1 Wine Dude

Walla Walla Syrah QED? and “Days of WA Future Past”

Posted on by 1WineDude

Has the case for excellent Walla Walla Syrah been definitively demonstrated?  Q.E.D.?

I’m not going to go quite that far.  But I will say that they might be pretty damn close, especially in those cases where the balance beats out the brawn in their Syrah bottlings.

Two wine producers that I encountered recently in Walla Walla (while there for the 2010 Wine Bloggers Conference) in particular made good cases (ha-ha!) for Walla Walla Syrah being the wave of the future; one which officially took part in the WBC activities, and one that didn’t (in fact, their winemaker skipped town during the event).

The first of these was Rasa Vineyards, led by the Naravane brothers who have engineering backgrounds, and are fascinating folks to talk to, provided you can follow their scientific leanings.  They were part of a panel about WA wine at Three Rivers Winery (part of the WBC events), and certainly talked up the potential of Walla Walla Syrah when I asked the panel what they thought the future held given that Walla Walla is still a relatively young wine producing region.

The proof, fortunately, was in the juice, and their appropriately-titled 2007 QED wine, sourced from Walla Walla and Yakima fruit, is powerful, expressive, but balanced; it’s also expensive at $50 – but overall a decent value when compared to more expensive but not-quite-as-solid Syrah-based wines being made elsewhere on the Left Coast.

The second was pretty much the entire portfolio of wines from Rotie Cellars, who were kind enough to host a handful of us bloggers in their downtown Walla Walla tasting room while lunch activities took place during day one of the WBC.  Winemaker Sean Boyd is certainly playing with fire with their wine names (“VdP” for example), which I am sure the French would be none-too-happy about, but he has some Syrah-based wines with significant promise; they might have been some of the most deftly balanced WA reds that I’ve ever tasted.

But with all of this focus on the future going on, the WA wine scene, I quickly learned, would do well not to forget its past…

That lesson in future-past was imparted to me during a post-WBC visit to the home of Wine Enthusiast’s Paul Gregutt, who graciously and generously poured library selections from WA wine’s past for a few bloggers lucky enough to stop by (including the Wine Peeps clan, as well as local Josh Wade and not-so-local Ben Simons).  On the whole, selections from the 1990s had significantly higher percentages of Cabernet Sauvignon and significantly less alcohol than their 2000-era equivalents.

A shining example was the Bordeaux-like (think walnut aromas) Seven Hills 1998 Walla Walla Cabernet, which I continued to come back to over the course of our short visit with Paul, impressed with its depth if dark fruit and pleasing acidity.  Why does Cabernet – especially low-alcohol Cab – seem to be getting shorter and shorter shrift out here? I found myself wondering.  Here was a wine, in the Seven Hills that drank like a cross between Napa and Saint-Julien, was holding up extremely well, and drinking in a beautifully food-friendly way.  If I was going to make wine out here, I’d sure as hell would be happy if it tasted like this, I thought.

Some in Walla Walla are certainly not shying away from Cabernet-based wines, and are shooting for balance, even if their soil and weather rules moderate alcohol levels out of the equation.  Which is where Buty Winery comes in.

 Caleb & Nina Buty Foster have established a small winemaking outfit with an intimate connection to the land in Walla Walla, bringing nearly two decades of experience to bear on the relatively-new venture.  Vines at Buty’s vineyards are planted on an angle to reduce sunburning the vines and fruit, and to help minimize the radiant heat from the large, dark stones that define their vineyard location. Deep, dark wines with personality and good balance are the result, with the alcoholic heat mitigated by good acid structure (a lot like the shade in those vines helps to mitigate the impact of that WA sun).  And most of their reds are Cab-dominant.  I’m hoping that I get a chance to taste some of those wines a few years from now to see if they will uphold the best of the high standards of WA wine ageability set for me by those that I tasted from the 90s.

Cheers!

17 thoughts on “Walla Walla Syrah QED? and “Days of WA Future Past””

  1. Hi, Joe. Don’t mean to be a pain, but you may recall that I worked with Nicole Rivinius to put together our tasting at Rôtie. Initially meant only for me, at the last moment I grabbed you, Remy, Hoke and Emily by your collective collars and dragged you there! A small detail, I know. But… Hey, it’s all good.

