WHAT’S SO GREAT ABOUT THE NORTHWEST? : THE WINE : It’s not famous (yet) and there isn’t a lot of it, but it sure tastes good.
A warm spring breeze kicks up over the rise, rustling weeds by the side of a young vineyard. A tumbleweed ambles down a side road. All around is a vast, treeless wilderness; cattle country.
You wouldn’t know it by looking, but this is one of the most exciting wine regions in the world. In the last 10 or 15 years, southeastern Washington has been making not just its traditional Rieslings but Cabernets, Merlots, Semillons and Chardonnays of superior breeding. And one of those using grapes from the region is a nephew of the legendary California wine-maker Andre Tchelistcheff.
But in this wine country, there are no tour buses and there’s no hard sell in the tasting rooms. Southeastern Washington is still remarkably friendly and personal, like Napa before the boom.
There’s a catch, of course, and it’s that there simply isn’t much wine being made here. Napa County alone has three times as many vines as the vast Columbia Valley. There are only a paltry 11,000 acres of vineyard in the 37,000 square miles of the region.
And since Washington wine lovers know a good thing, they snap up the best wines quickly, leaving little to market outside the state. Moreover, selling them locally is less expensive for the growers, so there’s been little reason to try to crack new markets.
Recently, Chalone Inc. took on the excellent Woodward Canyon wines, giving Washington wine a national showcase. But there are those who argue that Woodward Canyon, although a top producer, isn’t even the best around these parts. They tout more exciting wines made at Quilceda Creek, Kiona, Blackwood Canyon, Hogue Cellars, Paul Thomas or Columbia, wines that are just now trickling in to California and other states.
And the truly dedicated local wine nut will keep his mouth shut about Leonetti Cellars’ Cabernets for fear you’ll want some and shorten his already tight allocation.
Another catch is simply the youth of the Washington wine industry. Chuck Hill, author of “Northwest Winery Guide,” says, “I think the wine quality here far exceeds the amount of recognition the wine makers have gotten, specifically for the reds. But the big problem is that there’s no track record as far as aging potential. No one has really tasted a Washington wine that has 20 years of age, so we don’t know how great they are.”
One of the oldest wineries in the state, started in the early 1970s, is Quilceda Creek, a tiny operation in Snohomish outside Seattle. Owner Alex Golitzin is the nephew of Andre Tchelistcheff, wine-making consultant for nearly two decades at the huge Chateau Ste. Michelle nearby. In a small winery across the driveway from his home, Golitzin makes Cabernets of great concentration and finesse.
Last summer I tasted every Cabernet Sauvignon ever made at Quilceda Creek. The early wines, made from grapes grown in a cooler growing region of southeastern Washington, were a touch hard in youth, but the first efforts from 1974 and 1975 (home winemaking projects) were still youthful and vibrant when tasted. Later wines, notably the 1983 and 1985 Cabernets, are even better, with more spice and overt richness.
The source of the grapes for the later wines was the Kiona and Mercer Ranch vineyards, in the warmer areas of the Yakima Valley. The grapes are picked at the southern end of the state and trucked four hours north to the winery.
Kiona markets its own wines as well. The vineyard property lies near Benton City, accessible only by a dirt road that puts a layer of chalky gray silt onto everything that gets near it. Partners John Williams and Jim Holmes put in the road themselves nearly 20 years ago. At the time the area not only lacked a road and water, but a track record as wine-growing area.
They judged that the soil and the climate were right for grapes, though, and gambled with ten 10 acres of grapes in various varieties, mostly red. Today 30 acres are planted to six varieties of grapes.
Tasting through Kiona’s own wines, I was overwhelmed by the across-the-board quality. A 1988 Chardonnay ($10) had a slight buttery component, with spice and complexity exciting for a wine so reasonably priced. A 1988 Merlot ($10) had intense cherry-like fruit with a tarragon/spice lilt, and the structure of the wine was lush and not at all astringent.
There is also a terrific 1989 White Riesling Late Harvest with 10% residual sugar that smells of honey, apricots and Granny Smith apples, and which sells for less than $9 a bottle. The best wine, however, was a 1986 Cabernet ($14) that shows chocolate-scented black cherry and coffee aromas and an amazingly rich mouth feel. The 1986 Cabernet is in short supply, but the excellent 1987 will be out soon at the same price.
More great wine is found at the winery of Paul Thomas, whose new winery is located in a business district in Bellevue, outside Seattle. Thomas began his career making fruit wines, including a “blush” from rhubarb and a dry Bing cherry wine that some tasters seriously compared to a Cabernet Sauvignon. These days, he works with actual grapes. I was impressed with all the wines, including Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, but the Cabernets and Rieslings are dramatic examples of the vivid Washington style.
