huevos con vino

I should warn you right now.  There are two things you need to know before you read the bulk of this blog entry.

First, I am not a fan of Washington State Cabernet Sauvignon.  But I feel that my disappointing previous experiences represent a string of bad luck rather than anything wrong with the wines or the wineries.  Too much acidity and a dry, conflicted flavor suggests to me that I am drinking wines far too young.  So I’m excited about WBW #34 because I have been searching for the right WA Cab Sauv to make me forget that Hestan I drank two years ago.  And that Silver Oak…and that one Harlan Estate….

Second, if you are interested in wine, but you are less than familiar with Walla Walla Valley wines from Washington State, I recommend a quick look at the official Walla Walla Valley Alliance Web site.  If you’ve only ever heard of Walla Walla onions, you’ll be surprised by the history of this wine-growing region of the country.  If I were you, I’d check Wikipedia for more information on the town of Walla Walla itself, which was famously namechecked by Bugs Bunny, among other cartoon characters.

If you’re too lazy to visit those links, let me provide a little history.  Over the past 20 years, the Walla Walla area has distinguished itself among Washington State AVAs.  The Cabernet Sauvignon that comes from this AVA is regarded as superb, although Merlot, Chardonnay, and Syrah are stars as well.  Now, I live in the Seattle area, so it’s relatively easy for me to find many of the wines from the 60+ wineries in the Walla Walla AVA.  Some wineries are obscure even in the state of Washington, though, which is why I’m glad the Wild Walla Walla Wine Woman asked everyone to look beyond Chateau Ste. Michelle and Columbia Crest, two of the massive Washington wineries with which most people are familiar.

One of the higher-end Walla Walla wineries that you might have heard of is Reininger.  The Reininger winery has been around since 1997, and it is an impressive family affair.  Judging by the history page on the Reininger Web site, no less than six family members work at the winery.  The “Helix” brand, a more economically-priced line of Reininger wines produced from Columbia Valley fruit, takes its name in part from the town where one of the winery owner’s grandparents used to have a farm.  The word “Helix” also represents the name of the taster’s choice in escargot, apparently.  The Helix line of wines features some interesting new options, such as Sangiovese and a Merlot Rosé.  Every good winery needs a gimmick, and the Helix wines provide that marketing focus for Reininger.

But the portfolio at Reininger really shines when you look at the Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot releases made from Walla Walla Valley fruit.  The first Reininger releases in 1997 were Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc, all of which featured varying levels of each of these varietals in the blends.  In 1999, Reininger folded some Syrah into their offerings, with a 100% Carmenère release close behind.  Lately they have also released a Chardonnay/Pinot Gris blend named “Helix Aspersa,” one of the specific species of escargot that we all enjoy.  Seriously.  I love escargot.

Back to the Cabernet Sauvignon.  In my opinion, this is Reininger’s big gun, so to speak.  Although their other wines (particularly their Merlot) regularly receive awards and industry tasting scores of 90+, it was their 1998 Cabernet Sauvignon release that put them on the map with a 90-point score in Wine Spectator and a couple of gold and double gold awards from local wine competitions.  The 1999 Cabernet Sauvignon hit 93 points in Wine & Spirits, while the 2000 release earned 4 stars from Decanter.  Wine & Spirits gave the 2001 93 points yet again, while the 2002 earned 91 points from that source and 90 points from Wine Advocate.  Clearly, the national wine media pay attention when Reininger releases a Cabernet Sauvignon.

The 2002 vintage is the wine that I decided to try for this Wine Blogging Wednesday tasting.  The 2002 is 14.2% alcohol and features a blend of 92% Cabernet Sauvignon gathered from three Walla Walla vineyards: Ash Hollow, Pepper Bridge, and Seven Hills.  The remainder of the blend is comprised of 5% Cabernet Franc and 3% Carmenère.  No Merlot to be found.  That might make all the difference, as it turns out.

In terms of cooperage and aging, the 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon uses a small percentage (4%) of Russian oak to go with the primarily French oak, in which the wine resides for just under 2 years.  The barrels are split almost evenly between used and new wood, with slightly more used than new.  I like this approach because the balance of used oak softens the flavors a little in contrast with the new oak.  I’m not sure what sort of toast they use at Reininger; frankly, that’s the sort of absurd trainspotter detail that I find interesting mostly because I like barrels.  Strange, I know.  If you are interested in the toasting process, here’s a decent article explaining why Chardonnay had such a backlash recently.

