Fortified (Port Style) Wine of the Yakima Valley: Final Episode

When a wine is referred to as 'fortified,' it means it's been made stronger (or 'fortified') by adding a distilled beverage, traditionally brandy. The brandy is added before the fermentation process is complete, which kills the yeast, leaving behind more sugar, which results in a stronger, sweeter beverage. As I mentioned here, to properly be called Port, the wine must hail from the Duoro Valley in Portugal. Since the wines I received were grown and bottled in Washington, they are more properly 'port-style' or 'fortified wines.'

The first stop in our Yakima Valley fortified wines was Cabernet Sauvignon followed by Syrah. Today's post will look at two very different kinds of Yakima Valley fortified wine. The first fortified wine will look at is a blend of three traditional Port grapes. The varietals used include; Tinta Cao, Touriga Nacional and Souzao. Thurston Wolfe sent two unique blends that contain some of the traditional Portuguese varietals, with Petite Sirah and Cabernet Sauvignon playing major roles. Finally, we'll look at our one unique port from Lopez Island Vineyards, the only Sangiovese we received.


We received only one completely traditional style fortified blend of 56% Souzau, 25% Touriga, and 19% Tinta Cao. The 2004 Hedges Family Estate Red Mountain Fortified, a regal and austere looking wine. The 2004 is a single vineyard blend from the North Block of Hedges Family Estate. Hedges blend is of course a recognition of the deep tradition of the fortified wines of Portugal's Duoro Valley. The wine, from bottle to flavor profile, means serious business. It speaks of deep dark wood and mahogany, and has hints of tobacco, earth and dark chocolate and cherries. While much of the Yakima Valley uses grape spirits, Hedges goes traditional with Brandy which smooths out the pallet on the wine and reminds you of that old world fortified wine. This wine is a serious one, and while it would go well with any chocolate desert it would also stand on it's own on the yacht or after closing the deal in the boardroom.

Thurston Wolfe sent two variations on the traditional Port blend theme. The 2007 JTW Port is a unique blend of Touriga, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Sirah and Souzao. The blending of the Cabernet brightens the fruit character and seems to mellow out the traditional Portuguese austerity. The JTW Port's final blend was created in 2008 and laid in barrel until bottling in the summer of 2009. The wine is a classic after dinner drink which tastes of chocolate and spices, Gwynne picked out notes of cloves. The JTW Reserve Port is a 2005 wine that has been selected for further barrel aging. The wine is a slightly different blend, with the Petite Sirah leading the way this time, followed by the Touriga, Cabernet and a tiny bit of Souzao. This wine is incredible, its smooth after two years in the barrel and two in the bottle. It's got dark fruit notes to spare. The extra time has made this a luxuriant example of Yakima Valley fortified wine.

The final fortified wine of our series comes from Lopez Island Vineyard, the 2007 Fireside Port is made of 100% Sangiovese. The wine is all Red Mountain fruit and the use of Sangiovese really makes it stand out from some of the other fortified wines we sampled. The fruit notes are more red than black and while it's very mellow, it's probably a bit more versatile with pairings. More strawberries and slight spice notes typical of Sangiovese. This wine is a sampling of Yakima Valley AVAs as the Sangiovese comes off Red Mountain but the grape spirits come from Wahluke Slope. Talking to Maggie, one of the owners, the attempt to make a fortified wine was more out of personal interest and curiousity but they're really happy with how it's turned out. So am I.

The wines we sampled over a three part series are just a small representation of what kinds of fortified wines are out there in the Northwest and for that matter just in Yakima Valley. I recommend you get out there and sample them before it gets too warm. Summer's coming and you'll have to wait until next winter or at least just until dessert.

Tacos, Red Wine, and Fire on the Mountain

Operation: Yakima Valley Spring Barrel Tasting
Report:  Field Observations, Day 1
Covert Agent: Joshua G. Gana
Status:  Declassified

In early April 2010, Agent Gana intercepted wire traffic on the twitter machine alluding to a bootleg gathering of winos in Eastern Washington. Early reports indicated a weekend of tacos, red wine, fire, and general carousing in the Yakima Valley area, under the guise of "Spring Barrel Tasting". Gana, with more than 10 years experience and specialized training as a wine palatification expert, recognized this as mere cover for what truly was sure to take place: a clash of twitterati, cougars, phenomenal wine, and down home hospitality.  Courtesy of the fine folks at Wine Yakima Valley, Agent Gana dispatched himself to the scene to infiltrate the winos, posing as a "Wine Writer" with "The Oregon Wine Blog," whatever that means. What follows is Gana's narrative of day 1.

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Friday was a gorgeous day for wine tasting, unfortunately, most of the day was spent traveling in the german carmobile to get from Corvallis to the oasis of the Tri-Cities. Upon arriving, I was welcomed with the warm hospitality of the staff at the Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites in Pasco, a connection made through the graciousness of the staff at the Tri-Cities Visitor and Convention Bureau. Now I'm a man of habit and have extreme loyalty to another hotel chain across the river in Richland. I'll tell you what, though, the HIEx in Pasco has it going on and gives them a run for their money. An all-suite property next to a convention center and right off the highway, the accommodations were spacious and well-appointed, the staff wonderful, and the breakfast...well you'll just have to wait until day 2 to hear about that. Literally a hop, skip, and a jump from I-182, I was in the heart of wine country minutes after leaving the hotel.

