#WASyrah Twitter Tasting

I love these Twitter tastings, except it is a bit difficult to tweet on my iPhone and taste at the same time! Nice lineup of Washington Syrah from a variety of producers, and hosted by E & R Wine Shop, located in the John's Landing neighborhood of Portland. And, lucky for me, only 4 blocks from my office!

• 2008 Dusted Valley Vintners Syrah Boomtown - USA, Washington, Columbia Valley
  Wine #1. Good cherry fruit, bright acidity, medium body. A bit sharp on the finish, but excellent QPR. (86 pts.)
• 2008 Magnificent Wine Company Syrah Columbia Valley - USA, Washington, Columbia Valley
  Wine #2. Another great $20-ish range QPR wine. Cherry fruit on the entry, medium body, midpalate is a bit flabby, but showing some nice plum fruit. Finish is all cherries. Would definitely grab this off a restaurant list. (88 pts.)
• 2008 Milbrandt Vineyards Syrah The Estates - USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Wahluke Slope
  Wine #3. Loved the nose on this one! Big funky, pepper and blackberry, following to the palate. Good structure and acidity, supple tannins, medium/full bodied and drinking nicely. Sorry I missed this winery on our last Prosser visit! Tied for my WOTT. (92 pts.)
• 2008 L'Ecole No. 41 Syrah - USA, Washington, Columbia Valley
  Wine #4. I caught a hint of TCA on this one. Not very apparent to others at the tasting, from what I overheard, but I am particularly sensitive to TCA taint. Flavors were a bit muted as well, if comparing this to the 2007 means anything. Lacking the big peppery fruit of the '07, and is actually a bit harsh. Would love to revisit this from a different bottle, as I loved the '07 and it is a killer QPR wine at $24. (85 pts.)
• 2009 Dusted Valley Vintners Syrah Stained Tooth - USA, Washington, Columbia Valley
  Wine #5. Very forward nose, showing big fruit. On the entry, you can tell this is a young wine. A bit disjointed at the moment, and harshly tannic for my palate. Some vigorous swirling calmed this badboy down a tad, and that fruit really stood out. Lots of cherry and plum, but the tannins and acidity are both quite apparent. Give this one a year or two and it'll shine! (88 pts.)
• 2008 Mercer Estates Syrah McKinley Springs Vineyard Horse Heaven Hills - USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Horse Heaven Hills
  Wine #6. Right off the bat I can tell this is a Horse Heaven Hills wine. Huge peppery nose dominates. Lots of sweet fruit hitting the palate, some vanilla and mocha on the back. Nice tannins and acidity, quite well-integrated. First Mercer wine I've had, and I'm impressed! (89 pts.)
• 2007 Reininger Syrah - USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Walla Walla Valley
  Wine #7. Very nice blackberry and pepper nose on this one. Hits the palate with sweet/funky blackberry fruit, and ends with a big dollop if black pepper. I think the extra age on this one gives it an edge, and it was drinking very nicely. Smooth, integrated, and delicious. I think this was tied for my WOTT. (92 pts.)
• 2008 Otis Kenyon Syrah - USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Walla Walla Valley
  Wine #8. Good fruit with a nice bit of funk. Strikingly strong blueberry flavors, which I usually don't get off Syrah. Finish is a bit sour cherry, which detracts from this wines appeal somewhat. (89 pts.)
• 2008 L'Ecole No. 41 Syrah Estate Seven Hills - USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Walla Walla Valley
  Wine #9. Another great Walla Walla wine, blackberries and pepper abound. Medium to full bodied, with lots of thick fruit, and a great black pepper finish. So tasty, and just a tad below my top picks in this tasting. Evolving quite well since the last time I tasted this (Dec 2010). (91 pts.)
• 2009 Amavi Cellars Syrah - USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Walla Walla Valley
  Wine #10. This is another young'un. Nose is quite reticent, taking some fairly vigorous swirling to coax any aromas out. Just a hint of fruit. Palate-wise, this is highly acidic at the moment. Bright, with ample tannins that need to calm down a bit for pleasurable drinking (or several hours of decanting). The fruit emerges with more swirling, and is very nice black cherry. Hints of pepper and dark chocolate appear on the finish, but are overshadowed by the tannins. This should be a blockbuster, given some time to bring everything together. (90 pts.)

A great tasting with some stellar Syrahs. E & R Wine Shop is fairly new to me, but it is a great little shop! Lots of older vintage bottles here and there, and some rare stuff you never see anywhere (2006 Gramercy John Lewis Syrah, anyone?). My only complaint is also one of the shops benefits: There are bottles stashed horizontally on the racks behind bottles standing upright, so it is hard to really see all their inventory. However, this probably explains how they still have all those older vintages and rare bottles!
Tasting notes posted from CellarTracker.

