Walla Walla Wine Country Part II

Doof Out

I should explain that I like drinking wine; had my share of tasting wine and analyzing them when I was in school.

However, by no means that I considered myself a wine connoisseur.  Tasting impressions were based on my personal preferences!

With that said, the second day, we set out to check out another highly recommended winery Dunham Cellars.

The ground was beautiful and the tasting room had some beautiful art work by the wine maker.

We tasted several red and white wines, however, not too impressed.

Great aromas, great flavors with astringent and sour aftertaste; seemed to be the theme we were getting from most of the wineries.

The one wine I liked was the 2006 Merlot.  It was really smooth with rounded flavors.  Deep with its age and just wonderful to taste.  However, at $75 a bottle, I passed.

Next, we went to Syzygy.  Little tiny store full of Dutch colors blue and orange.
We tasted 4 reds and immediately fell in love with their basic Red Wine, 2008.

It had bright sweet fruit and smooth; made with Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Malbec and Merlot.

The Syrah, Carbernet Sauvignon and Saros blend were getting too strong in tannin and astringency for my liking.

Balboa tasting room was housed in a nice barn, stone-throw away from another winery called Beresen.  Apparently they were different businesses but had the same wine maker.

I loved 2 of the names they gave to their wines — Constrictor and Mith.  Aromas and flavors were great, but very dry for my taste, and just could not get over the astringency tannin and sourness.

Amavi cellars was perched on the hill with gorgeous view of the grounds and vineyards below.  We were only able to taste 3 wines there but I was sold with the very first sip of their Semillon.  Bright, sweet and fruity.  It was wonderful and smooth.

Before lunch, we went to Basel Cellars.

The winery was huge!  We tasted another 5 wines or so.  Nothing stood out.

It was about 1:30pm when we were done with the tastings.  Did not know that it would be hard to find a place for lunch as most businesses closed early on Sundays.  We hurried to The Maple Counter.

Unfortunately when we arrived we were told that they did not serve lunch and we were left with all day breakfast.

I shared a corn beef hash with DH.  It was well prepared albeit a little greasier and saltier than my liking.  Flavor was very good but I could not eat too much since we made eggs and meats for our breakfast that same morning, and really did not feel like sweet dishes.

Went to Graze and ordered a sandwich to go.  I got the pulled pork torta.  It was fantastic!  They toasted the torta and it was crisp.  the pulled pork was wonderfully flavored and moist with a chipotle sauce and avocado.

My friend had the “Sexy Time” Panini, which had chicken breast, bacon and brie.  It was excellent!

On our way home from lunch, we went to L’Ecole.

The tasting room was in an old school-house which was architecturally beautiful.

The wood work inside was intricate.  I wished they open more parts of the building for exploration.

The wines were aromatically fragrant with great flavors, but again very high tannin, sourness and astringency.

I did have a taste of a chocolate Merlot sauce that was available.  It was mostly chocolate with a nice hint of wine flavor.  It was perfect as gift!

Lastly, to round up our trip, we went to Waterbrook.

It was a giant winery and they had many many wines.

We were slated to taste about 6 wines.  A few of which we could only purchase at the winery or exclusive to their wine club only.  They had nice aromas, particularly the white ones, but still a little astringent and sour.

As we walked in, we saw this lovely bottle that I immediately wanted to own!

When we walked up to the counter, I noticed that they had wine refills.

Apparently they had a sustainable line of wines (one red and one white) that utilized the refillable “Villager” bottle.

The shop keeper shared with us that there was no glass recycling in Wall Walla.  It was quite unbelievable, especially with all the wineries around!

I asked about the refill wines, and we also got to taste both the red and white.  I believe it was Viognier.

Landed with the red and the lovely bottle.  It was an easy drink red with bright red berry flavors, surprising clean and crisp.

My friend heard about their Brown line being very good.  We asked to taste that too.

It was delicious.  Complex flavors and low in tannin.

