Diving Headfirst into Woodinville

I have a good friend who grew up in Snohomish, Washington.  When we were in college back in the day, we took a spring break journey to the Westside one year and a highlight of that trip was a tour of the Redhook Brewery in Woodinville.  Two freshly minted 21 year old dudes, $1 tour, an amusing guide with an Australian accent, and all the samples we could drink?  Um, OK!  Well, for years after that I associated Woodinville with beer and it wasn't until I became a wino many years later that I realized there was more to Woodinville than met the eye back then.  Much more. It actually went down more like this:

Clive: The shit is real up here in Woodinville, yo.
Josh: OK.

Fortuitously, as many of you know, I just moved to Seattle and my condo is a short short 17 miles from this wonderland of wine and this weekend I had the opportunity to make my first appearance. Nestled in the Sammamish River Valley, wine has been in Woodinville since 1976 when Chateau Ste. Michelle set up shop there. In the years since, the small community has become home to over 70 wineries and tasting rooms. The majority of fruit you'll find in Woodinville comes from Eastern Washington, with a good mix of winemakers that produce in Woodinville balanced with Columbia Valley wineries who have opened a second tasting room. It's going to take a long time to hit all 70, woe is me.

Micheal was in town visiting after a non-wine conference and we made plans to meet some of his former students in the wine mecca. After texting Clive for some suggestions resulting in, "There are too many good wineries to pick one.", the party we were meeting suggested starting out at Columbia Winery. I think I twitched a little when Micheal announced that was where we were headed, but not one to rock the boat, off we went. Now, there's absolutely nothing wrong with Columbia, it's just so big and probably crowded and I was hoping to hit some boutique wineries that weren't out on every grocery store shelf. Luckily, the second winery would provide that opportunity. Columbia was as anticipated; a large impressive tasting facility with a bunch of people coming in by the busload and high production wines on the tasting menu. Regardless, we had a nice tasting, good conversation, and settled on old favorite for our next venture: Airfield Estates.

Rick profiled Airfield about a year ago after our visit to Prosser; if you recall we had a simply amazing experience at their main facility. I was excited to check out the digs a little closer to my new home, would this be my new backyard tasting room? Perhaps. We arrived at the tasting room and to my chagrin, it too was packed to the gills. I noticed immediately that they had done a great job of sticking with the aviation motive present in the Prosser winery. Don't worry, I quickly elbowed my way up to the bar and was greeted with a tasting list with many of my old favorites. I'm a sucker for their blends and jumped right into the reds (I was driving after all), and the Spitfire, Mustang, and Aviator were just how I remembered them -- awesome. In fact, I want to crack open a bottle right now. I'm a sucker for unique red blends and to refresh your memory, here's the rundown on two of them:

2008 Mustang: 53% Grenache, 35% Syrah, 8% Cinsault, 2% Counoise, 2% Mourvèdre

2008 Spitfire: 60% Sangiovese, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot, 5% Malbec, 5% Petite Verdot

Delicious.  A nice unanticipated surprise was the bonus pour of 2009 Tempranillo, a recent gold medal winner at the San Francisco wine competition. I'd actually had this wine at a local wine bar a few times recently, but was taken by it in the tasting room. We closed down the place, and as we walked to the car our stomachs were growling. Where should all good trips to wine country end? A hot dog cart. Luckily there was one right across the street at DeLille and we bought everything they had left.

So, there's a start. I have a feeling that I'll be making my way to Woodinville quite a bit in the future and look forward to sharing it's wonders with my Oregon friends.

Blend Seattle and DIY Winemaking

Many wine tasting events follow a basic formula: a get together centered around wines from a particular region/varietal/theme. Winemakers and tasting room staff may talk to those in attendance about the wine that they're making and trying to make; they talk about what got them into wine and where you can find them. Oftentimes these events are great ways to meet smaller producers, or put a face to a wine that may come from further away than you normally travel. For many people, this can be a perfect opportunity to try a variety of really good wines all at the same time and do a little comparison across varietals, vintages or regions. I love wine tasting events, they're great places to try something new and meet new people.

Living in Seattle I've had the good fortune of being able to attend a number of events, and they all have tended to be similar until recently. Jamie Peha has recently added a little bit of bang for an additional buck to her tasting events with the incorporation of seminars and educational workshops. The first such seminar was at the Merlot Gone Mad tasting where winemakers and growers talked about the unique qualities of Washington Merlot while attendees tasted multiple vintages side by side. In her most recent foray, Blend Seattle, Jamie outdid her last go round with the addition of blending workshops. I got to attend one, and it was a blast.

Winemaking staff from Washington's Columbia Winery founded by the late David Lake started us off with a bit of an historical and scientific look at why winemakers blend wine for years, and for today's consumers.


After a bit of history on the blending traditions of Bordeaux we set about making our own blends. Columbia Winery had provided varietals from two different vintages to blend together in our own creation. I was at a table of all-star Seattle wine talent that included Annie Hong, GM for the Black Pearl restaurants, Taryn Miller fellow wine blogger, and the reigning king of the Washington wine blog scene, the man himself, Sean Sullivan, author of the Washington Wine Report, and the cover boy of the Seattle Metropolitan Magazine's 100 Best Washington Wines. We were also accompanied by an actual journalist and editor Jessica Voelker from Seattle Met Magazine as well.

Equipped with four of the traditional Bourdeaux blending varietals, we went to work. Traditional Bourdeaux styles are either Left Bank, blends predominantly made from Cabernet Sauvignon, and Right Bank, where the predominant grape is Merlot. Our table decided to buck tradition and we all experimented with different blends.

Using the Columbia Winery Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot from 2007 and the Red Willow Cabernet Franc and Malbec from 2008, we measured our blends into 100ml batches. Yours truly created a blend fancifully named Dark is the Night 1.0 that was 50% Malbec, 20% Merlot, 20% Cabernet and 10% Cab Franc. My blend was popular with the ladies, but Sean felt it needed a little more backbone. Annie and Taryn also had winning combinations, but they both lacked the cool name that mine had.

As we went into round two, I eased the Malbec back to 45% and beefed up the Cabernet to 25% at Sean's suggestion. (He's Sean Sullivan folks, the guy knows his stuff, you should listen to the man.) Dark is the Night 2.0 was a hit. Jessica had a nice blend this time around as well. We decided the table’s best chance at victory our best chances lay with Dark is the Night. Before submitting our blend, we tweaked the blend a bit, coming to rest at 45% Malbec, 20% Merlot, 25% Cabernet and 10% Cab Franc. A bit of field blending was done after that and we submitted our wine to the judges. Each table submitted a wine and then scored each other's wines blind.

Unfortunately, we did not win. The winning table walked away with a bottle of the Penninsula blend from Columbia Winery. Tails between our legs we made our way out to the big event, Blend Seattle.

I was really pleased with some of the food tasting options, and some wine blends I hadn't experienced before. A favorite was the La Boheme from Saint Laurent and one I didn't try but heard great things about was the Vinify from Forgeron Cellars.


Curious to see what Jamie has up her sleeve for her next event? Get your tickets for the upcoming Lamb Jam.