'
Byzance' is the proprietary name for this Washington vintner's southern Rhone style blend. I liked it enough to choose it a year ago at the winery in that circumstance where one buys a single bottle because the winery was nice enough to pour for you but you weren't convinced enough to buy two. It has not improved in bottle: the fruit fades gently in the glass and there are few tannins here to support the wine. Sigh. If I can step onto Tom Hill's Bully Pulpit for a second, much as I wish to support the wines of my home state I'm really tired of the wrongful ambitions of Euro-copy wines like this that price themselves like the big boys but don't even begin to do the job of a basic $15 Cotes du Rhone.
But having said that, let me add a shout-out for
Mt. Baker Winery's 2002 pinot noir, which I found two unremembered bottles of in the cellar the other day and figured would end up down the drain. But down the drain they're not, the wine has evolved on it's substantial acidity in a really good way, and I am positive I'll be rewarded for saving the other bottle for two years or until Jim Lester arrives, whichever comes first.