But these wineries are just the beginning. At Covey Run in Zillah, to the south, David Crippen makes a wide range of lovely and comfortably priced wines including an excellent Sauvignon Blanc. Hogue’s Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling and Semillon are superb, but the reserve Cabernets ($15) are truly exciting, though quite young and tart at present, in need of lots of time in the bottle.
Woodward Canyon, now represented nationally by Chalone, should be easier to find. The wines are of high quality, topped by some mighty reds. The newly released 1987 Cabernet with its deep, concentrated fruit and chocolate/cassis underpinnings is not cheap at $23, but demand is high.
Chinook Winery, down the road from Hogue’s large facility, is a tiny operation owned by Napa Valley escapees Clay Mackey and his wife Kay Simon. They produce a tiny quantity--1,600 cases--of fine wine, most of which is seen no farther than the outskirts of Prosser. Chinook is one of the few wineries making a dry sparkling wine from Riesling. The 35 cases they make of this wine have become a cult item with locals.
Two of the more dramatic success stories of the region are poles apart in terms of methodology: traditional, precise Gary Figgins at Leonetti Cellars, and committed stylistic craftsman Mike Moore at Blackwood Canyon.
Stimson Lane, the wine division of U.S. Tobacco Co., operates two of the largest wineries in the state: Chateau Ste. Michelle in Woodinville, a Seattle suburb, and Columbia Crest, on the Oregon border at Paterson. Ste. Michelle’s top wine these days is a 1985 Cabernet from the Cold Creek vineyard ($19). At Columbia Crest, wine-maker Doug Gore has made some marvelous wines in the last two years including two stunning values, the fruity, balanced 1988 Chardonnay ($10), and lush, spicy 1986 Cabernet that sells for all of $8.
David Lake, a master of wine from England, has turned Columbia Winery (formerly Associated Vintners) into a major success with potent Cabernets and Merlots and a stylish Semillon made at a new winery near Ste. Michelle; Gordon Brothers Cellars in Pasco has made a number of outstanding Merlots, but lacks consistency, and Arbor Crest has done exceptionally well with Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet, notably its handsome 1986.
High quality grapes don’t get that way by kicking back and mellowing out. The Columbia Valley makes them work hard to develop their flavor.
It is actually a high desert, where temperatures reach well over 100 most days of the summer. Temperature swings of 40 and 50 degrees between the high and low in one 24-hour period are not uncommon, and it’s well known that cold nights during summer help preserve the natural acidity in grapes and lengthen the number of days grapes can stay on the vine.
The sun sets late here. The valley is at about the same latitude as the city of Macon in Burgundy, and in summer the sun lights the land until well past 9 p.m. But where France faces a threat of rain every fall, in this arid region the average rainfall is 10 inches a year. The Columbia River provides water for irrigation and for cooling the grapes during the peak days of summer.
However, winters are dangerous to the vines. Because the north-south Cascades block the flow of marine air, temperatures in the valley can dip below freezing and there is always a threat of damage to buds, even of winter-kill of the vines. Thus there is considerable variation in Washington’s vintages.
Much of the vineyard land is planted on well-drained soil, perfect for grape growing. And the soil contains a high measure of alkaline calcium carbonate, perfect for raising high-acid grapes. Still, some vineyard sites are clearly better than others.
Vineyards beginning to gain fame beside Kiona and Blackwood Canyon, on Red Mountain, include the adjacent Ciel de Cheval; Mike Sauer’s Red Willow Vineyard, west of Yakima (superb Merlot); Otis Vineyard in the center of the Yakima Valley; Sagemoor, north of Pasco in the Columbia Valley; Mercer Ranch, just east of Paterson on the Oregon border, and Seven Hills, which is actually on the Oregon side of the Columbia Valley.
Not only the familiar grapes are grown here. Sauer’s Red Willow Vineyard has a small amount of Nebbiolo that has already made some exciting wine. Alas, the wine was made exclusively for Peter Dow, whose Kirkland restaurant, Cafe Juanita, has the only bottles.
Also, a number of producers including Kiona have tried their hand at making a varietal wine from the Lemberger grape. Not a lot of Lemberger is planted, so it’s still considered experimental, but Kiona’s Lemberger is a fascinating attempt. It reminds me of a cross between Pinot Noir and Merlot.
And Mount Baker Winery in Everson, outside Seattle, makes a wine from the Muller-Thurgau grape as well as one from a little-known variety called Madeline Angevine, both delightfully fresh, floral white wines.
Of the 70 or so wineries in Washington, only about 15 ship out of state, but most of the wineries seek to test the waters of other states. And a few wine shops in major cities in Oregon and California have begun stocking a few of the better Washington wines, notably Quilceda Creek and, of course, Ste. Michelle, Columbia Crest and Woodward Canyon.
RELATED STORY: H38: “About Wine” profiles Washington State wine makers M. Taylor Moore and Gary Figgins.