Walla Walla Wine Tasting - Day 3

Be sure to read about our Day 1 and Day 2 adventures first!

Day 3 started off much like Day 2, except that the boys rolled into town and had breakfast at a delightful little cafe called Someone's In The Kitchen. Good food, great coffee and stellar service! Even still, with the hangovers we were rockin' that morning, a trip to Starbuck's for more coffee was definitely in order. Dave and Des took off for home later that morning, so it was a nice 4 person group to go tasting, this time down south of town where most of the area's vineyards and wineries are located.

First stop was the beautiful Basel Cellars. What a gorgeous winery! It has to be seen to be believed...great wines too! Lisa was still a little hungover, so she didn't taste but Trish, Woody and I enjoyed their entire line. The 2006 Syrah was my favorite, and on sale to boot, so I grabbed 2 bottles. I could have sat in the sun and drank in the gorgeous view all day, but more wineries beckoned! Tasting fee: $5 (waived with my bottle purchase).

Next stop was on JB George Road, at Saviah Cellars. While the wines here I'm usually a big fan of, they only had 5 wines open to taste, and just one Syrah, "The Jack", which was corked! I couldn't believe they were pouring this wine, and that none of the annoying, overweight, drunks tasting there picked up on the flaw. TCA was slight, but quite noticeable all in our group. The 2008 Une Vallée was my favorite in the lineup, but overpriced. Sorry guys, but the experience there was not a good one for us. Tasting fee: $0.

Right next door to Saviah Cellars is Waters Winery and Gramercy Cellars. Another beautiful winery, and we spent much longer here than we had originally planned, just because it was so cool to hang out there. They excel in Syrah at Waters, and of the 4 on offer (Columbia Valley, Loess, Forgotten Hills, and Pepper Bridge), my favorite was the Forgotten Hills. Amazingly funky and barnyard-y, the wine was delicious! Unfortunately, the 21 Grams red wine that is a high-end project by Waters and Gramercy together, was not being tasted. Tasting fee: $5.

Sharing the same facility is Gramercy Cellars, which requires a tasting appointment (we didn't have one). However, we were lucky enough to catch Matt, who was running the tastings, after a group left (one of the group members had THE WORST comb-over I've ever seen, starting from his neckline and going up over the top of his head. Truly amazing...), and Matt gave us a tasting appt. for a couple hours later.

We motored on, in search of Northstar Winery, and their much-lauded Merlot. I think they were having a wine club event or something, because the place was packed. Very cool tasting bar too. Anyway, the wines were all good, but nothing really stood out for me. The Merlot's were both tasting great, but a bit too high in price for me at that point. Tasting fee: $10.

Back to Gramercy Cellars for our tasting. Gramercy is another new winery in the area that is making a big splash, and rightly so. I had previously tasted their wines, and met winemaker/founder Greg Harrington, at Storyteller Wine Company in Portland, so I was no stranger, but wow, all of the wines blew me away. We tasted the new releases: 2008 Syrah, 2008 "Third Man" Grenache blend, 2008 "Inigo Montoya" (as in, "My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.") Tempranillo, and 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon. I loved the Cab best, but since I already had a bottle (thanks Trish!), I picked up the Third Man. Regrettably, the John Lewis Reserve Syrah was not yet released. Tasting fee: $0.

Our next stop was Trust Cellars, over on Merlot Dr. Nice little tasting room, with an sweet view of the Blue Mtns. And of course, great wines! My favorite was the 2008 Walla Walla Valley Syrah, and I brought home a bottle. Tasting fee: $0.

About this time, I got a call from Gramercy Cellars, advising me that I had left my debit card there (oops!) so we decided to head back, but not before making a final winery stop at Va Piano Vineyards. While the winery was pretty cool, there was a fly infestation that was annoying, and the wines while good, were probably not tasting so well for us, after trying so many prior. At any rate, I wasn't very impressed and didn't have any money anyway, since my debit card was over at Gramercy. So we tasted through quickly, and left. Tasting fee: $0.

Back to camp to freshen up, and the out to dinner at T. Maccarone's for an excellent meal and killer bottle of Adamant Cellars Syrah ($28), and then to the Green Lantern Tavern, known locally as "The Green", or just "Green". Best bar in Walla Walla. Lisa schooled some guys at pool while the rest of us looked on, and enjoyed our drinks. We tried to go back to Sapolil Cellars for Syrah and live music, but they were closed, so we called it a night.

