And it's more Washington wineries! This time, two more that you can visit either in downtown Walla Walla or in Woodinville -- both these shops have storefronts in each place.
Founded by Mark Ryan MacNeilly in 1999, these wines are made from the heart -- MacNeilly is a self-taught winemaker who made wine in friends' garages in Seattle until 2003 when he went for it and got set up in Woodinville. He's a Washington State winemaker not a Walla Walla one and although there are plans to make some wines from Walla Walla, the very attractive tasting room in downtown Walla Walla seems largely for marketing and less for a tie to the area.
That said, if you visit at the original storefront in Woodinville or in Walla Walla these are solid wines and a fun place to visit with a lovely staff. The lineup:
2011 Board Track Racer, Columbia Valley, $15
(Mark Ryan's Second Label, made from grapes that don't make the cut for his higher end stuff)
Grapes: 95% Chardonnay, 5% Viognier
Alcohol: 13.9%
Color: Pretty clear, it promised to be a high acid, dry Chardonnay.
Smell: Crisp, green apple from the Chardonnay with a touch of honeysuckle or gardenia from the Viognier. Nice, interesting smell.
Taste: Wasn't expecting this: This tasted like a sweet, red apple, and a sweet melon. It's an off-dry wine with medium acid. A little surprising from a Chardonnay, which is always dry except for low-end brands (think Gallo or Yellow Tail).
Drink or sink?: Not a fan. A sweet Chardonnay doesn't work for me. To make it worse, the wine had lower acid, which didn't balance the sweetness of the wine. I know this is a second label and is "declassified fruit" but this was not a great start to the tasting...thank goodness things got better.
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2011 Black Love (Pinot Noir), Willamette Valley, Oregon, Lachini Vineyard, $52
Grapes: 100% Pinot Noir
Alcohol: 14%
Color: Pale ruby, and transparent with a brownish hue. A good Pinot color -- shows that the grapes didn't get overripe to get a dark, rich hue.
Smell: Raspberries, strawberries, and earth, with a nice hit of black tea leaves. Typical of a well-made Oregon Pinot Noir.
Taste: Southeast Asian spice (coriander, curry), soy sauce, and candied raspberry with lots of earthy, rocky flavor. The wine had a great balance with medium tannin and nice mouth cleaning acid.
Drink or sink?: Drink. A great Oregon Pinot, but I'm not sure what this was doing in a Walla Walla tasting room. I was going by the recommendations of the tasting room staff, but it seems to me that if you're going to represent Washington wines, this standard Oregon Pinot is an odd pick. Still, if you like Oregon Pinot and want a change, give it a whirl because it's good stuff.
Now on to the more standard-bearers and those for which the winery is known (with good reason!). Also, these wines give you a real opportunity to taste a sub-appellation of Columbia Valley that a lot of winemakers use for its unique character: Red Mountain. Some of these are mainly Red Mountain fruit, so they allow you to isolate the character very well and learn about the area through tasting.
2010 Long Haul, Columbia Valley (if you listened to the WA podcasts, lots of Red Mountain fruit here), $48
Alcohol: 14.8%
Color: A rich garnet, with thick legs from the higher alcohol
Smell: Fresh violets, licorice, black pepper, cinnamon, blackberries and black plums. Lots of earthy notes.
Smell: Fresh violets, licorice, black pepper, cinnamon, blackberries and black plums. Lots of earthy notes.
Taste: Just like it smelled but with more dark fruit flavor (plums, blueberry), medium tannin and lower acid.
Drink or sink?: Drink. Here's what people were talking about! This is an excellent wine. Complex and delicious, very well balanced. _________________________________________
2010 Dead Horse Cabernet Sauvignon, Red Mountain, WA, $52
Grapes: 81% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc, 2% Malbec, 2% Petit Verdot
Alcohol:14.7%
Color: A brownish red with thick legs dripping down the glass from the alcohol.
Smell: Wow! Spice! Green pepper, black cherry, black pepper, and a rich cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove backbone.
Smell: A strong lemon-lime, green apple smell. This was all fruit.
Smell: Much milder than the other Merlots I'd sniffed, this was nicely perfumed -- like violets and raspberry tea. A little bit of raspberry briar (like the patch where they grew) was there too.
Color: A dark crimson, this was a rich wine -- totally opaque with a cherry red rim. Looked like it would have lots of flavor, but the red indicated a potential good acid level too (red=more acid, bluish tones = less acid).
Grapes: 81% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc, 2% Malbec, 2% Petit Verdot
Alcohol:14.7%
Color: A brownish red with thick legs dripping down the glass from the alcohol.
Smell: Strawberry, raspberry, black plum, prune, and cinnamon and chocolate/mocha from the oak.
Taste: Green pepper from the Cabernet(s), ripe black plums, cinnamon, and violets. Black pepper with excellent, strong tannin, and good acid.
Drink or sink?: Drink, but in a few years. A great wine, but not anywhere near ready to drink. The bold, spicy Red Mountain fruit needs another 3 to 5 years in the bottle before it's perfect. Great beginnings though -- this will be stunning.
