WTN: Walla Walla Weekend, Day #3

[Jenise]

LONG SHADOWS

We started off Saturday morning at a invitation-only event at Long Shadows. Long Shadows is the new project by Ste. Michelle founder Allen Shoup wherein famed winemakers from around the world have been brought in to make their version of a Washington wine. The first vintage was the 02 Chester Kidder, though most of the other wineries didn't come on board until 03 or 04--in Long Shadows parlance, each label is it's own "winery". The facility itself is quite beautiful with major glass works by Dale Chihuly in the arrivals hall where we were served some elegant canapes and the 2006 Poet's Leap riesling as an aperitif. I guess I was too busy ogling the artwork, because I didn't take notes on the riesling, but I found it very elegant and balanced--enough to buy two bottles.

2006 Saggi (a superTuscan style)
Big fruit, big acid, soft tannins, and without the huge oak that marred last year's wine IMNSHO. B+

2006 Feather (100% cabernet, by Randy Dunn)
Fragrant black cherry and spice nose, some green herb, silky and restrained, medium bodied. Will need to put on weight to earn its place here. B+

2006 Pirouette (54% cabernet, 20% merlot, 15% petite verdot, 6% cab franc, 5% syrah, by Philippe Melka)
A big, big wine with black cherry, black currant, spice and grippy tannins. Impressive in every way, and at the conclusion of the weekend the wine several named their WOTW. A

2006 Pedestal (86% merlot, 8% cab sauv and PV, 2% malbec, by Michel Rolland)
Cassis, coffee and dark cocoa. Not as overtly huge/sweet as the 03, and more refined than the 05. Very nice. A-/B+

2005 Chester Kidder (55% cab sauv, 40% syrah, 5% merlot)
Plums, cherries, dry tannins. Well made but as usual I find nothing compelling about the blend of cab sauv and syrah, and moreover it's done better for less than half the price by Penfolds Bin 389. B.

2006 Sequel (100% syrah by John Duval of Penfolds Grange fame)
Blackberry jam, boysenberry, sweet finish. Lot of baby fat. B.


REININGER

Just down the road from Long Shadows was Reininger, which we all agreed we had a good impression of and should make a stop at, and which turned out to be the biggest disappointment of the weekend. They were pouring both their premium Reininger line and a new fruit-forward, budget line called Helix.

2003 Cima (53% sangiovese, 28% cab sauv, 17% mer, 2% CF)
Big bodied, fake-tasting acidity, rough tannins, sweet, graphite and then...prunes! And then major prunes! The wine was rotting before my very eyes! They want $45 for this crap? FAIL.

2005 Merlot
Sweet, rough and rustic. C-

2005 Cabernet Sauvignon
Bitter, plodding flavors, tastes acidified. Get me outta here! C- And at this point I gave up on the premium line and sampled a few of the Helixes.

2005 Helix Syrah
Currant and cactus pear, a little grapefruitty even. Odd.

2005 Helix Sangiovese
Fresh, forward and lively. Not complex but easily the best wine they poured.


TULPEN

Kenny Hart is a big teddy bear of a man and one of the great personalities of the Walla Walla wine scene. He makes his living as a grower--you can hire him to shepherd your vineyard from ground clearing through planting and third leaf. After that, you can hire him to manage your vineyard. He takes only one new client per year and currently manages 17 vineyards. We met him at the Dunham party on the first night and he was one of our guests at our rental house the following night. He and a partner are now making their own wine, too, called Tulpen (Dutch for 'tulip'), and they were pouring their wines at a local restaurant called T. Maccarone's, so we dropped by to taste. Most of his fruit came from the Lewis Vineyard which he manages for Dunham. Kenny's a new friend and I buy from friends, so I was going to buy some of his wine no matter what, but it was a pleasure to find his wines so likeable. And at about $30 a bottle (and $20 to me), they're great value.

2006 Sangiovese $26
Delicious bright berry fruit w/nice structure. Fruit forward but balanced and elegant. B-

2006 Cabernet Sauvignon, $30
Bright (sterile filtered, Kenny tells me), pure, perfumed, a tad sweet. Does not have much varietal typicity. As such, the least successful of the line for my tastes. C.

2005 Merlot $30
A more substantial wine than the two so far, great substance and varietal character. B++. I bought three.

2005 Syrah $30
Another substantial wine. Blind, I'd have guessed this to be the cabernet--it's drier and more savory with dusty tannins, and I like it a lot. B++. I bought three of these, too.


ABEJA

I've been a fan of Abeja (and so has everybody else in Washington, they're quite the darling) since I first tasted their 02 Cabernet and I cellar some of their wines, so I was really looking forward to this invitation-only event (complete with security checkpoints--like damned Hollywood!) But something was off for me here because overall I left disappointed.

2007 Chardonnay, $36
Big bodied, smokey, a bit of RS. 100% French Oak, medium toast, 50% new and 50% 1 year old. C+

2008 Viognier, $28
Brighter than the chardonnay with more fruit and flowers, and virtually no oak (100% neutral French), but the finish is bitter. Alcohol? C+

2007 Syrah, $32
A co-ferment with 3% viognier on 20% new oak that's mostly French and Hungarian.

2007 House Red (formerly called the Beekeepers Blend), $21
84% cab sauv with small additions of cab franc, petit verdot and merlot. Complex and earthy, my favorite of all the wines they poured.