Okay, enough about toast.  What about the wine?  Will it live up to my high, seemingly California-centric standards?  Have I finally found the Washington State Cabernet Sauvignon that makes me want to come back for more?  Or will I be disappointed again by a mouthful of acid and bitterness?  Read on for my notes on this 2002 Reininger Walla Walla Valley Cabernet Sauvignon:

• Aroma: A complex medley of blackberry, cassis, black cherry, smoky leather, dark chocolate nibs, and coffee.  Very enticing, rich aroma that filled the room when I opened the bottle.  Impressive start.
• Flavor: Lush blackberry jam, black currant, and blueberry notes with supple tannins and firm but accessible acidity.  A well-balanced wine right out of the bottle, surprisingly enough.  Over time I got more of the wild strawberry essence that was promised on the winery Web site; I think this flavor is caused by the acidity peeking through the black fruit curtains, so to speak.
• General impression: Eureka!  A Washington State Cabernet Sauvignon that speaks my language.  I’m impressed.

The verdict?  We have a winner!  The 2002 Reininger is wonderful, and well worth the $37 I paid.  It’s a serious wine, weighty but accessibly light and fruity without the need for decanting.  Now that was shocking to me; I have become accustomed to decanting young wines.  But this one is ready to go once you pop the cork.  I like that.  I also like the fact that this wine features primarily Cabernet Sauvignon and no Merlot.  Most of the other Washington Cab blends I’ve had featured Merlot, sometimes in significant quantities.  Perhaps Washington Cabernet Sauvignon grapes simply blend better with Cabernet Franc and Carmenère?  I assume that smoky leather aroma came from that dash of Carmenère; it’s quite a nice addition to the bouquet.

So as Wine Blogging Wednesday #34 winds down for me, I must say that my faith in Washington State Cabernet Sauvignon has been restored.  And I didn’t need to spend $100 to restore my faith, either.  All I had to do was try a little harder to find a wine that I liked.  For me, Reininger fit the bill!

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.

I’m a database lover.  I keep all of my tasting notes and purchases in a spreadsheet.  I have done this sort of thing since I was about 4 years old when I received my first savings account register and some shares in GE.  I liked to track my minuscule dividend and interest payments, along with the perceived values of everything I owned that might be collectible.  Scary stuff to see for my parents, no doubt.

Now, as I ponder which Washington State Cabernet Sauvignon I should try for Wine Blogging Wednesday #34, I hit upon an idea.  I wondered which WA Cabs were rated highest by the community at CellarTracker.com.  So I ran a database query or two and came up with some interesting statistics:

• There are 2,550 separate tasting notes for Washington State Cabernet Sauvignon wines (excluding notes written for spoiled bottles but including notes without comments, just ratings).
• Of the wines that rate 97 points and above, all but one are from Quilceda Creek.  The only other wine that made it into the ratings stratosphere was a bottle of 2001 L’Ecole No. 41.
• There are 480 separate tasting notes for Quilceda Creek wines, nearly double the number of notes for any other WA Cab producer (Chateau Ste. Michelle is second with 258 notes and Columbia Crest is third with 257 notes).
• The average Quilceda Creek rating, among those reviews that include ratings, is 93.2 points on the 100-point rating scale.  Next best is Boudreaux Cellars at 92.9 points/review on average.  Creighton topped out at 95 points, but that was for one rating only.
• Boudreaux, Walla Walla Vintners, Betz Family, Ross Andrew, Soos Creek, Stevens, Pepper Bridge, Fielding Hills, and Fidelitas all have average ratings of 90+ points across all Cabernet reviews.  No other wineries scored that high across 10 reviews or more (Reininger came close with 9 scored reviews and a 90.1-point average).

Interesting, eh?  I realize that CellarTracker isn’t the authoritative site for determining which Washington Cabernet Sauvignon I should drink for WBW #34.  For example, a bottle of Kestrel received a score of 78, which probably hurt their chances at getting into the 90+ club shown above.  Abeja also missed the cut with an average score of 89.5 points per Cab review.

So, which wine will I try?  That’s the essential question, and I’m still not sure.  The best balance of high scores in reviews and sheer quantity of reviews is clearly Quilceda Creek.  Betz Family is a distant second, and from there the field clumps up again, with Pepper Bridge and Ross Andrew receiving the most reviews and highest average points.  The problem is that Quilceda Creek wines cost too much, Betz Family wines are also expensive and really young, and I tried a bottle of Pepper Bridge once before and didn’t really get too thrilled about it.  That leaves Ross Andrew as a possibility, but their wine comes from the Columbia Valley for the most part, and I’d rather try a Cab sourced from elsewhere in the state.

Ho hum.  Back to the drawing board, perhaps?

