by Jenise » Tue May 08, 2018 12:45 pm
So I've been travelling and not opening much wine at home yet this month, but as I was posting away into Cellar Tracker I realized that a lot of the BC and Idaho wines I'd run into over the past week actually qualify as Pacific Northwest, even if not from my home state, and can contribute to the conversation.
Here's one I purchased in British Columbia years back. A wine seller assured me that it was a sophisticated version and would show beautifully in my neighborhood tasting of PNW Merlots. Boy was she wrong. It was all tannins, a loser at the tasting. This leftover from that tasting has been in my cellar all this time. I thought it would be good by now, so opened it to pair with burgers on Sunday.
2011 Intersection Merlot
Barnyardy. And though the huge early tannins have resolved pretty much, they took the fruit with them. Works okay with food, but not enough soul here for sipping alone. Not a happy experience, but I'm glad it's no longer taking space in the cellar.
Also in the interest of cellar management, I decided to pop these one-offs from Cinder winery in Idaho. Cinder is the maker of the best domestic tempranillo I've ever had and these were an exercise in sampling the rest of the line-up.
2015 Krause & Schnerr Family Cellars Laissez Faire Snake River Valley Red Blend
Ripe and uncomplicated with jammy notes of cooked strawberry and Bazooka bubble gum. Yuck.
2014 Cinder Cabernet/Merlot/Malbec Snake River Valley Red Bordeaux Blend
A rich, cab-dominant red that shows off winemaker Krause's talents. Nothing flashy, but solid in an old-school style. Rewards decanting.
2015 Cinder Chardonnay Snake River Valley
Drinks like a Macon chard--great minerality with sunny climate fruit absent any tropicality. Really like.
Then on Saturday night we had dinner with friends in BC, and they opened these wines:
2014 Township 7 Chardonnay Reserve Okanagan Valley
Township 7's wines have always, no exception, presented as overripe, extracted, and low-acid (many friends around here buy them, the winery's about ten minutes from the border nearest my home), all things I hate. So cringed when I saw this come out and then felt much surprised relief when this turned out to be a pale colored, balanced wine with good varietal character. Effortlessly enjoyable.
2016 Township 7 Chardonnay Unoaked Okanagan Valley VQA
Decent, and neither overripe nor extracted, but a plain Jane quaffer nonetheless, especially after the '14. Put the oak back!
2011 Tinhorn Creek Kerner Icewine Oldfield Series Okanagan Valley VQA
Something you don't see much of further south, but B.C. gets the weather needed to do icewines, and they're always eye-openers.
But this is the best I've ever had. Not one to give points, but I threw 97 points at this on CT to show appropriate esteem for this wine and there's really no reason I couldn't have gone all the way to 100. Pale pale yellow color, amazing ethereal nose, and complex flavors that dance on the tongue like a tiny ballerina. The fruit is everything yellow: pineapple, lemon, quince and lillikoi turned into a chiffon pie with a nose of orange blossoms and jasmine. I've never had anything like it. Kerner can do THIS??? Days later, it still haunts me.
And now two Washingtonians:
2017 Lauren Ashton Cellars Rosé Columbia Valley Rosé Blend
50% grenache, 30% mourvedre, 20% counoise. Pale coral pink, admirably so in a state where roses are often more pigmented. Beautiful nose of flowers, light red fruits and seashells. Good palate flavor with a dry finish. Outstanding--there will be other roses this season as good, but it's hard for me to imagine one better.
And this from our state's largest winery:
2010 Chateau Ste. Michelle Austral Limited Release Wahluke Slope Red Rhone Blend
From a passively stored bottle, this Australian GSM copy hasn't aged well. The original intent is still obvious, but it's tired and turning into soy sauce instead of going into interesting secondary development. Which is or can be anyway a problem with CSM wines. Their wines all lean toward higher-than-usual RS and creamy vanilla oak. And those features don't age well. (We generally go to one of the outdoor concerts at the winery every summer, and always drink Sauv Blanc. Even if we'd prefer a red wine under other circumstances, the RS-and-oak combination is always cloying to our Europeanized palates. We're not their target customer.
My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov