Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
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Last week, I spent a day walking the vineyards in the Rattlesnake Hills, researching an in-depth feature for my Substack pages. Among the highlights was a tasting with Will Camarda, who has taken over the reins at his family's Andrew Will winery. We sat outside at the Two Blondes vineyard, the source of many of the winery's most expensive bottles. So I was amazed and delighted when Will pulled out this bottle, a blend sourced from top Columbia Valley vineyards, including Two Blondes, yet priced...
Try to find a really well-made Washington Cabernet that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Not easy, especially one that includes fruit from top vineyards in Walla Walla and on Red Mountain. I've found one, and surprisingly, it's from an Oregon winery best known for Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir. Almost half of the grapes in the blend are from Walla Walla's Seven Hills and Red Mountain's Quintessence vineyard. It's a classic Bordeaux blend – three quarters Cab and the rest shared between Merlot and C...
Winemaker Katie Santora has hit a home run with this clean and fresh wine that mixes multiple tree fruits, from lemon to grapefruit to tangerine. The key here is the supporting acidity, which turns this into a truly bracing springtime wine that will match nicely to many light seafoods and picnic lunches. For me, it's a killer choice with fried chicken. Give it a slight chill, and go for it. For more great rosé choices, visit https://paulgregutt.substack.com. 12.5%; $28 (Willamette Valley)...
Abacela 2021 Fiesta Tempranillo The Jones family who founded Abacela, a central Oregon winery that is coming up on its 30th anniversary next year, did years of careful research on climate and soil conditions all over the country with a specific goal in mind. They were determined to grow Tempranillo – the renowned Spanish grape – somewhere where it could best thrive. They found the land they sought outside of Roseburg and began planting Tempranillo and a number of other Mediterranean var...
On one of the recent early spring days when it was just warm enough to fire up the grill, I put on a couple of duck legs, two ears of sweet corn and some fat asparagus. What to drink? The always perfect choice with duck is Pinot Noir. I recognize that this is a challenging wine for a lot of folks, and it’s not easy to find a good one at a somewhat affordable price. Argyle is an Oregon winery best known for its sparkling wines, but it also makes as many as six or seven different non-sparkling P...
With weather this good, you may want to break out a bottle of rosé to celebrate. I remember our first March in Waitsburg many years ago. After a winter of nonstop construction, we were finally able to move into our half-remodeled home, and the new porch beckoned. On a rather blustery mid-March afternoon – not quite as nice as what we've been enjoying this week – we set up a sawhorse table on the porch, popped the cork on a bottle of rosé, and dined on fried chicken. Nothing spectacular, but s...
Woo-hoo, Spring is springing (sprung?!?) So why not put away those heavy winter red wines for a while, and go with this refreshing, crisp, delicious Chardonnay from one of Oregon's finest heritage wineries. Founded by the Lange family back in 1987, this Dundee Hills winery has maintained a strict focus on Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir. The wines are drawn exclusively from estate-owned and long-term contracted vineyards. This affordable Chardonnay was blended from 25 different lots, all...
Some 16 years ago, I sat down to taste Efesté's first-ever release of Feral Sauvignon Blanc. I noted that it was made by fermenting with wild/native yeast, which gave it pleasing details of dried herb, sweet grass, fresh mushroom, and overall a more herbaceous tone to the fruit without the tropical flavors of the regular bottling. At the time, this was cutting-edge winemaking, which has since become almost commonplace. The latest edition of Feral is from 2022. Sourced from the Evergreen...
Josh Cellars wines have been around for the past two decades, but suddenly they have memed themselves into the sales stratosphere. Are they dramatically different than before? Better? Cheaper? Benefitting from a savvy marketing campaign? Nope. They are just the latest beneficiaries of the always unpredictable and meme-driven impact of Tik-Tok and X (formerly Twitter). Kicked off by a tweet that advised followers to “grow up and leave Barefoot and Stella [two other cheap but popular brands] a...
So-called Dry January is upon us, as it has been since it was introduced about a decade ago. The concept is to eliminate or dramatically reduce your alcohol consumption for the month. And the wine industry recognizes that trend by offering a growing number of alcohol-free options. Are they as good as non-alcoholic beer? I leave that decision up to you. But for wine, your best options are sparkling wines and the occasional tart, dry white wine by Fre. Their website, www.frewines.com has an...
This rich and tasty California Cab was a thoughtful gift from our neighbors. This 2018 is the current vintage. Produced by JaM Cellars, it's very popular among Vivino users. Softly fruity with blackberry flavors morphing into more mature notes of raisins and prunes. The tannins are ripe and bring some darker hints of graphite, olive, and mushroom. It's a big wine - almost 15% alcohol - but smooth and balanced. At least some of the grapes appear to have come from Lodi, which is always a good...
I’m a believer in old vine Chenins, so much so that I gave up several lucrative wine writing gigs in order to make a few hundred cases under my short-lived Waitsburg Cellars label. Some of those grapes came from the same Upland Vineyard vines that L’Ecole has sourced for decades, and to my knowledge, there are no better Chenins in the Northwest than these. Rather than the simple fruit bombs that most Chenins resemble, this old vine bottling is delicate, dusty, and detailed, a subtle wine tha...
I cannot say enough about how utterly delicious this wine is. In fact, any wine bearing The Jack label is going to gobsmack your tastebuds. This is the latest rendition of the original Jack red, a Right Bank-ish Bordeaux blend of 75% Merlot, 10% Cab Franc, 10% Malbec, and 5% Petit Verdot. It may sound rather sophisticated for such an inexpensive wine, but it meets the challenge and takes you to flavor infinity and beyond. The Jack's track record for low cost/high quality over the past 20 years...
