Cheers To You

We’re finally coming into one of our favorite seasons: summer.

And why do we love summer so much? Beyond the obvious — sunshine, duh! — we like our increased cooking options (read: we love to grill).

Pairing wine with grilling recipes is fun because the selection is vast — many reds, and even some whites, are great accompaniments to food touched by a grill.

For this week’s pairing we wanted to ignore the go-to wines and instead recommend a varietal you might not be familiar with. The wine we’re thinking of is considered the backbone of many wines from one of our favorite wine regions in France, the Rhone Valley. But it likely originated in Spain.

It’s also a grape that has done well in Washington, especially in the Walla Walla area.

So what grape are we talking about? None other than Grenache.

Typically you’ll find Grenache in red blends that include syrah, mourvedre, cinsault and carignan. (Think France’s Chateauneuf-du-Pape). But we’ve seen a trend among Washington winemakers to use Grenache as a stand-alone variety.

That’s great for us wine lovers because this grape, if done right, is a perfect food wine. It’s also a great choice to match with Ann Vogel’s Persian beef shish kebabs and her Filipino barbecued port kebabs.

Grenache is a good red for summer because it is light enough for a warm evening, but holds the weight and structure needed to stand up to the range of flavors a grill can infuse on food.

Flavor characteristics of Grenache include fruits like blackberries and black currants, white pepper, allspice and cinnamon. It’s a wine that doesn’t need a lot of oak, but if oak is used it can add hints of vanilla and even smoke depending on how toasted the inside of the barrels are.

There are a number of Washington wineries that produce great Grenaches. Here’s a few to look out for the next time you’re in the store: Maison Bleue, Milbrant Vineyards, Alexandria Nicole Cellars, Barnard Griffen Winery, Novelty Hill and McCrea Cellars.

We also recommend Trio Vintners, which we tried while at Taste Washington earlier this year. Winemaker Karen LaBonte lets the wine sit for 21 months in barrels with minimal new oak, which allows the grape’s flavors to shine instead of being muddled by oak.

The wine is listed at $26. The only hitch is it’s not available in Kitsap, but if you’re in Seattle it’s available at the Sixth Avenue Wine Cellar in the Pacific Place shopping center downtown or at Esquin Wine and Spirits, 2700 Fourth Avenue South in downtown Seattle.

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Mary writes:

I confess. When it comes to where to plant wine grapes, I’m not the visionary that David Lake, MW was. I scoffed at the idea of planting Syrah back in 1989 when Lake produced Washington’s first Syrah. After all, Washington was the land of Cab and Merlot.

At this year’s Taste Washington I found out while sipping Proper Wines’ 2010 Syrah that Syrah has grown from 800 tons in 1999 — the first year it made the stat sheet — to 11,800 tons harvested last year.

After visiting the famed La Chapelle Vineyard in France’s Rhone Valley, Lake had this vision. By 2009, when Lake went to the great vineyard in the sky, Syrah was the third most widely planted red wine varietal.

Syrah is one of the world’s most diverse grape varieties, displaying a myriad of flavors. It can be floral, peppery, barnyardy, leathery, plummy, smoky and/or herbaceous depending on how old it is and terrior.

It grows best in hot, rocky climates such as the Rhone Valley, Sunny Spain, and the desert regions of California, Australia and Eastern Washington.

And that brings me to the wine of the day from Sunny Spain’s Castilla La Mancha wine region located in the southern half of a hot, dry plateau. Famous for Manchego cheese, Don Quixote and very fine wine.

Finca Sandoval Manchuela 2004, a blend of mostly Syrah and a dab of Monastrell and Bobal. It had been relaxing in my cellar, when a special occasion arose suddenly.

We popped it open and immediately the room was filled with aromas of violets, pepper, licorice, and cassis, which was surprising in itself because of the age. This wine has all the marks of a far more expensive Northern Rhone wine. It had intensity, velvety mouthfeel, wonderful balance and a finish of licorice, cassis and Asian spices.

