Sean P. Sullivan - Washington Wine Report Note: Site has moved to www.northwestwinereport.com

Harvest exploded in September in just about every appellation in the state. "Red Mountain showed its fruit in glorious color," noted resident photographer Richard Duval. "While prowling Cadence's Cara Mia Vineyard on the lower portion of the mountain, I captured this seemingly endless display of Cabernet. Two days later, it was picked and heading to crush."

Click on the picture to see a larger image. See previous Pic of the Vine images here.

The September Virtual Tasting is tonight! The wine is the J. Bookwalter Notebook NV4 Red Wine. This wine retails for $15 and is widely available. The tasting will take place tonight, Tuesday September 30th, from 7-8pm Pacific.

What you need to do to participate is:

1. Buy this month’s wine from the winery or a local retailer

2. Tweet your comments about the wine on Twitter between 7 and 8pm Pacific on the specified date using the hashtag #bookwalter. For those on Twitter, follow me @wawinereport.

I am currently working on an article on the state of the Washington wine landscape two-plus years after the implementation of Initiative 1183. This initiative privatized liquor sales and made a number of other changes to the state's liquor laws. I am interested in interviewing winemakers, distributors, and retailers for this article. If you are interested in sharing your thoughts on what the effects of this initiative have been on your business, please contact me at wawinereport@gmail.com.

A round-up of stories on Northwest wine from September 15th to 21st. Read previous round-ups here.

From around the world…

Jamaica The Gleaner writes about Washington wine.

The Toronto Sun writes about Charles & Charles.


From around the country…

Wine Spectator writes about Drew Bledsoe’s Doubleback. They also write about Charles Smith planting his flag in Seattle and Derek Jeter carrying around Oregon Pinot Noir.

The San Francisco Chronicle writes that it’s been a sweet but tricky year for Washington reds.

The St. Helena Star writes about Duckhorn debuting its Washington State Cabernet.

The Santa Rosa Press writes about Jackson Family Wines lauching a new Burgundy wine division.

The Colorado Gazette writes about Merlot.

The New York Times writes about Central Washington.

The Wisconsin Gazette writes about NXNW.

Fortune writes about Barbara Banke of Jackson Family.


From the blogosphere…

Great Northwest Wine writes that harvest is in full swing. They also write all hail king Cabernet, Chateau Ste. Michelle’s new tools, Brian Carter Cellars, the 30 day forecast, and Rajat Parr leading the Oregon Chardonnay Symposium.

One girl, one glass writes about Woodinville.

Woodinville Wine Update writes about upcoming events.

Zinfandel Chronicles writes about the Betz Family Release party.

Lucha Vino writes about a Washington Tinto vs. Rioja.


From the locals…

At Seattle Metropolitan, an article by yours truly on creating the annual Top 100 Washington wines list. Also, a look at top whites $25 and under and $15 and under.

The Bellingham Herald writes about an early harvest at Canoe Ridge.

The Oregonian writes about a Portland wine list that breaks all the rules.

The News Tribune writes about Chateau Ste. Michelle.

The Yakima Herald writes about the projected record harvest.

Inlander writes about Patit Creek. They also write about Nectar Wine & Beer coming to Kendall Yards.

The Spokesman Review writes about Jones of Washington.

The Seattle Times writes about Red Willow Vineyard.


That’s all folks!

I had the pleasure recently to talk with Andy Perdue at Great Northwest Wine about my new assignment at Wine Enthusiast and other matters. You can read the story and listen to the podcast here.

Enjoy!

There is no question that Chardonnay is in the midst of a renaissance in the Northwest. As I wrote last year, you can’t call it a comeback because Chardonnay never really left. Despite the Anything But Chardonnay movement of years past and a swing in styles from butter bombs to sleek stainless steel offerings and everything in between, Chardonnay has consistently been the most consumed wine variety in the U.S. (by far). Increasingly, however, numerous Northwest vintners are showing a renewed commitment to creating high quality offerings.

In Washington, this revival is perhaps best embodied by Chardonnay-dedicated projects from Array Cellars, Ashan Cellars, and Sixto – a new brand from Charles Smith scheduled to have its first releases this fall. However, other Washington wineries are showing a renewed focus on the variety as well. Meanwhile in Oregon, Chardonnay quality is on the rise and the grape is beginning to take its rightful place alongside Pinot Noir, the state’s signature variety. A number of the state’s winemakers are downright giddy about Chardonnay’s long-term prospects in the state – if vintners follow the right path. Tasting these wines, I share that excitement.

In two print articles out this month, I take a look at the Northwest Chardonnay renaissance. The first, in Washington Tasting Room magazine, looks at Chardonnay in Washington. The second, in Vineyard & Winery Management, looks at the rise of Oregon Chardonnay. Reviews of some recent Chardonnay releases are below.

Enjoy!

NB: For those interested in Oregon Chardonnay, I highly recommend checking out the Oregon Chardonnay Symposium and its all Chardonnay Grand Tasting. 

Bergström Wines Sigrid Chardonnay Willamette Valley 2012 $85
 (Exceptional) An aromatically intoxicating wine with notes of squash, hazelnuts, toast, spice, and mineral. The palate shows an exquisite sense of balance with the flavors undulating in waves, showing great deftness and finesse leading to a supremely long finish. 100% Chardonnay. 14.1% alcohol. 1,000 cases produced. Sample provided by winery.

Chateau Ste Michelle Chardonnay Cold Creek Vineyard Columbia Valley 2012 $25  (Exceptional) An aromatically appealing wine with notes of corn silk, peach, mineral, and toasty spices showing a lot of complexity and detail. The palate is medium bodied with a creamy feel, showing a lot of subtlety, depth, and elegance with an exquisitely long finish. 100% Chardonnay. 14.5% alcohol. 5,000 cases produced. Sample provided by winery.

Abeja Chardonnay Washington State 2012 $36
 (Excellent/Exceptional) Whole cluster pressed and barrel fermented, it’s moderately aromatic with notes of candy corn, spice, corn silk, and stone fruit. The palate is medium-plus bodied with sweet fruit flavors and a hyperextended finish. 100% Chardonnay. 13.9% alcohol.

Array Cellars Chardonnay Dijon Clone Yakima Valley 2012 $32
(Excellent/Exceptional) Moderately aromatic with notes of pumpkin, peach, and spice. The palate is medium-plus bodied with a textured, supple feel showing a lot of grace and elegance. 100% Chardonnay. 13.6% alcohol.

Maison Bleue Au Contraire Chardonnay French Creek Vineyard Yakima Valley 2012 $25 (Excellent/Exceptional) A flat out gorgeous wine that draws you into the glass with pear, light barrel notes, cream, hazelnut, and an assortment of complex spices. The palate walks the balance beam between textured, creamy fullness and cleansing acidity with a long, drawn out feel and a finish that seems almost infinite in length. Far and away the best this winery has made and a wine that stands up equally well by itself or at the dinner table. 100% Chardonnay. Aged nine months in French oak (20% new) with full malolactic fermentation. 13% alcohol. 461 cases produced. Sample provided by winery.

Ponzi Vineyards Reserve Chardonnay Willamette Valley 2011 $35
 (Excellent/Exceptional) An aromatically mesmerizing wine with notes of buttery spices and summer squash. It’s medium bodied and textured showing exquisite balance and a lingering finish. 100% Chardonnay. Aurora, Avellana, and Alloro vineyards. Aged 18 months in French oak (25% new). 13.2% alcohol. 800 cases produced. Sample provided by winery.

Sparkman Cellars Enlightenment Chardonnay Yakima Valley 2012 $50
 (Excellent/Exceptional) An aromatic offering of Chardonnay with notes of apricot, peach, cream, barrel spices, melted butter, and lees. The palate is full bodied and rich, redolent with stone and tropical fruit flavors speckled with oak accents leading to a long, 30 second finish. 14.5% alcohol.