  3. 1WD, indeed I keep coming back to that 1998 Seven Hills WWV Cabernet. So much so that the picture of it is the wallpaper on my phone. Such a beautiful expression of fruit and acid. Many people still discuss how Washington wine sits between California and Bordeaux. To me, this was true twelve years ago and you can see it in wines like this. However, it seems to be less and less the case as the wines get bigger and the alcohol levels higher.

    Glad to hear that you got to check out Rotie Cellars. I think Sean Boyd is making some of the most intriguing and unique wine in the Walla Walla Valley. Hard to find low alcohol, low oak Grenache dominated blends in Washington at present. His Southern Blend shows that they have a place here. Caleb Foster at Buty is also making phenomenal wines that just seem to improve with each vintage.

    For your enjoyement, here's a link to a Focus Report I did on Rotie a while back: http://www.wawinereport.com/2009/09/focus-kerloo-… and a post on Rasa Vineyards from last fall: http://www.wawinereport.com/2010/03/rasa-vineyard…

    Good to meet you at WBC.

  4. Yes, that QED was rad, if I may be so eloquent in my description. And detailed discussion about deficit irrigation? Gotta love it. As far as the Rotie goes…well, my palate was pretty burned by the time Remy introduced me to that on Saturday night, but i recall it not completely kicking my teeth in (suggesting balance in my book). The Buty wines I've had before; they poured at Cochon 555 in Atlanta back in May. Was cool to get to see some vineyards where the magic happens, because I did enjoy their wines (not so much that morning…'twas a late Friday night for this guy).

  5. SIX BENEFITS OF MAKING YOUR OWN WINE

    The tradition of making wine is thousands of years old. Wine is a delicious drink, enjoyed internationally, by all socioeconomic classes. Wine unifies people at meals and is known to encourage truth. “In Vino Veritas” or “In Wine Truth” goes the Latin saying. But why make it yourself?

    Pinch your pennies. Buying wine at retail is expensive. Sin taxes are large ones. When you make your own wine, it is taxed as a food product, and the savings are passed on to you. Why not make great tasting wine for 1/4 to 1/3 of what you’d pay at retail?

    Fewer Chemicals. Homemade wine contains less than 1/5th the preservatives of commercially produced wines. Many people react to commercially produced wines because it can contain up to 350 parts per million of sulphites. Homemade wines tend to contain less than 75 parts per million.

    Drink Wine – Save the planet! You can reuse your own wine bottles for decades. When you make wine, you sterilize and re-use your bottles over and over. This means less landfill or energy used to recycle your used bottles.

    So easy – anyone can do it! Visit your local winemaking shop. They will get you started. Anyone can do it – honestly! Have your winemaking shop do the processing for you or do it at home.

    Consider the health benefits. Drinking a glass of wine a day (especially red) is good for you. It is suggested that one or two glasses of wine per day could help promote a longer life and a stronger heart. Plus, red wine contains antioxidants and resveritrol – known to arrest the aging process.

    It’s a hoot. Wine making is a great excuse to get together with your friends and family. Host a wine tasting. Share batches with friends and loved ones. People love to try new wines and pairing wine with food is easy – simply Goggle “ how to pair wine with food”

    Mark Whalen operates The Wine Butler, a local store where people save money by Wine Making Toronto style! Come check them out at winebutler.ca

  6. Joe, Thanks for stopping by and for the shout out. The Seven Hills was a bottle direct from the winery library, donated by Casey. I'm really glad it showed so well. Hope our paths cross again soon!

  7. Thanks, all! Sorry I've not been in the convo., limited access to Internet and free time here in Greece.

    Ken – thanks for the clarification / correction! You're 100% correct, you guys did drag me to Rotie, and I'm very grateful that you did! :-)

    Cheers!

  9. Ahhh, cheers to great Walla Walla memories (and of course wines)! Totally with you on the QED and Buty wines – I uber-enjoyed the Buty white Bordeaux blend during the 'speed tasting' and visiting their vineyard was icing on the cake. Officially in search of their wines at the local wine shop…

    1. @napanewbie – can't say I recall the Buty white blend, but then speed-tasting isn't conducive to total recall, I suppose :-).

      1. Ah yes, I do agree there :-) I could barely get out one tweet for each wine. The wine was their Sémillon, Sauvignon & Muscadelle blend, and I do recommend should come across it. BTW, this is Julie C. in Napa – just noticed that I was logged in under an old Google name when I posted…although given it's only two years since I've moved to Napa, I think 'newbie' still qualifies :-)

Comments are closed.