Headed home the following afternoon, after one hell of a chilly night camping. We broke camp, loaded up the Disco and rolled west, stopping at Reininger Winery again, to taste through their line up and buy some more Rosé. The drive home was long but interesting, what with all the wind turbines and the river, but long it was. We're planning to head back for Holiday Barrel Tasting the first weekend in December. Should be a great time!

Walla Walla Wine Tasting - Day 2

Read about our Day 1 adventures in this post.

Day 2 started off early, with everyone hitting up the showers and jokes about "fire in the hole!". We set out in Woody's Rover Disco, with me in the far back manning the iPhone Charging Station (AC inverter and powerstrip), since everyone had an iPhone, and maps/GPS. Since we had a couple tasting appointments (1:00 at Long Shadows, 2:30 at Rasa Vineyards), we decided to head way out west, and start at Woodward Canyon, one of the oldest wineries in the area. Woodward Canyon is located on Highway 12, out in the tiny (TINY!) town of Lowden, and has some delicious wines. No detailed tasting notes here, but the Old Vines Cabernet Sauvignon was amazing, and my wine of the flight. Tasting fee: $5.

Woodward Canyon is is conveniently right next door to L'Ecole No. 41 Winery, which we made our second stop of the day. If you go, be sure to "ring the bell" before you walk into the winery. You'll know what I'm talking about when you arrive. This winery was packed, with people standing 3 deep at the tasting bar. Huge wine list too, with Columbia Valley and local Walla Walla Valley options. I loved their Syrahs, as well as the Apogee/Perigee Bordeaux blends. As a bonus, we were able to taste some older vintage (2002) bottles of these two tasty wines, and what a difference age makes! While they had the 2002's available for sale, they were a bit above my price range, and I ended up taking a bottle of their 2007 Columbia Valley Syrah home, for $24. Tasting fee: $5 (waived with my bottle purchase).

We were able to fit in a third winery before our 1:00 tasting appt. with Long Shadows, and Reininger Winery fit the bill nicely. Great tasting room, that would be excellent for a big party (hint-hint), and delightful tasting room staff. They took very good care of us, and had plenty of knowledge about the wines. I think everyone's favorite wine was their 2009 Helix Rosé. I really loved the Ash Hollow Vineyard Syrah, because of it's funkified nose. Really dirty and earthy...yum! We lingered here a bit too long, and had to beat feet to get out to Long Shadows in time. Tasting fee: $5.

Long Shadows Wineries is off all by itself, up Frenchtown Road off Hwy 12, in the midst of rolling grain fields. The winery is of ultra-modern design, and situated such that when viewing outside from within, the sense of being in the middle of nowhere, with nothing around is incredible. Inside, it is very modern and luxurious, with a tasting 'host' and viewing windows down into the working part of the winery. You can tell they spared no expense when creating the winery! We were fortunate enough to chat with Bonny, who schedules the tasting appointments, and handles most (all?) of the sales and such at the winery. The wines here are all delicious, from the Riesling to the blends, and Syrah. Each wine is made by a different well-known winemaker, most from outside the US. Resident winemaker Gilles Nicault, who makes their Chester-Kidder wine, also takes care of the wines when the others are not in residence. My two favorites were the Pedestal Merlot, by Frenchman Michel Rolland, and Sequel Syrah, by Australian John Duval. Both were tasting perfectly that day, and I ended up splurging and took home a bottle of 2007 Sequel. Tasting fee: $10 (waived with my bottle purchase).

Our fifth stop was also our second 'scheduled' appointment, with relative newcomers, Rasa Vineyards, owned by brothers Pinto and Billo Naravane. Their winery, previously the Artifex crush facility, is now the Hence Vineyards winery out on Powerline Rd. A beautiful winery, with river rock walls and a "lodge" feel to it! Rasa is only just preparing to release their second vintage (2008), and are already making a huge splash in the Washington wine scene. Their wines are all amazing! Had I the cash, I would have bought a case, at least, of each wine! The tasting lineup consisted of 2 vintages of their QED Rhone blend, Vox Populi Mourvedre, The Composer Riesling, Principia Reserve Syrah (my favorite), and two new wines from their second label, PB Wines. Released at a much lower price point than the regular line, the PB line is going to be a winner. They have a Red Mountain Syrah, and a Red blend as well, for just $29. Comparatively, the QED retails for $50, and the Principia $85. This was by far my favorite experience that day. Pinto and Billo were excellent hosts, and had a great story behind every wine. I could have spent all day just talking to them about wine and their philosophy behind it, let alone sampling their delicious wines! Almost everyone bought at least a bottle here, with me taking a Principia, QED and a couple bottles each of the PB Wines line. We're trying to get the brothers to come out for some tastings in Portland, so stay tuned! Tasting fee: $0.