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Mary writes:

Looking for a good bargain wine? You’ve come to the right place.

Being a seeker of great wine for under $10, I highly recommend wines from the northeast quarter of Spain known as Campo de Borja. This region is a Denominación de Origen (DO) with a mild climate, located in the shadow of the mountains of the Sistema Ibérico.

One wine from this area I’d recommend trying is Don Ramon Tinto Barrica 2010. Its color is ruby and has aromas of pepper and raspberries with a jammy raspberry flavor. It’s an easy drinking a blend of 75 percent grenache and 25 percent Tempranillo. It retails for $8.

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Brynn writes:

What a delicious, fragrant wine. I’ve not had Canoe Ridge before, so I was more than pleasantly surprised when I tried the cab.

The nose is fragrant and bold with a lingering sweetness. Flavors of black cherry and cedar follow with vanilla notes lingering on the finish.

I’ve decided I like cabs that have the juicy fruit notes and where the oak is noticeable on the finish. Cabs that leave my mouth puckered and feeling dry, while I might enjoy them, are not my first choice. (Of course I am sure that one day I’ll have a cab like this that will prove me wrong).

What I like about the Canoe Ridge cab is it is approachable. I can tell there’s a lot of flavors mingling, which keeps me wanting more without overwhelming my mouth.

This is a concentrated wine with spicy oak notes — it’s aged in barrels for 18 months. The barrel breakdown includes 7 percent new French oak, 7 percent new American oak and 2 percent new European oak.

Canoe Ridge is part of the Precept Wine group, which describes itself as the largest privately owned wine company in the Northwest. They own Sagelands, Canoe Ridge Vineyards, House Wine, Washington Hills, Red Knot and Waterbrook, to name a few.

The grapes that make up the Canoe Ridge cab — a blend of 85 percent cab, 15 percent merlot — come from the Canoe Ridge Vineyards’ estate vineyard which is situated along the Columbia River. Being this close to the river allows for longer time on the vine because the river moderates the temperature. Natural ridges around the vineyard also shelter the vines, keeping the wind out and damaging hard freezes at bay during the winter.

We found the bottle at Fred Meyer, so it’s readily available. It’s around $15 to $18.

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Brynn writes:

Struggling for ideas to surprise the love (or love interest) of your life this Valentine’s day? Look no farther than Bainbridge Island.

The winemakers that have put the island on the wine tour map are opening their doors for a Valentine’s day-themed wine tasting event Feb. 16 and 17. The weekend also coincides with the release of some of the wineries latest wines.

Here’s a list of the tasty treats they plan to serve:

• Amelia Wynn: Artisanal chocolates paired by the winemaker
• Eagle Harbor: Chocolates handmade by a Pasticceria of the Scuola di Arte Culinaria Cordon Bleu
• Eleven: Super-secret chocolate plans are afoot at Eleven
• Rolling Bay: Taste through a delicious line up of Theo Chocolates paired with our wines
• Perennial Vintners: Chocolatier Keith Jackson of Yukon Jackson’s chocolates will be serving several of his creations, including his Perennial Frambelle chocolate truffle

Also of note: Fletcher Bay winery will be closed because they are moving to a new location set to open in March.

The wineries are open both days, noon to 5 p.m. To see driving directions visit their collective website.

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Mary writes:

This weekend is the second-annual wine release party at Mosquito Fleet Winery in Belfair (21 Od Belfair Highway) and we highly recommend you make the visit. From 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. the winery will be open for people to taste the six newly released 2010 wines, paired with chocolates, cheeses and listen to live music. The cost is $10 but it’s waived with a wine purchase.

Brian Petersen of Mosquito Fleet Winery invited us to barrel taste these wine twice now, and we’re grateful for this learning opportunity.

Barrel tastings are more about the grape than the final blend in the bottle. It’s wine in a basic elemental state, still showing all of its angular youthfulness. What the final blend will taste like at this point is left to imagination and many months of tasting and blending until the winemaker has achieved the final product.