2006 Cabernet Sauvignon, $42
All French oak with 60% new. My notes on the wine are the single word: boring. Don't know if it was palate fatigue or the wines, but this just wasn't working for me.


LEONETTI

Another invitation-only party with security checkpoints on Gary Figgins' lovely estate nestled into a nice residential neighborhood on the edge of town. There, just two wines were poured and they flowed quite freely, the 06 Cabernet and Merlot. I had wondered how these legendary wines would show in comparison to everything else in Walla Walla--would the emporer be naked? Well, yes and no. I can't imagine putting these wines as we tasted them in a lineup with, say, the Pepper Bridge wines, and anyone I know preferring the sublter, sweetly oaked Leonettis, but the Leonettis are quietly confident and quite delicious. I definitely accepted my share of refills. But worth the money?

Maybe, depending on how much $80 means to you and if you have the patience to let wine age. Because what makes Leonetti special, I've concluded, is how they mature. They turn silky; they gently caress you, that oak turns warm and caramelly and highly aromatic. The nose slow dances out of the glass and plants on you one long slow open-mouthed kiss. Leonetti wines are not about power and size, they're about nuance and seduction. I've experienced that over and over and once back at our rental for the night, the first wine I opened for the group was a 1995 Leonetti Cabernet Sauvignon I'd brought along. Yup, there it was again. Magic. A bit rich for my budget at release prices, but I'll continue to scavenge the auctions for back vintages at better prices.

2006 Leonetti Merlot, $80
Dense, blue/black fruit, creme brulee. A

2006 Leonetti Cabernet Sauvignon (with merlot, cab franc and malbec), $85
Sweet blue/black/red fruit, light vanilla and milk chocolate, seamless texture. Like liquid cashmere. A

I've liked the Helix blended wines in the past--the Pomatia red blend and Aspersa white blend (Chardonnay and Viognier.) Sorry the ones you tried were so disappointing.
I believe I've only had one wine from Philippe Melka but it was my wine of the tasting at a Charlotte Wine and Food Weekend event. It was a Metisse Proprietary Red Wine.

Jenise, I'm a sucker for the Leonetti wines, and always have been.

Freely admit that my knowing Gary and wife, and my wife knowing Gary and wife for a lot longer, might influence that...but I still have loved his wines form the beginning. And I mean beginning: some years ago, Gary (who, by the way, is downright one of the nicest and most congenial of persons I've ever had the honor to meet), out of the goodness of his heart, came across the mountains to attend a vertical winetasting at a private home of a fan who had amassed a total vertical (to that date) of every release of Leonetti.

Gary narrated the entire evening, wine to wine.

For me the godfathers of Walla Walla will always be Rick Small and Gary Figgins. Very much opposing style, mind you. Rick was into forceful expression; Gary was always a touch more subtle and, I like to think, Italian in his approach (although I'll quicly add his wines will never, ever be comparable to Italian wines---except for some of the Super-Tuscan/new styles maybe; what I mean is that his wines have the easy friendliness and charm of the best of the Italians).

[Jenise]

I've liked the Helix blended wines in the past--the Pomatia red blend and Aspersa white blend (Chardonnay and Viognier.) Sorry the ones you tried were so disappointing.
I believe I've only had one wine from Philippe Melka but it was my wine of the tasting at a Charlotte Wine and Food Weekend event. It was a Metisse Proprietary Red Wine.

I tried the white blend at the Dunham party. It was quite good as quaffers go. It was really just the Reiningers that were so troubling (though I'll give them A++ for their cheese selection. Everyone had cheeses out, but the selection here was stunning. A super-aged Cabot cheddar from Vermont was eye opening--never had a domestic cheddar anything close to that good.)

[Jenise]

Jenise, I'm a sucker for the Leonetti wines, and always have been.

Freely admit that my knowing Gary and wife, and my wife knowing Gary and wife for a lot longer, might influence that...but I still have loved his wines form the beginning. And I mean beginning: some years ago, Gary (who, by the way, is downright one of the nicest and most congenial of persons I've ever had the honor to meet), out of the goodness of his heart, came across the mountains to attend a vertical winetasting at a private home of a fan who had amassed a total vertical (to that date) of every release of Leonetti.

Great story. Did not manage to get a personal introduction but he was certainly holding court at this event and loving every minute--handsome guy. And I'm glad to hear you're a fan--I kind of went in there thinking I'm not supposed to like these wines as much as I do, but I'm unapologetic now. They're distinctive and unique and utterly irresistable.

Don't know if it was palate fatigue or the wines...

Jenise, my wife grew up in Walla Walla and we go out there every year or two -- it's a hell of a lot more fun now, with 60+wineries and a revitalized downtown, than it was 25 years ago. I always try to taste at 10-15 wineries each visit, but my problem is palate fatigue almost from the get-go, as these wines are so much bigger than the French and Italian wines that comprise the majority of my cellar. I always enjoy tasting and talking with winemakers when they're present, but at a certain point it gets very hard for me to make meaningful judgments.

