Winery: Leonetti Cellars
Wine:1994 Cabernet Sauvignon
Location: Columbia Valley, Washington
Purchased: Shared with family for Christmas
Price: Online prices suggest $109-$114

As we got together with some of Jonathan’s family for Christmas, Alyce was excited to share a 1994 Leonetti Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon she was given as a gift. Alyce enjoys wine, but doesn’t spend a lot of time analyzing it so I think she had a good time talking about this wine. Of course, we were excited – a new wine and one that had a few years in the bottle. Plus, this was the first aged wine we tasted from Washington.

 

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Winery: Columbia Crest 

Wine: Vineyard 10 Red Wine 2005  

Location: Paterson, Washington

Purchased: Friar Tuck

Price: $7.99

 

“Blackberry and raspberry aromas unfold from the glass. Ripe currant and plum fruit flavors balance the fine acidity and a reveal a palate of polished tannins. The flavors open up beautifully on the long, soft finish.” -Ray Einberger, Winemaker

 

Jonathan and I sampled several Columbia Crest wines in the past. There are several good wines at extremely low prices. These wines make perfect everyday wines to dink. The Vineyard 10 red wine was given 88 points by Wine Spectator and is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Sangiovese. The grapes for this wine began harvest on August 15, one of the earliest on record. The summer provided warm temperatures for grape maturation, and a late summer cool down allowed for an enhancement in flavors and aromatic developments.

 

In the glass, this wine presents deep ruby colors with purple hues. The wine possesses light edges. The coloring is rather standard for a red wine. Jonathan and I had very different takes on the smell of the wine. I smelled something that was extremely off-putting and uninviting for a glass of wine. My best guess would be some sort of herb or mineral. Jonathan didn’t smell this. I thought the smell was completely overpowering for the glass. For me, there were faint hints of spice, strawberry and blackberry. Jonathan thought these were much stronger than I did.

 

The taste featured blackberries, jammy strawberries and slight hints of spice. I thought this wine most closely resembled a Sangiovese. It presents bold flavors at the front of the palate, but the wine is quite light on the finish. Also, at the front there are slight hints of spice which give way to the Syrah grapes. While fermentation took place in stainless steel tanks, some components were aged for 12-14 months in French and American oak barrels

 

The vineyard sits east of the Cascade Mountains. Some areas reach up to 14,000 feet, but the mountains block the wet weather from the Pacific Ocean. Surprisingly, only 6-8 inches of rain falls during the growing season forcing drip irrigation. Vineyard 10 is the largest single estate vineyard in Washington state featuring some of the oldest vines in the Columbia Valley.

 

Columbia Crest sits among 2,000 acres of estate vineyards and is fashioned after a French chateau. The winery has gained recognition for its Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Semillon-Chardonnay.

Winery: Hogue

Wine: Cabernet Sauvignon – Merlot Blend 2002

Location: Columbia Valley, Washington

Purchased: Friar Tuck Beverage

Price: $9.99

 

This was the second tasting of the Hogue Cabernet-Merlot for us. We seemed to enjoy it more the first time. Or as Jonathan put it, “it’s the second bottle when you’re having more than one.” This wine combines 51% Cabernet Sauvignon, 47% Merlot and 2% Cabernet Franc to create the Hogue blend.

 

The appearance of the Cabernet-Merlot holds a deep brick red color with slight tinges of rust on the edges. It’s slightly transparent. The most memorable feature of this wine, an outstanding nose. It carried hints of raspberries, cherries, licorice and other jammy fruits. The nose presents a full and flowering bouquet, but the wine doesn’t live up in taste. The Hogue drinks very easy, with or without food. A chocolaty hint sneaks through the fruit, but the finish drops relatively quickly and does not present a memorable impression.

 

Hogue Cellars, founded in 1982, sits in Eastern Washington’s Columbia Valley. It’s grown into one of Washington’s largest wineries, with an annual production of 570,000 cases. The Washington wine industry began in the 1960s and the location sits at approximately the same latitude as the Bordeaux and Burgundy regions in France. The Columbia Valley covers 18,000 square miles and provides a large range of geographic and climate conditions. This diversity creates distinctive fruit characteristics of the Columbia Valley.

 

Winery:  Sunset Rd. Vintners Independent Producers

Wine: Sauvignon Blanc 2006

Location: Columbia Valley, Washington

Purchased: The Corkscrew

Price: $10.99

 

My husband savours the wines of the Great Northwest. I enjoy them, but I also fancy wines from many regions around the world. At a recent wine tasting, we sampled a Sauvignon Blanc that we both fell in love with immediately. The creation of this wine is unique in that several smaller wineries came together in a co-op fashion to produce the wine.  

 

Each of the wineries make their own wine but collaborated in the formation of Independent Producers. They believe wine should be subjective, come from environmentally sustainable vineyards, be fairly priced, be a product of the earth and support the family vineyard. The result, a beautifully crafted, succulent wine both environmentally and food friendly.

 

A light golden color graces the glass. As the Sauvignon Blanc emerges, it creates a brilliant, translucent look. The aroma shows earthy tones of grass and minerals with just the slightest hints of lemon and grapefruit. A fair amount of acidity emerges on the front of this wine, making it’s flavors rather crisp to the taste. The palate gathers melon and tropical fruit flavors for a refreshing taste.

 

Typically, Sauvigon Blanc pairs well with seafood. However, we went for a somewhat unconventional pairing with Greek meatballs. I made these before with a Chardonnay, and the oak in the wine overpowered the other flavors in the dish. This time the Sauvignon Blanc added a nice citrus taste to the dish and went rather well.