Adelsheim Caitlin’s Reserve Chardonnay Willamette Valley 2012 $45
 (Excellent) Lightly aromatic with notes of hazelnuts, lees, apple, and Meyer lemon. The palate is medium bodied with a vein of puckering, green apple-like acidity that runs throughout. 100% Chardonnay. 13.5% alcohol. 697 cases produced. Sample provided by winery.

Bergevin Lane She Devil Chardonnay Columbia Valley 2012 $20
(Excellent) A moderately aromatic wine with pleasing notes of fresh pear, pumpkin, and spice. The palate is medium bodied with a light spritz showing a good sense of balance leading to a lingering finish. 13.9% alcohol.

Cote Bonneville Estate Bottled Chardonnay DuBrul Vineyard Yakima Valley 2011 $50  (Excellent) A moderately aromatic wine with notes of corn on the cob, stone fruit, and an assortment of buttery spices. The palate is rich in feel, coating the palate from end to end with stone fruit and tropical flavors. 100% Chardonnay. 14.3% alcohol.

Chehalem Wines Inox Estate Grown Chardonnay Willamette Valley 2012 $19
 (Excellent) An appealing wine with notes of peach, flowers, and mineral. The palate shows good concentration of its grapefruit flavors with a touch of sugar sweetening the finish. 100% Chardonnay. Fermented and aged in stainless steel. Ridgecrest, Stoller, and Corral Creek vineyards. 14.1% alcohol. 0.3% Residual Sugar. 5,050 cases produced. Sample provided by winery.

Dunham Cellars Shirley Mays Chardonnay Columbia Valley 2012 $25
(Excellent) An aromatic and appealing Chardonnay with abundant stone and tropical fruit notes along with butterscotch, straw, and barrel spices. The palate is full bodied with the fruit flavors running down the middle, painting along the edges. 14.0% alcohol.

JM Cellars Chardonnay Columbia Valley 2012 $35
(Excellent) Lightly aromatic with buttery spices, pear, and peach. The palate is medium-plus bodied, soft and textured with much of the appeal about feel. 100% Chardonnay. Stillwater Creek (55%) and Conner Lee vineyards. Aged in French oak (15% new). 13.7% alcohol.

Novelty Hill Chardonnay Stillwater Creek Vineyard Columbia Valley 2012 $23
 (Excellent) An aromatically appealing wine with notes of buttered popcorn and spice mixed with stone and tropical fruit. The palate is medium bodied with a creamy texture and a lingering finish. 100% Chardonnay. 13.5% alcohol.

Rex Hill Dijon Clone Chardonnay Willamette Valley 2011 $38
 (Excellent) An aromatically alluring wine with subtle, complex notes of corn silk, straw, white peach, candy corn, and spice. The palate is medium bodied, showing a lot of tension between the acids and fruit flavors that keep you on the edge of your seat through the lingering finish. 100% Chardonnay. 14.0% alcohol. 185 cases produced. Sample provided by winery.

Saviah Cellars Chardonnay Stillwater Creek Vineyard Columbia Valley 2012 $25
(Excellent) A moderately aromatic wine with notes of pear, pineapple, and melon. The palate is textured in feel with abundant melon flavors. 100% Chardonnay. 13.7% alcohol.

Stoller Family Estate Chardonnay Dundee Hills 2013 $20
 (Excellent) A moderately aromatic wine with pure notes of apple, pear, and flower blossom. The palate is full bodied in feel, clean and fresh with a very pleasing sense of balance and tension with the acids. 100% Chardonnay. 12.5% alcohol. 2,100 cases produced. Sample provided by winery.

Anam Cara Cellars Unoaked Chardonnay Nicholas Estate Chehalem Mountains 2012 $22
 (Good/Excellent) A moderately aromatic wine with white peach, freshly boiled sweet corn on the cob, and lightly perfumed floral notes. The palate is medium bodied with a real sense of texture, grace and freshness. Lingers on the finish. 100% Chardonnay. 13% alcohol. Sample provided by winery.