Barrels are one of the tools that winemakers use to spice up the wine. Barrels, in addition to a few other techniques, are sort of the salt and pepper of the winemaking world.

The staves of the barrel are generally toasted to some degree. Light, medium, medium plus and heavy are the different levels of toast that a winemaker will ask for when ordering barrels. The barrel heads are also sometimes toasted. With “toasted heads” more flavors are imparted in to the wine.

With barrel toasting, strong tannins aren’t as easily extracted while the wine ages in the barrel. Considering some tannic, heavy reds may spend two to three years in a barrel, judicious use of oak is needed.

Our first invite to attend a barrel tasting at Mosquito Fleet was last spring. Brynn was unable to attend because she’d just had the baby, so I went down solo. It was one of nicest, educational barrel tastings I’ve attended. Six months later we were invited back — this time Brynn came along, and so did the baby — and it gave me the chance to taste what six months of aging did for the wine before the final blend and bottling.

The following are notes from the spring and fall tastings:

2010 Pepperbridge Cabernet: We began with this in the barrel which was 100 percent cabernet sourced from Walla Walla’s Pepperbridge Vineyard. Winemaker Brian Petersen planned to eventually blend it with a little cabernet franc before bottling. This medium-bodied wine had a bracing amount of acidity with raspberry fruit. It was aging in a barrel with medium plus toast on its staves and barrel heads.

2010 Syrah: In barrel more body, less chunk; bright raspberry fruit and nice spicy finish. Very bright.

2010 Syrah: This was blended with 19 percent mourvedre and 7 percent cabernet. In puncheon saturated color. Stinky nose, nice up-front fruit; thick with an astringent finish.

2010 Petite Verdot: In barrel with minor amounts of mourvèdre and syrah. Bready nose up front from aging sur-lie. Brilliant purple robe, long legs, spicy raspberry with a hint of herbs and spice. The nose needs to develop.

2010 Cab Franc:From Pepperbridge Vineyard. In barrel there was of raspberry and black berry fruit. Soft. Not the final blend.

2010 Meritage: In the barrel there was 100 percent cabernet from Pepperbridge Vineyard. Pepperbridge fruit adds some bracing tannins that will soften with age. Brix at harvest was 24.2 with a PH of 3.8 and alcohol 13.9 percent. Elevage for 22 months on new French oak with a small amount of  American oak. Beautiful nose of red and black fruits, nice balance, medium-bodied with a red fruit finish and a bit of mocha.

Touriga Nacional Port 2010: Made with two of the six port grapes — 82 percent Touriga Nacional and 18 percent Tinta Roriz from Two Mountains Vineyard on Elephant Mountain. Brix at harvest was 23.5 with a PH of 3.81 and alcohol of 21 percent RRS 8.6 percent. Elevage 24 months on French oak; bottled November 2012. There are 72 demi cases 6/500ml. Black-red color, sweet nose with caramel and alcohol, black cherry. This is a thick rich, well-balanced, fabulous wine.

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By now the 12th Man has probably cried all he’s going to cry into his beer — or in our case wine — over the Seahawks heartbreaking loss to Atlanta two weeks ago.

Still, watching the Super Bowl will be rough in light of how close the Hawks came, and knowing their full potential wasn’t reached. So, yes, we plan to do a little drowning of our sorrows as we watch San Franscico take the field Sunday.

We also plan to do our fair share of eating Super Bowl goodies like Ann Vogel’s Pizza Balls.

Filled with cheese and pepperoni, and of course marinara sauce for dipping, this finger food is a petite Italian meal. That’s why we think an Italian Chianti is the best wine to wash it down.

Chianti is a great go-to wine when looking for a red wine that can stand up to tomato-heavy dishes. It also does great withe meat, which is why it’s a perfect match for these pepperoni-stuffed treats.

To be labeled Chianti, the grapes used to make the wine must be entirely sourced from any of the eight subregions of Chianti, a denominazione di origine controllata, or DOCG. The wine must also be made of at least 75 percent Sangiovese.

