I have chosen a wine for WBW #34!
Edition #34 of the famous Wine Blogging Wednesday is nearly here, and I have finally found a wine to try. I decided to head back to European Vine Selections and see which Washington State Cabernet Sauvignons they had sitting around. Although the selection at EVS is focused on French wines, they do have some local wines as well, just not as many.
After consultation with the store owner, I decided on a particular wine for two reasons:
- It was the oldest Washington Cab in the store (2002)
- It comes from the Walla Walla Valley, which was something I considered important to this challenge both because of the identity of the blogger who is hosting WBW #34, and because most of the WA Cabs I’ve had before were not specifically from the Walla Walla Valley
So, which wine did I choose? I decided in favor of the 2002 Reininger Walla Walla Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. I will provide full details for this wine on Wednesday, but I can at least provide this link if you want to cheat and read about the wine now. The bottle cost $37 at EVS, which is decent but a bit high, although the wine is apparently a library release now since the 2003 vintage is on the market. CellarTracker reviews peg the 2002 at about 89-91 points, but there are only 3 reviews so far. I plan to add to that total soon.
Finally, I asked the owner of EVS his opinion of Quilceda Creek and their wines. He told me he liked them a lot, but that their wines need at least 10 years of age on them before you should drink them. He also said that as their success has climbed in recent years, they have shifted to a style of winemaking whereby higher alcohol content and drinkable young wines are the norm. Apparently the long-time customers of Quilceda Creek aren’t all that excited about this perceived shift, but that’s best left for another post.