Array Cellars Chardonnay Washington State 2012 $25
 (Good/Excellent) Moderately aromatic with notes of pear, stone fruit, and toasty spices. The palate is on the lighter side of medium bodied, showing restraint and elegance. 13.8% alcohol.

The Eyrie Vineyards Chardonnay Original Vines Reserve Dundee Hills 2011 $45
 (Good/Excellent) An aromatically unusual wine with notes of apricot, lemon, mineral, and nutty spices. The palate’s tart acidity frames an assortment of lemon and pear flavors that keep the interest high. 100% Chardonnay. 11.80% alcohol. 126 cases produced. Sample provided by winery.

Anam Cara Cellars Reserve Chardonnay Nicholas Estate Chehalem Mountains 2012 $32 (Good) The winery’s first reserve level Chardonnay, it’s moderately aromatic with notes of stone fruit, melted butter, and light toasty spices. The palate is on the lighter side of medium bodied looking for a bit more concentration to keep it all together. 100% Chardonnay. 12.9% alcohol. 290 cases produced. Sample provided by winery.

Lange Estate Winery and Vineyards Three Hill Cuvee Chardonnay Willamette Valley 2012 $38 (Good) A moderately aromatic wine with notes of nectarine and lees. The palate is medium bodied with a creamy feel to the biscuit and stone fruit flavors. 100% Chardonnay. 13.3% alcohol. 281 cases produced. Sample provided by winery.

Swiftwater Cellars Chardonnay Willamette Valley 2011 $28
(Good) An aromatic wine with overt notes of toast, spice, butter, and peach. The palate is medium bodied with a creamy feel and abundant oak flavors, trailing off on the finish. 100% Chardonnay. Carabella, Durant, and Elvenglade vineyards. Aged 16 months in French oak (32% new). 13.5% alcohol. 220 cases produced.

Willamette Valley Vineyards Estate Chardonnay Willamette Valley 2011 $45
 (Good) A moderately aromatic wine with notes of peach, apple, and spice. The palate is on the lighter side of medium bodied with a creamy, drawn out feel. 100% Chardonnay. Aged 10 months in French oak (53% new). 13% alcohol. 186 cases produced. Sample provided by winery.


Select Recent Wine Enthusiast Reviews (review text freely available at winemag.com)

Ashan Chardonnay Celilo Vineyard Columbia Gorge 2012 $45 (92 points)

Foundry Vineyards Chardonnay Columbia Gorge 2012 $24 (91 points)

Tranche Chardonnay Celilo Vineyard Columbia Gorge 2011 $45 (90 points)

Browne Family Vineyards Chardonnay Columbia Valley 2012 $32 (90 points)

The September Virtual Tasting wine is the J. Bookwalter Notebook NV4 Red Wine. This wine retails for $15 and is widely available. The tasting will take place on Tuesday September 30th from 7-8pm Pacific.

What you need to do to participate is:

1. Buy this month’s wine from the winery or a local retailer

2. Tweet your comments about the wine on Twitter between 7 and 8pm Pacific on the specified date using the hashtag #bookwalter. For those on Twitter, follow me @wawinereport.

Talking about the 2014 growing season in Washington, winemaker Josh Maloney of Milbrandt Vineyards summed it up by quoting the movie Biloxi Blues: “Man it's hot. It's like Africa hot. Tarzan couldn't take this kind of hot.”

 Indeed, 2014 has been another warm growing season in Washington. Most markers from budbreak through veraison have been approximately one to two weeks ahead of historical averages due to the warmth of the year. “Things started early and never slowed down, pretty much across the board,” Maloney said.

Growers and vintners didn’t have to look back far to find a comparable year. “The 2014 season started out as a repeat of 2013 in terms of early, warm spring, near record breaking heat in July and early August,” said Wade Wolfe of Thurston Wolfe Winery, who sources fruit predominantly from the Horse Heaven Hills and Yakima Valley. “But then it shifted to the 'average' mode for most of August and so far into September.”

