Efeste Winery Visit

Some friends and I visited Efeste Winery in Woodinville Washington's Warehouse Wine District last weekend. We were lucky to be able to meet, and chat with, co-founder/owner Daniel "Big Papa" Ferrelli, and winemaker Brennon Leighton, both pictured below with my girlfriend, Kristina, in the Efeste tasting room.

We also got to taste some yet-to-be-released 2008 wines that had been opened for one of the big wine critics, who I'm not going to name. It was a total WIN for us, as the wines had been open a day or so, and all of the 2008's were showing beautifully.

• 2009 Efeste Sauvignon Blanc Feral - USA, Washington
  Surprisingly smooth and fruity for a Sauv Blanc. Definitely one of the most drinkable (for my palate) SB's I've ever tasted. Bright fruit, zinging acidity, but not over the top like many others I've had. A touch of sweetness in there too. (86 pts.)


• 2009 Efeste Riesling Evergreen - USA, Washington
  Very tasty Riesling, with just a hint of residual sugar, giving the finish a nice sweetness. This is like drinking a granny smith apple that has a small amount of honey drizzled on it. (87 pts.)


• 2007 Efeste Syrah Ceidleigh - USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Red Mountain
  I love Red Mountain Syrah and this is typically my favorite Efeste wine (I think the Red Willow Eleni Syrah beat it this time though!). 100% Red Mountain Syrah: 57% Klipsun Vineyard, 28% Ceil du Cheval, 10% Kiona Top of the Hill Ranch, 5% Stone Tree Vineyard. Just a great wine, with outstanding smokey black fruit and loads of pepper. I'm sitting on my last bottle of this, but may have to buy some more because I don't think I can wait much longer to enjoy it! (94 pts.)


• 2008 Efeste Syrah Ceidleigh - USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Red Mountain
  Wow, what a different wine, compared to the 2007! Much bigger fruit on the attack, and absolutely palate-coating. Fruit is swimming all over my mouth, and putting a silly grin on my face. I'll be standing in line to buy this when it is released in November. (94 pts.)


• 2008 Efeste Syrah Jolie Bouche Boushey Vineyard - USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Yakima Valley
  Dark, glass-coating inky purple, edging toward black, in color. Very spicy...VERY spicy. There is a ton of pepper and spice in this wine, but huge amounts of black fruit as well. Mouthcoating, this wine will stain your teeth just by looking at it. Very rich, with a sweet, peppery finish. (93 pts.)


• 2008 Efeste Syrah Eleni Red Willow Vineyard - USA, Washington, Columbia Valley
  100% Red Willow Vineyard Syrah, from the oldest block of Syrah in the state. This is an amazing wine, with tons of black pepper and lots of structure. Nice fruit, slathered over peppercorns. This is an astounding wine, and one that, even at this young age, will knock your socks off. (96 pts.)


• 2008 Efeste Emmy - USA, Washington, Columbia Valley
  A blend of Mourvedre and Syrah. Also very spicy and inky. This wine was definitely different tasting than the other Syrahs, so I'm assuming there is a pretty large percentage of Mourvedre in there (I can't remember how much winemaker Brennon Leighton said was in the blend). Lots of structure too, but not as much as the Eleni Syrah. Quite spicy, but not as much black pepper as the others either. More like Asian spices, and maybe a bit of cinnamon. Finish is spicy chocolate. (92 pts.)


• 2007 Efeste Final-Final - USA, Washington, Columbia Valley
  56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 42% Syrah, 2% Mouvedre, from a handful of vineyards in Columbia Valley. This is the epitome of an enjoyable quaffing wine. Everything comes together perfectly, and you just want to DRINK this wine. In fact, later in the evening, we hung out at Pearl in Bellevue, where I enjoyed several more glasses of Final-Final! Just a nice, fruit-forward quaffing wine, with decent structure, but with nothing over the top or out of place. Acidity good, tannins good, fruit good, finish good...it's ALL good. (91 pts.)


• 2007 Efeste Cabernet Sauvignon Big Papa - USA, Washington, Columbia Valley
  The badboy 100% Cabernet from old vines: 31% Kiona Vineyard, 31% Weinbau Vineyard, 25% Klipsun Vineyard, 13% Sagemoor Vineyard. This one is a killer, big and bold. Named after Efeste co-founder/owner Daniel "Big Papa" Ferrelli, who I had the pleasure of chatting with during our visit, it is definitely the last wine you want to taste in the lineup. Huge cassis with a Bordeaux-like gravelly/lead pencil component. Great cab! (93 pts.)