After spending the rest of the afternoon at Rasa, we ended up back in downtown Walla Walla, attempting to hit Happy Hour at the Marcus Whitman Hotel. But guess what? No Happy Hour. See ya!

Next stop, Sleight of Hand Cellars tasting room. I love the wines here, and winemaker Trey Busch is super cool. We were picking out records (yes, actual LP records!) to play and having a great time chatting with Trey. He was unfortunately sold out of my favorite wine, the 2007 Levitation Syrah, but was gracious enough to pull out a yet-to-be-released 2008 Levitation for us to sample! Awesome wine, and one that I will be purchasing when it is finally available! Thanks Trey! Tasting Fee: $0.

About this time, we were starting to get hungry, and looking at food options. I happened to wander off, and stumbled upon the DaMa Wines tasting room on Main St, just down from Sapolil. Mel, the tasting room host, was awesome, and she had us all laughing hard from the start. The wines were great, with my favorite being the Syrah. I didn't make a purchase here (others did), but I probably should have! Tasting fee: $0.

Finally, dinnertime! We hit up Sweet Basil Pizzaria for some excellent pie and (you guessed it) more wine! Nothing ever tasted so good as that pizza...

We ended the night back at Sapolil Cellars Tasting Room, with more of that yummy Syrah and live music (different band), before crashing out back at camp.

Read about our adventures on Day 3 in this post.

Storyteller Wine Tasting: Reininger Winery

Attended a very nice free tasting of Walla Walla's Reininger Winery (follow @ReiningerWinery on Twitter) last night, hosted by Michael Alberty (follow @HeadStoryteller on Twitter) at Storyteller Wine Company in the John's Landing neighborhood of Portland. Wines were poured by Michael and Reininger's National Sales Manager, Justin Vajgert. Huge crowd, with lots of very enthusiastic Reininger fans. Having tried several of their wines before, including a Helix (Cab, Merlot, Pomatia blend) offering from Wine.Woot.com, and the 2003 Reininger Walla Walla Valley Merlot, I knew we were in for a treat. We were not disappointed!

• - 2005 Reininger Merlot Helix Stillwater Creek Vineyard - USA, Washington, Columbia Valley
  Sold out, no taste available.


• - 2005 Reininger Sangiovese Helix - USA, Washington, Columbia Valley
  Earthy cherry flavors, with just a bit of spices on the finish. Very smooth and drinkable, would be great with food. On its own, rather unexciting. (86 pts.)


• - 2006 Reininger Cabernet Sauvignon Helix - USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Walla Walla Valley
  Very fruit-forward, but with a nice backbone of tannin and acidity. Raspberry and cassis flavors, with some nice peppery earth. Drinking quite well. (88 pts.)


• - 2006 Reininger Cabernet Sauvignon - USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Walla Walla Valley
  I loved this wine. Huge peppery fruit, lots of blackberry and cassis. Finish is pure pepper-covered chocolate, and lasts for 30+ seconds. This is some nice Cab! (91 pts.)


• - 2005 Reininger Syrah Ash Hollow Vineyard - USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Walla Walla Valley
  Dark as night, thick, mouthcoating, and amazingly spicy! BIG heavy blackberry fruit, with gobs of black pepper. This wine reminded me of the Bunnell Syrahs I love so much. Just super-concentrated, lots of extract, and that amazing black pepper, with dark chocolate finish. Must resist buying a case... (93 pts.)


• - 2006 Reininger Carménère - USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Walla Walla Valley
  Sold out, no taste available.


• - 2007 Reininger Cabernet Sauvignon Helix - USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Walla Walla Valley
  Replacement wine for the Carmenere that was sold out. I think this was just released, or has not been released just yet...quite a bit more forward than the 2006, with a bit more tannin showing at this time. Solid wine at a great price: $20. A lot more cassis and black pepper than the 2006 also. Even some tobacco flavors rolling around the tongue. Tasty. (89 pts.)


• (No label available) - 2007 Reininger Syrah Port - USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Walla Walla Valley
  According to the Reininger rep, this wine isn't released for distribution, and only sold at the winery. I typically don't like ports, but this one made me stand up and take notice. Mix that peppery blackberry-tasting Walla Walla Syrah with brandy, and you have this. An amazing port, very sweet, but not over the top. Not too much of the brandy flavor I dislike too. Just about perfect for me. (90 pts.)

As always, tasting notes are posted from CellarTracker.