Kirkland 2019/2020 Saint-Julien Bordeaux Left Bank Bordeaux under $20 is a tough bird to hunt. The Left Bank is home to the handful of great wineries you’ve probably heard of – Mouton, Lafite, Latour, etc. In all of Bordeaux, there are 9995 wineries that are not First Growths. And if you find any of their wines, how do you know if it’s any good? Enter Costco’s Kirkland brand. Not only are the Kirkland wines generally reliably good, but they occasionally turn up real gems. There’s even a blog de...
This unique blend is sourced from vineyards near the Dalles, far enough east to be outside the Columbia Gorge AVA, but in the slim slice of the vast Columbia Valley AVA that crosses the river into Oregon. This is a generous and versatile red blend, roughly half Merlot and half Zinfandel, with flavors of red currants, strawberries and peppery herbs. Despite its youth there are no rough edges, and the tannins have a gentle graininess that adds some texture to the finish. Note that the website...
Winemaker Chris Dowsett has a personal passion for Gewürztraminer – not a grape that gets a whole lot of love from most drinkers. But here's the thing - a dry Gewürztraminer is a perfect Thanksgiving wine, and this fits the bill in every way. I loved it enough to include it on my Best of the Year post a couple of weeks ago, and Chris has actually lowered the price since then. The Celilo vineyard in the Columbia Gorge has long been a secret source for this grape for a handful of savvy win...
Soos Creek's Dave Larsen sources Cabernet from some of Washington's A+ vineyards, and his sturdy, dense wines are built to age. But with this King Cab, he's given a special gift to less patient wine lovers. It's a single vineyard Horse Heaven Hills Cabernet at a supermarket price. The blend includes 15% Merlot, which helps to soften the tannins. There's an interesting sweetness here – not from fruit or sugar, but more like the sweetness of fine tobacco. This is a classic Washington Cabernet w...
King Estate was founded specifically to grow and produce Pinot Gris. Now entirely biodynamic, the winery has grown to become one of Oregon's most diverse and influential. Pinot Gris remains a strong suit, with up to seven different versions in a single vintage – probably as much as the rest of Oregon combined. It's almost iconic, with full, fleshy pear fruit, buoyant acids, and a mouth-pleasing texture. Green apple, cucumber, and grapefruit highlights follow. This is the most widely available b...
I've been a Zin lover for decades, especially fond of those made from old vines. For Zinfandel, old vines, though unregulated, can mean the plants went into the ground anywhere from several decades to over a century ago. It's especially long-lived and productive and was one of the varieties favored by the Italian winemakers who built up the California wine industry before and after Prohibition. Family-owned (since 1968) Bogle Vineyards makes what is hands-down the best cheap old vine Zin in the...
This is a perennial ‘Best Buy’ from the big magazines, and for good reason. Priced around $15, it’s got big flavors that are hard to find in inexpensive Cabernets. Cedar shakes, toast and vanilla highlights complement brambly blackberry and black cherry fruit. Noble Vines puts a number on their various offerings; this 337 vine stock originated in Bordeaux, the home of classic Cabernets. On sale at Albertson’s and other area groceries. $12 – $15; 14.5%; Lodi https://tinyurl.co...
This Paso Robles winery makes an expansive lineup of ripe, fruity, value wines. The Wine Enthusiast annual Best Buy list has just been published, and this wine is Number One. It's still available but won't be for long. Generous aromas of berry pie, spice cake, and a lovely minerality add to a rich palate of cassis and boysenberry. Grab it while you can. 14%; $15 (Paso Robles)...
Planet Oregon is the value brand from Soter Vineyards. This summertime sparkler is 100% Willamette Valley Pinot Noir, made by the carbonated method rather than the much more expensive methode champenoise. It's the color of pale strawberry flesh, quite delightfully fruity with berry and cherry, and underscored with grapefruity acids. Big, bold and penetrating, it's a fine value and a great sparkling wine for hot weather sipping. Great for cocktails and punches also. 3300 cases; 13%; $24...
Argyle was established 35 years ago with a mission to make Oregon sparkling wines. Mission accomplished – Oregon now has dozens of wineries making Champagne-style bubbly. Argyle next expanded into a full range of still wines, focusing on Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Riesling. Over the years I’ve found that the Chardonnays are always surefire delicious, and often fine values. Among several different offerings, this is the most affordable. Barrel fermented grapes from three of the winery’s four...
Pike Road 2022 Pinot Gris There's Pinot Grigio and Pinot Gris. The same grape from two quite different places. If Pinot Grigio conjures up notions of overpriced, underfruited, ubiquitous Italian plonk for you, as it does for me, don't give up on the grape. Oregon Pinot Gris is a different creature entirely. If you have never had a truly brilliant example, here's the one to try. Pike Road is the sister winery to Elk Cove. The fresh, ripe, lively fruit flavors in this new release showcase fresh...
Chris Dowsett’s winemaking resumé would occupy this entire page. Suffice it to say that the family brand is his most personal, and this often-overlooked grape his particular passion. This is a dry, full-bodied wine sourced from an old vine site in the Columbia Gorge. Such richness as you’ll find here is exceptional, and this is supported by tangy citrus and underlying wet stone minerality, while keeping the aggressive perfume character of Gewurz in check. A substantial, evocative wine, this...