After tasting through 9 wines, I have to say I was the most taken with their 2008 Eleni Syrah from Red Willow Vineyard. Efeste sourced the grapes for Eleni from a block of the oldest Syrah grape plantings in Washington! It is an amazing wine, and I must get some upon release! Only one problem...to get Eleni and Emmy (among other special wines), you have to be a member of The Inner Circle, Efeste's wine club. I think I must join...

As always, tasting notes posted from CellarTracker.

Recapping New Year's

After a long hiatus from blogging, I'm back in time to welcome the year 2008. My holidays were split between Phoenix, AZ with my parents, and Victoria, BC with my girlfriend, Kristina. Both trips were enjoyable, however the Victoria trip was my first with K, and it was so much fun! I had flown in from AZ on Thursday night, and Saturday AM, I picked K up, we drove up to Port Angeles, and hopped a ferry over to Victoria. It had been years since I'd been on a Puget Sound ferry, so it was a fun ride. Here's a pic of K about to give me the finger for being too camera-happy.


And me looking very happy to be on a trip with her.


Once we docked in Victoria and passed through customs, we headed over to our SUITE at the Victoria Regent Hotel. WOW. What a beautiful (and HUGE) room! We both felt a bit overwhelmed I guess, and like we should be hosting a huge party or something there. Anyway, we loved the room! That night we had a wonderful dinner at Luciano's, a delicious Italian place around the corner from our hotel. We enjoyed a bottle of Kettle Valley Winery's Brakeman's Select red blend. The wine is a blend of Pinot Noir, Merlot and selected other red varieties grown in vineyards located in British Columbia's Okanogen Valley. Nice and light, and the perfect compliment to our entrees. Our server suggested it, when the wine I had originally selected was out of stock. Good call! Kristina had the delicious butternut squash ravioli, and I the mushroom penne. VERY tasty, both. Here's us after dinner.

After braving the gusting wind, hail, rain, more wind, and more rain, we ended up next door to Luciano's at a place called Sauce. Very cool, and quite crowded too, with some GREAT tasting cocktails. We had several cocktails, and a shot of vodka there, before heading across the street to our hotel for the night.

The next day was spent touring around downtown Victoria and shopping. Here's K with a Canadian Fudge-selling Bear.

Eventually, we met up with K's friends Mark & Angela, from the UK. Great couple, and SO MUCH FUN! We had a nice lunch and Caesar cocktails at Earl's Victoria. The girls decided to head over to LuLu Lemon for some yoga clothes shopping, so the boyz hopped over to the Irish pub across the street from Earl's. Many pints of Guinness were consumed over the next couple hours! Once the ladies rejoined us, it was off to our condo in "Drunken Duncan", where we were spending New Year's Eve. Our first night was spent just hanging out and talking, and of course drinking! New Year's Eve day, we visited Angela's oldest daughter, who was staying with her father. The poor girl had a BAD case of the chicken pox! I felt so sorry for her, although she was workin' it pretty good for sympathy from daddy! That night, we went to Just Jake's for dinner. Nice place, a bit small though, and our server was having a bad night. The food was great, however. I enjoyed the vegetable stir fry, and drank a couple Red Bull & Vodkas. I was going to have wine, but the ladies ended up drinking a white wine that was rather nasty. I don't even recall what it was...

After dinner, we went next door to the Craig Street Brew Pub for more drinks and some entertainment. While I wasn't impressed with the band, I was VERY impressed with my date! Here's why:

WOW! Way hot. I think Angela (on the left) is pretty, but Kristina absolutely blows me away! Anyway, where was I? OH! After the brew pub, we decided to go slumming at the Galaxy, which was being closed down to make way for a new...gas station? Something like that. I was expecting the worst, but it wasn't too bad. Here's the ladies pole dancing on the Galaxy sign:

We went home soon after, and hung out for awhile before retiring. It was a very nice New Year's Eve!

The next day, we drove back into Victoria, so K and I could jump the ferry back to Port Angeles, and then make the 3-4 hour drive back to Portland. The roadtrip back was one of the best in my entire life, if not THE best! Being with K on the road was just so much fun, and so enjoyable. I can't wait to go on another roadtrip with her! Definitely one of the best New Year's I have ever experienced. Kristina, if you are reading this, I love you!