As one might expect, the largest impact of the warm temperatures has been on sugar accumulation. “Super high sugars,” said Hillary Sjolund of the winemaking consulting service Enomama. Sjolund, who also has her own winery Sonoris, works primarily with fruit from Red Mountain – typically Washington’s warmest appellation.

“I went through 70+ vineyard samples yesterday and, for reds, I couldn’t even find one under 25 Brix right now,” Sjolund said, referring to a measure of sugar accumulation. Sjolund said that, to compensate for the higher sugars - and the potentially higher alcohol levels that would result – many winemakers will saignée their fermenting tanks, a process of bleeding off some of the juice. They will then add water back to bring down the alcohol.

While a common practice in warmer regions and in warmer vintages, Sjolund noted that this could be challenging when berries get dehydrated, as has been happening recently on Red Mountain. “You’re getting more sugar release from dehydrated berries,” she said. “So you think that you’re watering back to 24.5 Brix when in reality you might be watering back to 25.5 or 26. I think some people are going to have higher alcohols than they are going to anticipate.” 

Winemaker Trey Busch of Sleight of Hand Cellars agreed many winemakers would take the route Sjolund described. “We prefer to make the wine in the vineyard but in a warm vintage when sugars are going up so quickly and you’re waiting for flavors, you’re waiting for seed development, and you’re waiting for tannin development - and you’re dealing with high Brix - those are the things that you have to do,” he said. Busch noted, however, that if done properly, the concentration of the resulting wine is not affected while quality is improved.

“It’s definitely a winemaker’s kind of year,” Sjolund said. “It’s a great growing season in the sense that everything is getting ripe. But we’re going to have to work more with this ripeness to make sure we make a balanced product.”

While most people I spoke with reported higher sugar accumulations, in some areas, the results have been more variable. Maloney works with fruit from across the Columbia Valley. “Like last year, the excessive heat doesn’t seem to have as much impact on ripeness and timing of our warmer sites, but we are seeing higher Brix and lower acids in the cooler sites for this time of year than we would normally expect,” Maloney said. “Whatever normal means now is anyone’s guess.”

Wolfe also noted that the warm season has decreased differences between cooler and warmer areas. “Cooler sites, such as the Yakima Valley, are ripening at the same time as traditionally warmer sites, such as Horse Heaven Hills,” he said, noting that different varieties have shown different effects as well. “Bordeaux varieties, especially Cabernet Sauvignon, seem to be ripening sooner than usual compared to other varieties.”

Differences have also been reported from 2013 in cluster and berry size, with some reporting that they have seen smaller sizes and others larger. “Our own count at Seven Hills, we’re running 20 berries per cluster over last year,” said Marty Clubb of L’Ecole No 41. “We’re also - at least at Seven Hills - seeing berry sizes inflated about ten percent from last year.” Clubb, who attributed this largely to a good fruit set at bloom, said the result has been as much as a half ton more fruit per acre than originally forecast.

 On Red Mountain, however, Sjolund, said berry sizes have been somewhat smaller, at least in the vineyard samples she has been receiving. “The Cabernet berry sizes are small,” she said. “Compared to 2013, at this level of ripeness, I did not see the hardness of those berries like I’m seeing this year.” 

Despite the warmth of the year, many winemakers are pleased with how the growing season has progressed to date. “We are very excited about the quality of what we have so far,” Maloney said. “It looks like we’ve got some great conditions for the foreseeable future. We think we might be looking at another banner vintage.”

Picture of Red Mountain Merlot pumpover courtesy of Sleight of Hand Cellars (Follow on Facebook). 
Picture of the first rack and return of the year courtesy of Long Shadows (Follow on Facebook). 
Picture of Merlot bin courtesy of Robert Ramsay Cellars (Follow on Facebook). 

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