The beautiful thing about Chianti is you don’t have to spend a small fortune to get a good bottle locally. In fact most every store in our area carries multiple labels, many from Itlay.

For this recipe we recommend Da Vinci’s Chianti.

This Italian winery uses grapes from the Chianti region, fusing experience and modern winemaking techniques to produce a fruit-forward wine that is soft across the palate. The winery’s goal is to highlight the Sangioveses characteristics, while minimizing acidity to keep bitter and astringent flavors often found in traditional Chiantis out of the wine.

The wine has aromas of cherries and red fruit balanced by soft, round tannins. The winemaking techniques to produce a round mouth feel are evident. One sip and its smooth finish leaves you wanting more.

The winery produces three Chiantis: Chianit, Chianti Classico and Chianti Riserva.

The Chianti, likely the cheapest of the three, starts around $11.

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Brynn writes:

At the first Taste Washington event we went to a couple years ago, Mary and I stopped at the Two Mountain Winery table.

Mary knew one of the brothers who founded the winery from her days at the wine shop, so we had a great time chatting with him about the winery and upcoming releases.

My editor had also brought the winery to my attention, telling me she really enjoyed the Riesling Two Mountain produces. So when I was at the grocery store the other day and saw a Two Mountain red blend, I decided it was time to give them a try.

The blend is the winery’s Hidden Horse Red Table Wine VIII, which is a Bordeaux blend. The bottle doesn’t give a breakdown of the grapes used, but the finish sang of Cabernet Sauvignon, leaving me to believe that was the dominate grape varietal.

The winery has its previous blend, the Hidden Horse VII, on its site. Here’s what they say about that wine:

A red blend for the ages. This is a great red for almost anytime. Thirty-nine percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 37 percent Merlot, 15 percent Cabernet Franc, 6 percent Syrah, and 3 percent Malbec has created a great combination of elegance, structure, approachability. With wafts of boysenberry, blackberry, and a hint of white pepper then working into a mouth containing dark rich plum, over ripe bramble berries, sweet spice, and rich tobacco leaves. What a gem!

I’m guessing the break down of grape percentages is relatively similar, although maybe no Syrah in the Hidden Horse VIII blend — I didn’t catch any of the jammy notes that could come with Syrah. This was a great every day red wine and paired well with the potato soup I made from a combination of russet and Yukon gold potatoes and roasted cauliflower florets.

The wine retails between $15 and $20. I think we bought it closer to the $15 mark.

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Brynn writes:

Between sips of sparkling wine on New Year’s Eve I had a chance to try a small amount of Walla Walla favorite L’ecole No. 41 Winery’s 2009 Apogee.

This red wine is sourced from Pepper Bridge Vineyard and has been a regular fixture at the winery since 1993. It’s the winemaker’s attempt at capturing the vineyard’s “distinctive and characteristic spicy bold aromas, dark fruit flavors, robust tannins and rich structure,” according to the L’ecole website.

I’ve tried a handful of wines that have been made from Pepper Bridge Vineyard lots and almost always I’ve felt the flavor was powerful — in some cases more powerful than I would regularly want to drink. That is my preference, and of course a lot depends on the winemaker and the winemaking style they choose when making the wine.

I really enjoyed the 2009 Apogee. Where other Pepper Bridge blends have left my mouth feeling astringent and harsh, this was round and warm on the finish. The wine is aged in 100 percent small French oak barrels, 50 percent of them new, with
five rackings over 22 months, according to the website.

The wien carried the weight and depth of the complex vineyard flavors, but left me wanting to refill my glass once it was empty (I didn’t though because I was waiting for the countdown to pop the cork for 2013).

L’ecole describes the wine:

This bold, sophisticated and complex wine has dark, brooding aromas of game and spice with hints of sweet tobacco and leather. Dense dark fruit is wrapped in nuances of smoke, cocoa and mint with firm tannins on a persistent finish.

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