West Coast Wine Club - November 2012
Learn the finer points to many of our Wine of the Month Club. Our club wines are expertly researched and selected for quality, value and uniqueness and every one has an interesting history. Here are some of the wines we are offering this month:
Saintpaulia Vintners – Woodinville, Washington
2007 Merlot Yakima Valley
Saintpaulia Vintners was built in 1993 on land adjacent to an 80,000 square foot commercial greenhouse known as Shinoda Floral, Inc. The winery's name was taken from the botanical name for African violets, Saintpaulia, which was the floral's specialty from 1970 to 2002. Winemaker Paul Y. Shinoda, Jr. has held many roles in both private industry and in the public sector, yet his main passion has always been wine. After touring vineyards and refining ideas from some of the finest and most well-respected wineries in Washington, Oregon, California, and the Burgundy and Champagne regions of France, Paul began commercially producing Cabernet Sauvignon in 1994. Saintpaulia Vintners' mission is to produce age-worthy Old World Cabernet Sauvignon. The winery's first vintage, a 1994 Cabernet (released Fall 1998), was produced from Blackwood Canyon Vineyard's grapes that were grown on Red Mountain near Benton City, WA. This site is considered by many to be among the best in the state for Cabernet Sauvignon. To insure the continued success of its mission, Saintpaulia entered into a venture with Blackwood Canyon Vineyards and Cellars to plant both Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes on land "to die for" on Red Mountain. Once again this further solidifies the axiom that great wines are started in the vineyard. Saintpaulia's 2007 Merlot is quite typical for Yakima Valley Merlot with its sweet cherry, berry flavors and complex aromas that include plum, mint, cigar box, and sweet spices. Round, supple tannins make this wine immediately enticing and food friendly. Pair with a wide variety of foods such as pizza, burgers and pot roast.
Chatter Creek Winery - Woodinville, Washington
2007 Syrah Wahluke Slope Clifton Hill Vineyard
Gordon Rawson started making wine as a hobbyist over twenty years ago while he was working for a fine wine distributor in the Seattle area. In 1987, he parlayed his enthusiasm for winemaking into a job at Columbia Winery where he had the opportunity to work with Master of Wine, David Lake. David’s style of management was to have his staff involved in all aspects of the winemaking process that allowed Gordon to both observe and participate in the artistic side of winemaking. Early in 2000, he departed Columbia Winery to focus solely on Chatter Creek. Chatter Creek specializes in handcrafted varietal wines that emphasize the diverse terroir of Washington State. Production is styled after class European wines, focused on the Rhone and Bordeaux varietals. Chatter Creek wines are small lot products from vineyards where Gordon works hand-in-hand with the growers to obtain the best possible fruit. The fruit is gently handled, and fermented in small one-ton fermenters. Chatter Creek wines are aged in seasoned barrels so as to not overwhelm the subtle nuances of the terroir. Gentle technique in the cellar produces elegant wines that are balanced, with classic old world style, and containing new world fruit and finesse. This 2007 vintage is made from 95% Syrah and 5% Viognier. The Syrah block of the Clifton Hill vineyard is only about eight acres in size, and produces elegant and concentrated wines year after year. The Clifton Hill Syrah is traditionally co-fermented with Viognier to create this complex wine where pinpoint balance is the theme. This year’s vintage is dark ruby in color, with a purple rim. The nose is a savory mix of cedar, orange peel, plum and blackberry. The palate finds a warm, weighty attack full of blackberry, plum, grilled meats, dark chocolate, with an underlying minerality that gives way to a high glycerin -- almost creamy -- mid-palate that unfolds into a lingering, sexy, cocoa and port-like finish. Drink now through 2015.
Teftt Cellars - Outlook, Washington
2009 Proprietor's White Columbia Valley
Joel Tefft's dream came true when in 1991 he established Tefft Cellars Winery in eastern Washington's Yakima Valley, the heart of the Columbia Valley's wine country. Since the beginning, he was determined to dedicate his knowledge of the wine-making process to producing distinctive, quality wines. Tefft loves the total experience of living and working here at Tefft Cellars Winery. He loves seeing and helping the vineyards grow; he loves creating wines that express the character of the grapes grown here; and he loves meeting and visiting with people who also love wine -- people who find pleasure in learning about the traditional art of wine-making and its relationship with the land. In the Spring of 2009 Joel sold Tefft Cellars to Paul Tollner and Rhonda Taylor, two people who shared Joel’s passions for quality wine and forging a more rewarding lifestyle for their families. Joel spent the next year introducing the new owners to the seasonal rhythms of the vineyard and winery operations. Their Proprietor's White is made from an every changing blend of Chardonnay, Marsanne, and Riesling. Overall, this is a wine of finesse and subtlety. In the glass, this blend has a beautiful color, clear and shiny. The nose is powerful with a mix of citrus, apples, flowers and honey. The mouth is really fruity with the same flavors of citrus, flowers, lightly sweet and a great evolution to the fatness. The finish is very long with pears, sweet herbs and honey. The wine is ready to be enjoyed now. Served chilled as an appetizer or with soups, Pacific Rim cuisine, grilled white meat, seafood, and fresh fruit.
Back to your shopping cart