WTN: 2001 Arbor Crest CS, Columbia Valley, WA

[Jenise]

Arbor Crest is a Spokane winery in an exceptionally beautiful location, high on a hilltop with 180 degree views over the town, river and farmland beyond. Friends took me there when we visited Spokane a few months ago. It's a great picnic spot and much sought after, so the tasting room bustles. I was embarrassed to realize that where I'd seen the name Arbor Crest I had no idea it was a successful Washington winery producing premium-level wines--something about the name sounds like California jug wine to me, and I'd never looked any closer. The wines were all fruit-forward and fairly well oaked, so not much to my taste, but they do what they do very well and are therefore extremely successful with people who don't hang out on wine boards. The only wine they made that I would have even considered buying to bring home would have been their meritage blend, the Dionysius, but when I asked our pourer how these wines age he almost seemed surprised I asked, then said something like "Oh, you can lay this puppy down for five years, no problem." I passed.

But when I saw the 2001 yesterday at Costco, I decided to give it a go. We opened it last night. I don't remember what I learned about the oak program at the winery, but the first thing I smelled in this wine was American oak, followed by blackcurrant and blackberry. Then there's vanilla, and with a few more sips it starts to hit a wall where the finish turns into mud. It's big and simple and dying. And that's not really a surprise.

Pulled this note up from the depths as our neighbors are from Spokane and visit Arbor Crest fairly regularly. Three or four years back (2014ish?) they opened a 2003 Dionysus for our Friday night group and it was lovely so it definitely can do more than 5 years. I liked it enough to have them pick up a handful of '03s for me on their next trip. I'm still holding a couple but plan on opening one for the neighborhood wine group this week. They have served a few different vintages of merlot to me. All were ok but on the oaky side. The malbec was treated with a more restrained hand and I liked the '09 enough to buy a few.

[Jenise]

I love this board--I post a note on a wine and 9 1/2 years later someone responds to it.

Would you believe that since posting that, no Arbor Crest has crossed my path? Almost everything else has, but not that--not sure how much of it makes it over the mountain, as we say up here. Still, I'm glad you liked it. 2003 was a hot year up here but those wines also had good structure and the couple of 03's I've managed to get my hands on (that was the year we moved here, so I am partial to it for anniversary purposes) had all aged well.

Nothing goes away on the internet! Ha.

Opened the '03 Dionysus this weekend, gave it an hour decant, and it was in good shape. Lots of fruit and structure still so I'd guess it could go another decade. I had trouble finding aromatics of note but that could have been all the scented holiday candles our hostess was burning. Overall, it was a hit.