Brynn writes:
This week we’re taking a look at Bainbridge Island winemaker Matt Albee’s Petit Verdot.
Albee’s winery, Eleven, was the second winery to open on Bainbridge Island. He now has a tasting room in Winslow and downtown Poulsbo, and a recent email sent out to his email list indicates they’re moving the winery from the garage of their house “just down the road” to an expanded facility. Sounds like it will open after harvest this fall.
Albee gave us a bottle of his Petit Verdot as a thank you for helping with crush last fall, and we decided it would be a great wine to bring to the wine and food tasting we held this past weekend on Bainbridge Island. If you remember, Mary and I put ourselves up for auction at the Master Gardener’s auction earlier this year. After some successful bidding, our auction item was purchased for $275. That included a tasting for eight people and food pairings for each wine.
Because we were purchased by a Bainbridge Island couple, and many of their guests were from North Kitsap, we wanted to make sure we had some Bainbridge wines in the mix. We used Albee’s Petit Verdot to show an example of a grape that is often blended in Bordeaux wines and rarely used on its own.
The wine is a deep purple color and was surprisingly complex. Sometimes I forget that blending wines aren’t boring and can actually stand up on their own without the help of other grape varietals. The flavor was rich with dark berry fruits and hints of chocolate. It’s a great wine for any meat dish — Albee says on his label, anything “gamey” goes with the wine, and I’d definitely agree. We served it with bone marrow sliders that included three different cuts of beef. It matched up perfectly.
The wine is available at either of the tasting rooms or via Albee’s website.
Just to nitpick: only BIVW & PV are estate BI wines.
Andrew,
Thanks for the comment. I’m sorry if my post wasn’t clear, but I don’t think anywhere in there that I gave the impression that Eleven was growing the grapes on Bainbridge Island.
Saying a winery is located on Bainbridge Island is not the same as saying that they grow their grapes on the island. I try to make it clear when I write or talk about the wineries that Bainbridge Island Vineyards and Winery and Perennial Vintners are the two wineries that grow their grapes on Bainbridge.
Traditionally grapes like Petit Verdot don’t grow well in the Puget Sound AVA climate, and instead do much better east of the mountains, which is where Matt Albee gets his grapes.
I guess now I’m nitpicking, but I don’t think my post would lead anyone to think Albee’s PV came from Bainbridge. He sources his grapes from Eastern Washington and makes the wines at his winery that is located in his garage.
Brynn
Reporter