I think the area has great potential and it certainly makes some great wines in its style, but I'd love to find more winemakers who use less (or no) new oak, don't pick quite as ripe and keep the alcohol under 14 percent. That said, there are some vintners that I like a lot and more or less fit this mode at least with some of their bottlings -- Buty, Sapolil, Watermill (in Milton-Freewater so off the beaten track), Stephenson (for their Syrah), Otis Kenyon (Stephenson is also their winemaker IIRC), and Morrison Lane. I've also enjoyed several vintages of Abeja's Syrah and have like Seven Hills' Seven Hills Vineyard Cab bottling in the past.

I'll have to try Tulpen next time I'm out there -- first time I've heard of them.

Thanks for the great notes. Hope you enjoyed your time there.

[Jenise]

Bruce, Walla Walla was unexpectedly charming, both in its own right and especially after a brief foray into Yakima, which one goes through first, "the Palm Springs of Washington State" as a really corny billboard you see from the freeway claims as you arrive in town. Palm Springs? What are these people smoking?

Where Walla Walla's a beautiful town with a lot to offer. A very cool and welcome surprise was the Mexican food. The Mexican food there is GREAT. Mexican food in Bellingham is to Walla Walla what Sarah Lee white bread is to a Paris baguette. I was actually able to order a flaming hot Pilbil taco (Pilbil is pork and red chiles and bitter Seville orange roasted in Avocado leaves) at a place called Berney's. I've never seen that on a menu before in my life.

As for keeping the alcohol under 14%, I'm not sure if I ran into a single under-14% wine. And I looked or asked every chance I could, though it wasn't always possible. I did mention in another note that a winemaker described his style as "low alcohol" because his wines were 14.2%.

Of the wineries you mention, we didn't get to Buty, but we did taste a few of the others--those will be on my Day #4 report. Seven Hills was another I wanted to get to but didn't--a friend of ours who was in town for the weekend too and staying with a friend named Greg who has aspirations of being a winery owner some day (Kenny Hart planted his 20 acres already), and who prefers plush lavishly oaked wines, made a face of distaste when Greg who appreciates Bordeaux like I do reccomended we visit Seven Hills. So that was like a double recco.

A very cool and welcome surprise was the Mexican food.

Indeed! Walla Walla has a fairly sizable Mexican-American population, many of whom, as I understand it, are former migrant farmworkers or their descendants who decided to stay and put down roots. The town does have its cultural tensions between the old-line farming community, the newer winemaking community (some overlap here but not that much), college folks from Whitman, the Seventh-Day Adventists in College Place next door, and the Mexican-American community. Still, it's an interesting, vibrant place and a far cry from the cow town (really, wheat and sweet onion town) I once thought of it as. Also, a far cry -- literally and figuratively -- from the western side of the state. As for Yakima? Feh!

I've always found the rolling wheat fields beautiful. Even more so now that some of them have green vineyards mixed in. And the Blue Mountains just outside of town are gorgeous. Mere hills compared with the Cascades and Olympics, but very pretty and relaxing, with the north-facing slopes looking like Western Washington and the south-facing slopes looking like Eastern Washington. It's where we stay when we visit.

[Jenise]

Bruce, that sounds like the typical sad love-hate relationship of a small farming community. The migrant farm workers are desired and neccessary, but still treated like foreigners among a clicky bunch of settlers' descendants. And yes, the hills were beautiful. One of the prettiest spots we visited was the home of a guy I mentioned in one of my notes who has 20 acres newly planted by Kenny Hart. The house itself is modest, but it's on the east side of Walla Walla a couple acres above Walla Walla Vintners with wrap around porches facing south into those Blue Mountains and west to the sunsets. His property butts up to the Upland Vineyard where Gary Figgins grows the fruit for his Reserve wines. I could spend many a day there with a rocking chair, a book, a glass of wine and an old dog.

Yes, that is a beautiful place. If you continue along Mill Creek Road another 15 miles or so, you'll reach my in-laws' cabin in the mountains. Another mile or so upstream from there, one of the Figgins (not sure if it's Gary or his son Chris) has a spectacular new house right on top of the creek.

[Jenise]

Yes, that is a beautiful place. If you continue along Mill Creek Road another 15 miles or so, you'll reach my in-laws' cabin in the mountains. Another mile or so upstream from there, one of the Figgins (not sure if it's Gary or his son Chris) has a spectacular new house right on top of the creek.

Must be a beautiful place. I look forward to going back for more exploring which we didn't have time for this past weekend. We booked the house again for next year, so I suppose I'll get that chance then if not sooner. I've never been to that part of the U.S. before, or eastern Oregon for that matter.

Everyone had cheeses out, but the selection here was stunning. A super-aged Cabot cheddar from Vermont was eye opening--never had a domestic cheddar anything close to that good.)

If you like aged cheddar, be sure to give Hook's a try sometime. It is IMO better than the aged Cabot. My wine group and I think Hook's 12 year old cheddar is the best cheddar we have had in our lifetimes.