Northwest Corkage: Washington’s Wines

To understand Washington wines is to understand its geography. Most of the wineries are located around Seattle, but it’s too cold and wet to actually grow grapes there. However, travel east, inland over the Cascades, and the green of Puget Sound soon turns to the brown of the high desert country—the change is obvious and spectacular from the air—and, provided you can irrigate, eastern Washington offers perfect conditions to grow world-class grapes.

It’s impossible to talk about the Washington wine industry without addressing the unique role of Chateau Ste. Michelle, which produces a greater percentage of wine than any other winery or winery group in the state. Normally, a 2,000-pound gorilla like this would be alternately feared and resented, but not Ste. Michelle. That’s due partly to the fact that they make mass-market wines of superb quality, especially in the US$10 to $18 range, helping to raise awareness of Washington wines in general.

Many of the leading figures of the industry are Ste. Michelle alums, executives and winemakers turned entrepreneurs who have branched out on their own. One is Bob Betz, who retired after 35 years with Ste. Michelle to found the Betz Family Winery to make “3,000 cases a year, and that’s where I want to stop.” That’s 3,000 cases of stunning wine that are a series of French-style red blends. There are Bordeaux varietals such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Malbec, and Rhônes such as Syrah and Grenache that bear such names as Bésoleil, Père de Famille and Clos de Betz.

Washington also is attracting a large number of winemakers from elsewhere. Marie-Eve Gilla moved here from France and in 1991 became winemaker and managing partner of the excellent Forgeron Cellars because, “Wellll …” (and you have to imagine a strong French accent here) “it’s the opportunities, the fact that I could not do all this in France.”

And by “all this” she means a typically eclectic blend of varietals—for Washington—that include a Chardonnay; a Cab, Merlot and Syrah blend called Vinfinity; a Zinfandel and even a late-harvest Gewürztraminer.

I knew Greg Harrington when he was wine director at the B.R. Guest Restaurant Group in New York, so I’m surprised to discover him out here as rookie owner and winemaker of Gramercy Cellars, a start-up in Walla Walla. His explanation for this unusual geographic and career move is illuminating: “I really had a love for Old World wines for their focus, balance and intensity. Wines showing a specific place. I wasn’t fond of the over-the-top fruit of the New World. But in Washington, I found you can make Old World–style wines that have balance and focus,” which is why he has sensibly—for a winery less that three years old—limited himself to Tempranillo and Syrah. “I felt so strongly about the place, I sold everything I owned in New York City to make it happen here,” he says.

Walla Walla had four wineries in 1985. Now there are about 100. It is also a young wine region, comparatively, a work in progress. Tom Hedges of Hedges Family Estates elaborates on this point: “We have only been making wine for 25 or 30 years. We have young vines and young winemakers and an immature image, if any image at all. We’ve made all these strides in the last 10 years and the marketplace hasn’t kept up. We have an image deficit problem, and that leads to a good deal for the consumer.”

The Wine

A sampling of the many great Washington wines I encountered in my travels. Wine-Searcher.com is an excellent resource to purchase one of the vintages recommended in this story.

Red Mountain

Andrew Will Ciel du Cheval Vineyard 2005: A truly astounding Merlot-based blend. A little tightly wound at first, it opened up magnificently, revealing layer upon layer of complex, nuanced flavours.

Columbia Valley

Betz Family Winery Bésoleil 2006: A glorious evocation of the sun-kissed wines of the southern Rhône. A harmonious blend of Syrah, Grenache and Mourvèdre that well illustrates why, when a good winemaker blends these three varietals, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

Chateau Ste. Michelle Gewürztraminer 2007: A super value white that’s now being made dryer than in the past. Lovely Alsatian-style sweet fruit up front leads to a zingy, dry finish. A great aperitif wine.

Abeja Chardonnay 2006: An extraordinarily polished and elegant cool-climate Chardonnay. Whole-cluster pressing and ageing sur lie result in a soft citrus acidity, mouth-filling minerality beautifully balanced by finely integrated oak.

L’Ecole No 41 Seven Hills Vineyard Estate Semillon 2006: A simple, unassuming white just brimming with pretty summer fruit flavours. A pure delight.

Col Solare Col Solare 2004: This impressive, modernist winery located high on the desolate Red Mountain is a co-venture of Chateau Ste. Michelle and Italy’s Antinori family. The 80% Cab blend is astoundingly rich yet at the same time an austere, cerebral wine redolent of dark cherry and tobacco flavours. A cool vintage, it is a wine for long keeping.

Forgeron Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon 2001:  I have never tasted a New World Cab with such earthy elegance that shows such Bordeaux-like flavours of nutmeg, brown spice, black pepper, black cherries and red currants.

Poet’s Leap Riesling 2006: Delicious. Just oozing with lush, ripe fruit flavours backed by an unmistakable but gentle Riesling minerality, thanks to a portion of the grapes coming from 35-year-old vines.

Milbrandt Vineyards Legacy Merlot 2005: “I could live off the nose!” is my note. In fact, Milbrandt’s whole range of Legacy wines—Cab, Syrah, Merlot and two Chardonnays—are all superb. If a couple of brothers who 10 years ago were growing potatoes can make wine this good, how come there is so much dreck around?

Walla Walla Valley

Pepper Bridge Cabernet Sauvignon 2000: Beautifully crafted, highly polished Médoc-style Cab. Somewhat restrained, thanks to the cool vintage. I can only imagine what the wine will taste like when it reaches maturity.