When I saw the theme for WBW #34, I got excited.  I was excited because I live in the Seattle, WA area, so I know a thing or two about Washington wines.  I went to school with the daughters of at least two renowned Washington winemakers.  I grew up watching my parents drink local wines and going to wine stores to examine shelf talkers and buy cases for the hidden wine cellar in our basement.  And as I have come of age in the Seattle area, I have tasted quite a variety of Washington wines, Cabernet Sauvignon and otherwise.  I have also visited a number of the best Washington State wineries, tasted their wares, and had a great time in the bargain.

But I was also nervous about WBW #34.  Why?  Well, mostly because I have tried so many Washington wines and felt let down by the vast majority of the WA Cabernet Sauvignon wines that I tasted.  More on that topic in a minute.

So, for this Wine Blogging Wednesday, I took the spirit of the challenge to heart: I wanted to review the Washington State Cabernet Sauvignon wines that I had tried to date, and I wanted to find a new one to taste that would set my pulse racing, so to speak.  I have a few such wines in mind, all of which I need to buy first.  But let’s take a stroll down memory lane and see which Washington Cabernets I have tried in the past 18 months:

• 2002 Abeja Reserve - I enjoyed this wine quite a bit, although at $70+ I would expect to enjoy it even more than I did.
• 2001 Woodward Canyon “Old Vines” - Consumed from a magnum, decanted for a while, thin and bland.  Very disappointing.
• 2003 Cadence Ciel du Cheval - Weird, not good at all, either it needed lots of decanting or a lot more time in the cellar.  Again, very disappointing.
• 2003 Powers, 2002 Seven Hills, 2003 L’Ecole No. 41 Perigee, 2001 Terra Blanca Onyx - I had all of these in one night and the Terra Blanca stood out as the best, possibly because it was 41% Merlot and somewhat less dry and tannic than the rest.  The others ranged from drinkable to bland and boring.
• 2003 Pepper Bridge - Left me flat.  Once again, a disappointing wine, even after lots of decanting.
• 2004 Arlington Road Monolith - Decent, but too young yet.  Fairly expensive, too.
• Summary - Out of nine different Cabernet Sauvignon wines, I would definitely enjoy drinking two of them again: the Abeja Reserve and the Terra Blanca Onyx.  As for the other seven, I would give one or two another chance, probably.  That’s not a good sign.

In the same period of time, I drank six different California Cabernet Sauvignon wines (excluding a seventh that was corked); of those, I would drink all six of them again.  Four in particular were really worthwhile…of course, that assessment includes a bottle of 1997 Joseph Phelps Insignia.  Still, the odds are in California’s favor so far. 

I think about this issue a lot.  Perhaps California Cabernet Sauvignon is a palate preference of mine: I know the Harlan Estate and Hestan Cabernets that I have tried in the past utterly blew me away.  Perhaps I need to lower my expectations of Washington Cabernets, as I do like some of them.  Perhaps I am tasting the wrong Washington State wines, although I do love some of the other varietals grown in this state, and I like the resulting wines a lot more than the WA Cabernets.  I guess WBW #34 is my chance to change my own mind about Washington State Cabernet Sauvignon. 

I think, until now, I have had two factors working against me:

1. Many of the Washington Cabernets I have tried were either too young, or not decanted long enough first.
2. I don’t like tons of acid in a Cabernet Sauvignon, and young, freshly opened Washington State wines tend to contain more acid than a Coca-Cola.  Yikes.

I’ll do things right this time.  I’ll try to find a WA wine with some age on it, or else I’ll spend some time decanting first based on user reports at CellarTracker.com.  Alexandria Nicole and Kestrel both stand out as possibilities with regard to my options for WBW #34, as I know I like their wines in general.  Cowan also makes some good wines that deserve more attention than they receive.  Or maybe I should go for the jugular and get a bottle of 2003 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon?  At $200 minimum per bottle, perhaps I’ll taste something a little more in my league….

I’m pretty excited about this particular WBW!  It’s an easy one for me in many ways since I live in the Seattle area.  I also grew up in Woodinville for a number of years during my childhood, so I am familiar with Woodinville wine country more than most other Seattleites (sp?). 

So what’s the theme for WBW #34?  Simple: Washington State Cabernet Sauvignon.  Through the Walla Walla Grape Vine is the host for WBW #34, which means this theme makes a lot of sense for her to host. 

I remain unconvinced about WA Cabernet Sauvignon compared to California.  I hope this WBW will help me find a wine I can get behind and advocate to my wine drinking buddies.  Some of the big names in WA Cab Sauv have failed to impress me in the past, though.  We’ll see this time.  I do want to find something a little different; I’m not a fan of Ste. Michelle or Columbia, or any of the other “big box” WA wineries.  There are so many other family affairs that are worth tracking down!

Finally, Poco Wine Room might be a good place to start with regard to finding a good WA Cabernet Sauvignon.  So if you’re wondering where to find a cool WA wine for this challenge, check them out!