It was a very different attitude at Waterbrook.  It was ok for us to request a taste of something that was not on the tasting list.

I was flat-out rejected at Cougar Crest when I wanted to taste their wine spectator rated products that was not on the list.

Monday was a travelling day.  Stopped at Johnson Orchards again to reload more fruits to bring home.  DH bought a big box of Gala apple by the pound, wonderfully sweet and crisp.  My eyes were still on the peaches!

Walla Walla Wine Country Part I

Doof Out

Spent our Labor Day weekend with friends in WA’s wine country, Walla Walla.
Walla Walla is about 4.5-hour drive away from the Seattle area.  There are many towns known for their agricultural production such as cherries, stone fruits, apples etc.
Particularly, the Johnson Orchards in Yakima had mouth-watering juicy stone fruits.  We had nectarines, white peaches, yellow peaches and pluots.  They were all super sweet.  Housed in a 1916 warehouse, it was a unique stop over.  We also purchased some fruit pies made on site for desserts!

On our first afternoon, we visited Reininger, Cougar Crest, Seven Hills and Trio Vintners wineries.

Reininger came highly recommended from different sources. We were fairly disappointed.
We tasted a Merlot, Syrah and Camenere; a Chardonnay, SoRho and Sangiovese;  and none of them were our taste.

I found the wines all had great aromas, and had very light body, which was expected from the varietal on the list.

The aftertaste of the wines were most unattractive to me. They were all very sour, astringent and bitter. Very high tannin, and not very pleasant.

Cougar Crest carried many wine spectator rated wines.

The ones we tasted were not rated and they were in general light body as well.

I ended up taking a gamble and purchased their Estate Syrah, which was fruity and had a fuller body.

Aftertaste was smoother and much more palatable.  I tasted potential on the Syrah, and hope it would taste better with age.

Next was Seven Hills. Finally we were able to try some great wines.

I loved their Pinot Gris and Riesling. Great fruity aromas of peaches and pears, flavors were great.  Clean and crisp.

I generally like sweeter white wine, the Riesling was definitely in my camp.

The Pinot Gris was lighter but still full of aromatic fruitiness. It was drier and had lighter flavor that was perfect for sipping any time.

We walked into Trio Vintners, which was our unexpected stop on our way to a Café.

This little tasting room had a very hippy feel. We tasted 5 or 6 wines, all reds and I enjoyed them all!

At the end I bought the 2 vintages of Grenache.  Drastically different. 2010 tasted very grapey and smokey; the 2009, bouquet of light red fruits.

There was even a drastic color difference between the 2 vintages. They explained that there were more rain in 2010 that had caused the flavor differences,

I also purchased the Mourvedre.  Never had 100% Mourvedre before.

The shop keeper said that it was mostly used in blends, but they wanted to make a 100% one to get wine drinkers familiar with the grape’s flavor.

It was spicy, fruity and floral at the same time.  Aromas and flavors were wonderful and it was smooth.

Then, one labeled Flash Point.  It was their Reserve Sangiovese.  It was deep and smooth with complex wonderful flavors.  Very easy to drink and palatable.

Lastly, their RIOT blend.  Lovely aromas and surprisingly sweet. They were very smooth and low in tannin. I believe they would age really well.

We mistakenly thought that Oilve Café sold olives which we were going buy for dinner.

Turned out it was a restaurant with some amazing desserts!
We got a lemon bar, chocolate brownie, cream cheese brownie and fruit tart to try.

The lemon bar was lovely.  Tart and sweet balance with a short bread like bottom.
The fruit tart had a nice hard buttery crust.  The fruits were fresh and it had creamy custard.

I preferred more eggy custard flavor, and this one was more cream flavor.
Both the brownies were chocolate-based. Both brownie texture were more cakey than I prefer.

The flavors were good. I wish there were more cream cheese on the cream cheese brownie.

The brownie part had very light chocolate flavor. I wished the chocolate brownie had stronger, denser and bolder chocolate flavor.  It looked better than it tasted.