in a few spots), we can expect some damage to the vines. We won’t hear the final tally for quite a few months still, but I have heard of some pretty substantial damage to Merlot, Syrah and Grenache. Wait and see is going to be the best medicine.
As things tighten up in the world of finance, the trickle down principle inevitably makes it to wine. As restaurants slow down, lots of wine starts to plug the pipeline. With new releases coming, the brokers and wholesalers start playing ‘Let’s Make a Deal’ to make the old, and often quite delicious, supplies go away. Bad for them, but good for us. In this issue...
It is time once again for my totally biased, subjective and very opinionated list of the top Washington wines in the shop for 2008. We base this on how many requests we get, how much we sell, how much we like the wine and many other non scientific and totally illogical reasons. In other words, if we got dazzled by the wine, for whatever reason, it has a chance to be on this list. I will only include one wine from any given winery on the list, and never include our own brands, such as ded. reckoning. Even though there are scores of wines that are scrumptious and deserve to also be on this or any other ‘top wine’ list, I limit this one to 10 reds, 5 whites and a ‘Washington Wine of the Year’. In certain years, if a winery has far too many good wines to ignore, I will also award the ‘Winery of the Year’ award. Surprise! I awarded it this year! Read the list below, order them if you like, and don’t fret if you are shut out on one or more. The Washington wine industry has never been stronger, so I am sure we can find another wine to your liking.
Ho, Ho, Ho!
Now that the holiday season is well upon us, it is time to bring out all the goodies that we have been stashing in anticipation. In addition to all of the great bargains in our Late Fall newsletter, we thought it appropriate to focus on all the great gift ideas of the season. We have the usual gift cards, we can put together great gift baskets (actually buckets, in our case), can help you select that perfect wine for that perfect somebody, and walk you through all the special gift ideas for that food or wine geek on your list. All of these items will be featured in the shop until January, or until they sell out. Come early for the best selection.
When tasting these two 2006 1er Cru wines for the first time, right along the biggest names in Burgundy, the purity and expression of these wines put them head and shoulders above every other wine in the room. Even though the 2006 wines are in general more delicate and ‘feminine’ than 2005 from just about every producer in Burgundy, these same vignerons almost to a man describe these as more ‘traditional’ in style. Perhaps this is understandable due to the volumes that have been written describing 2005 as perhaps the greatest vintage in Burgundy in 25-50 years.