Barnard Griffin was the first stop on this fine Friday evening as I worked my way into the valley. After sipping some of their 06 Cabernet and peeking at the new bottling facility, I was on the road. There were bigger and better things on the docket for this particular evening. Next stop, Thurston Wolfe Winery in Prosser's Vintners Village. After picking up my Premiere Pass for the weekend, allowing access to reserve and special tastings at nearly 30 wineries in the region, I wandered around observing the sheer brilliance of the event organization. Take the vintners village, for example. A whole day's worth of wineries within walking distance, great wine, and porta-potties set up on the road to boot. What more does a wino need? Thurston was a nice surprise, with a fabulous petite sirah in the barrel and tempranillo that made me swoon.

Next up was a brief jaunt to Alexandria Nicole Cellars, where there was a noticeable buzz in the air as the crowd got larger and the winemakers had less time to chat. Great wine, great setting, and I had to keep reminding myself it wasn't a race to see how many wineries I could get to before the end of the day. I had to drive home, after all. ANC closed at 5, the "main event" of the evening wasn't until 6 PM at Red Mountain...can you say Picazo 7Seventeen? I could, and did. So did the cherry chipotle pork shanks I had as an appetizer. Yep. Frank, you are the man.

Main event time. Due to the generosity and kindness of one Neil Cooper, I found myself on the guest list for the Fidelitas Taco Wagon Dinner. Did you catch that? Fidelitas, Cooper, Tacos, and Wagons.  So the technical name of the event was the Feast of St. Fidelas, but there was legitimately a delicious taco cart carving pork off of a spit and serving up some gourmet mexican delight.  Paired with Champeoux merlot, I was in taco wine heaven.  Frequent Blog readers know that Clive (@clivity) has been firmly planted in the Washington Twitterati Hall of Fame.  Me (@OR_Wine_Blog), on the other hand, didn't meet many of the regular tweeters in person until the 'wagon dinner.  Coop (@coop_cwc) introduced me to @divatink, @heyjenk, and @littlebluest; icons on the machine.  And yes, we introduced ourselves by twitter handle.  A riveting conversation on social media and wine ensued.

The evening capped off with a soft opening of Cooper Wine Company, Red Mountain's newest winery. The event was a veritable who's who in the Eastern Washington Wine Industry. In the old Seth Ryan facility, Coop has made some significant transformations in the property and the wine, which is crafted under the tutelage of Charlie Hoppes. Cooper wine is for real. We tried three of his four offerings during our fabulous dinner at Picazo 7Seventeen in February, and this particular evening Coop was proud to share the fourth: a Walla Walla Cabernet. Amazing. I tried to stick a bottle in my jacket to take back to the hotel, to no avail. Can't wait until he opens in a few weeks. Oh yea, there was also a large bonfire.

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Agent Gana, signing off. Report on Day 2 of "Yakima Valley Spring Barrel Tasting" forthcoming.

Wine Country Dining: Yakima's Barrel House

Downtown Yakima has a few gems when it comes to dining options. One of those is most certainly Barrel House. I stumbled upon the Barrel House several years ago as the result of a recommendation by a winemaker I'd met in the Rattlesnake Hills. When the opportunity arose, I jumped at the chance to introduce The Oregon Wine Blog to the Barrel House based on fond memories.

My first impression made me a little nervous. Our party of ten was there on a Monday and there wasn't a soul in the place. We had made reservations and the waitress/bartender showed us to our seats. The Barrel House has an impressive selection of Yakima Valley and Washington wines and the prices are really unbeatable; the mark up is a negligible $5 to $10 dollars a bottle. That's an incredible bargain.

I got us started by ordering the Kana Masterpiece 2007, Portteus Malbec 2005, and McKinley Springs 2004 Cabernet. We also asked for the Boudreaux Cellars 2005 Cabernet to be decanted for dinner.

Our meal started out with a variety of appetizers and salads and we were soon on to the main course. My initial nervousness went away as soon as the waitress asked me how I'd like my duck done. This is generally a sign that people know what they're doing.

Between the ten of us we had a variety of entrees; duck with a crispy skin, a beautifully displayed pork shank, scallops that melted in your mouth and perfectly done steak. The food was excellent, and what was truly amazing was that Tim did all of this on his own. I mean that literally - there was one guy in the kitchen; no sous chef; no help. All of our plates came at once, they were all hot, and they were all tender. The duck had perfect balance between the crisp skin with the tender breast. We had to order another bottle of wine as well, and went with the Thurston Wolfe 06 Petite Sirah. None of us had room for dessert.

We thanked Tim for one hell of a meal, and asked about the crowd. He had told us that it was slower through the winter, but that over the weekend they would be slammed. There are a handful of really nice restaurants in Yakima and Barrel House certainly heads up that list. The entrees are a little expensive, but the wine prices are beyond reasonable. If you're in town, I recommend this be your first choice for dinner in Yakima.