Annual Northwest Best of 2011 Wine Review

Ok. So, this is the one article that tends to bring me more hate mail than any other diddy of the year. I know it’s crazy, but I look forward to this annual event. One of my friends on Facebook has nicknamed me “firestarter” because something in me craves abuse. If anything starts that fire, it would be what I’m about to write.

This is my one article of the year, where I review my wine notes for the previous 12 months and give you my opinion on what my favorites were. These opinions are not the opinions of the Eastern Oregonian or any of it’s staff. It isn’t the opinion of my family. It isn’t the opinion of blogger.com that hosts my blog. The following opinions are mine alone.

Best Chardonnay: I’ve had some doozies this year. Some made me think I was in heaven. Some made me want to puke. The best one I had was one I found on a trip to Portland with my wife. We stopped in a few different little wineries in Hood River on the way home and found Phelps Creek Winery. Their Reserve Chardonnay (I believe it was the 2009 but I can’t find that in my notes). The crispness on the front of the palate, nice acidity, and wonderful butterscotch overtones was fantastic!
Best Red Blend: Once again, this was all over the board. I would have to say that my favorite red blend this year goes to Davenlore for their Recovery Red. You would think that a bottle with a Grolsch style refillable bottle, and low priced to boot, would be bad. But, I had this wine many times this year and was never disapointed.

Most Unique Red Varietal: I’ve gotten some pretty wild stuff sent to me this year, but I had some local Primitivo that was outstanding this summer. My favorite was Coyote Canyon’s Primitivo. Deep, ruby color and rich with plum, cherry, and spices.

Best Malbec: So, I can’t help it. Malbec is my favorite grape of all. The best Malbec that I had this year came from Hamilton Cellars. Charlie Hoppes, who is the winemaker for Hamilton was forced by Stacy the owner of the winery to make this stuff. Thanks Stacy for beating it out of him. I love it!!

Best Riesling: Rich Funk from Saviah created his Jack Riesling this year for the first time an it hit the market by storm. I finally got my hands on a bottle this fall and fell in love. OMG!

Best Cabernet Sauvignon: This is usually where I tick off the purists. Once again, I’ve had a lot of Cab this year, and this is was a very tough choice. I have to say that my bottle of ‘07 Cooper Walla Walla Cab was the best of the year. If you didn’t get any, I’m sorry, but you won’t be able to prove me wrong.

Best Pinot Noir: At the end of the year I received as a gift a bottle of Swiftwater Cellars 2009 Willamette Pinot Noir. The Watts family has spared no expense in making this hard-to-get wine. Beautiful fruit backed up by layer after layer of spices makes this bottle truly one of the best. My hat is off to winemaker Tony Rynders.

Once again, these are the best that I tasted. I’m sure you have your own opinion. Please let me know at www.onerichwineguy.com.

Cheers!

I Taste Dirt…Discerning Terroir In Wine

You know, when people talk about Terroir affecting the flavor of their wines, I tend to chuckle a little. It isn’t that I don’t believe wines taste different based on the place the grapes are from. It is just, well, my childishness comes out. When people start talking terroir I get visions of them drinking mud. Weird, I know. But, I just have a hard time believing that the dirt that a wine is grown in really has that big of an effect on flavor. Call me a skeptic.

I will admit that wines grown in different regions and climates have a distinctive flavor profile. However, I think that difference comes from the winemaker, the cooperage, and the style or process that the wine was made with. The conclusion I’ve come to over the years is that wine is like any other art form. Regionally, people have a standard that they like to see in their wine, and they train themselves to be just like everyone else on the block.

Now I’m being challenged in my thinking. Dr. Allan Busacca, a geologist and agricultural soils expert, has paired up with Robert Smasne, wine giant and owner of Smasne Cellars. They are releasing their Alma Terra Label together as a true experiment in terroir.

This experiment is not for them. They have already done their painstaking research and packaged it neatly for you to take home and experiment with your friends and family. The real purpose is to allow childish skeptics like me to see once and for all that dirt does make a difference.

The first version of this experiment was chosen to be Syrah. Busacca and Smasne chose three distinctly famous vineyards throughout Eastern Washington to do their project. After picking the lots they painstakingly made sure that the grapes were grown the same, picked at the same brix, pressed, fermented, aged, and bottled in the same way from the same year.

The sources of these grapes were Ciel du Cheval from Red Mountain, Coyote Canyon from Horse Heaven Hills, and Minick from the Yakima Valley. Knowing these were the vineyards will automatically make any wine fanatic realize that these are the top Syrah vineyards in the state, and possibly in the Northern Hemisphere.

A fourth bottle was also produced that mixes generous amounts of each of these vineyards to create a gorgeous blend of the best of the best. The name of this wine is Coéo, which is a Latin term for “coming together”.

As I mentioned earlier, the experiment has been painstakingly prepared for you to try. A beautiful four bottle gift box complete with beautifully designed cards explaining each of the vineyards and wines is available at the winery.

If you are visiting Woodinville, near Seattle, I suggest stopping by their tasting room. Their address is 19495 144th Ave. NE. Suite B240. The website is http://www.almaterrawines.com/. You can also follow them on Facebook.

By the way, yours truly was the photographer who brought over 100 lbs of rocks and dirt into my studio to create the style image and bottle shots for this label. Believe me, after hours of shooting bottles in dirt you do taste terroir!