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2010 Lonely Heart, Red Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon, $80
Alcohol: 14.8%
Color: With no Merlot or Cab Franc to lighten it up, this wine was much darker than the others. A crimson red with very thick legs from the alcohol.
Smell: Wow! Spice! Green pepper, black cherry, black pepper, and a rich cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove backbone.
Taste: Just like it smelled but with lots of vanilla and caramel from the new French oak. Strong mouth drying tannins with lower acid.
Drink or sink?: Drink. Another excellent wine. Powerful, richly flavored but also needs 5 years to relax.
Mark Ryan gets a thumbs up for me, although I'd hit them on their home turf in Woodinville, since they have no Walla Walla wines to show right now and half the fun of Walla Walla is tasting the indigenous wares. Still, they are a don't miss on the WA wine scene.
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This small winery is run by French winemaker, Marie-Eve Gilla. Forgeron, which means blacksmith in French, is located on the former site of the blacksmith's shop in downtown Walla Walla. It's a cool place with very passionate staff and solid wines, although if I'm going to be honest, which I always am, these were my least favorite of the trip. This completely surprised me because I love French wine and I know Ms. Gilla was trained in Burgundy, but maybe the lighter touch that is required there didn't translate for me in Washington. I liked the wines, but wasn't blown away. Here was the lineup:
2011 Columbia Valley Chardonnay, $27
Grapes: 94% Chardonnay, 6% Orange Muscat (very interesting blend)
Alcohol: 14.1%
Color: Like most of the Chardonnays from this area, this was almost clear in color which was strange because 42% of the wine was aged in new French oak, which would normally give more color to the wine.
Smell: A strong lemon-lime, green apple smell. This was all fruit.
Taste: Lots of green apple and citrus with a little vanilla flavor from the oak. This was a very bright, high acid Chardonnay -- extremely fresh but still very soft feeling because of the oak treatment
Drink or sink?: Drink. A nice picnic wine but a little pricey for something so standard.
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2010 Columbia Valley Merlot, $30
Grapes: 100% Merlot
Alcohol: 14.2%
Color: A nice, rich ruby color with thick legs from the alcohol. I expected a lot of flavor.
Smell: Much milder than the other Merlots I'd sniffed, this was nicely perfumed -- like violets and raspberry tea. A little bit of raspberry briar (like the patch where they grew) was there too.
Taste: Raspberry with a light black tea note. There was a good amount of mouth drying tannin but the acid was a little bit lacking so the wine felt too soft for me -- there was not a counter-balance to the tannin or fruit, which I think is key in a Merlot.
Drink or Sink?: In the context of Merlot at large, this is a very nice, light style Merlot and therefore is a drink. It's much better than many California Merlots at the same price. That said, in context of what other Merlots I tasted from Walla Walla and from Columbia Valley, this would be a sink. 2010 was a tough year in Washington, but I'm surprised that even with growing areas in the warmer Yakima and Wahluke Slope and the addition of the strongly flavored American oak aging (13% of the wine was in American oak) that there isn't more punch to the wine. There are too many better competing Merlots in the area so this one falls to the bottom of my list.
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2009 Columbia Valley Syrah, $30
Grapes: 96% Syrah, 4% Petit Sirah
Alcohol: 14.5%
Color: A dark crimson, this was a rich wine -- totally opaque with a cherry red rim. Looked like it would have lots of flavor, but the red indicated a potential good acid level too (red=more acid, bluish tones = less acid).
Smell: Bursting with red fruits -- strawberry, red apple, raspberry -- and blackberry and black plum. Lots of leather/horse saddle that is typical of Syrah that's been aged in oak.
Taste: Much more dark fruit than red -- tons of black plum. Very earthy and oaky. Vanilla and mocha were prominent. The tannins were massive but there was decent acid here.
Drink or sink?: Drink. This wine reminded me much more of a California Syrah than a Washington one -- lots more fruit and oak than the versions I tried elsewhere. Still, a good wine but I think it will improve with a few more years in the bottle.
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2010 Columbia Valley Zinfandel, $30
Grapes: 77% Zinfandel, 23% Primativo (a clone of Zinfandel)
Alcohol: 14.8%
Color: A nice light garnet color, perfect for a Zinfandel. Very thick legs from the nearly 15% alcohol.
Smell: The combination of raspberries, blueberries, and the underbrush of a shrub. A nice contrast of fruit and earth.
Taste: Dark cherry, ripe strawberries, and then that dirt/underbrush thing was in the background (in a good way). The 100% American oak aging showed itself on the taste -- these barrels can give a coconut or dill herb flavor and I got both from this wine.
Drink or sink?: Drink. The best wine of the bunch, this was a unique take on Zinfandel. I liked the play between fruit, earth, and oak. I also loved that this was a unique wine -- I saw no other Zin on my trip. It was made very well and was a standout.
A nice complement of wineries to add to the list if you are either in Woodinville or Walla Walla. Thanks to the folks at Mark Ryan and Forgeron!
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