Washington State

We've featured Washington wines in our last two tastings so maybe it's time we dig into what makes them so special.  The Columbia Valley wine appellation is, essentially, the wine industry of Washington.  It covers 11+ million acres which translates into 99% of the state's total vineyard acreage.  Yeah, that's pretty much the whole deal.  It covers 1/4 of Washington's total acreage and even extends down into Oregon.  

The appellation lies between the 46th and 47th parallels making it the same latitude as Burgundy and Bordeaux in France, the finest wine appellations in the world.  Significantly, Washington gets two more hours of sunlight than California and at the higher latitude, the diurnal temperature shift (day to night) is more pronounced giving you riper fruit with better structure and acidity.  That temperature shift in Washington is typically 30-50 degrees.

Only 6-8 inches of rain fall annually in Washington's wine country which means drip irrigation is needed but that's better than getting too much rain.  The soils are derived from volcanic activity long ago leaving basalt, gravel and loess to grow your vines in.  Again, when vines struggle in these seemingly less favorable soils, the tap root has to dig deeper, usually bringing about a more complex wine.

There are 18 smaller wine appellations within the Columbia Valley appellation.  Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Chardonnay and Riesling are the main varieties there but there are so many other proven winners there.  Merlot and Syrah in particular excel in Washington and the wine appellation to get the best reds is Red Mountain.  

Pinotage

This isn't exactly new territory for us, having written about Pinotage here several times, but we just got in a case of Ken Forrester Petit Pinotage so we might as well plug it.  

One of our favorite wine comments of all time has to be - Cheap Pinot Noir ought to be illegal.  No beating around the bush there.  If you want Pinot Noir, the most magical of wine grapes, you're gonna have to pay for it.  Ain't no two ways about it.  So what's a pinot guy on a budget supposed to do?

Well, you find alternatives.  Like other lighter reds that have enough finesse to reach the quality threshold you need.  Italy is a good place to start.  Or southern France.  Or maybe, just maybe, South African Pinotage.  

Why would we hesitate with Pinotage?  Because, like Zinfandel, the versatile Pinotage grape can be made into a variety of styles most of which are big and rich.  We've always felt the lighter styled Forrester Petit Pinotage was acceptably Pinot Noir-like.

Pinotage is a hybrid grape created in South Africa by crossing Pinot Noir with that industry's workhorse grape, Cinsault.  Cinsault, itself, is a lighter variety that makes a charming light red on its own.  With earthy red berry and plum flavors it wouldn't be mistaken for pinot but the Forrester Pinotage just might.

Pinotage is the second most widely planted grape in South Africa after Cinsault and like we said, it's usually made into a big rich, full-bodied red.  The tage part of Pinotage is an homage to Hermitage, an earlier South African name for Syrah which is what many think Pinotage tastes like.  So if the Forrester style really is pinot-like then it is definitely an outlier to the type.

When Good People Disagree

He is about thirty years younger than me, so a generation or so.  I came of age wine-wise close to fifty years ago.  Both of us are in the business so we both know our way around the wine tasting table but a week ago we disagreed profoundly on the wines we were tasting.  

This is a vendor I trust completely, by the way.  I let him write his own orders for me when he has a push on something he thinks would work here.  So I was very surprised by the conversation assessing the merits of the Chilean wines we were tasting.  I started by remarking that the wines were forward and aiming for the California palate.  He added commentary about their richness and compared them to the French model and here's where I think the chasm exists.

Most of the wines on American store shelves are different from those of a couple generations ago.  Not the great estate wines, but those from the worldwide mass marketers.  They know where their bread is buttered and they butter it well.

In the previous post (and probably several others before that) we talked about the many technological improvements in winemaking that have resulted in fresher, more quaffable wines.  Having gotten into wines when I did, I still remember the drier winier wines on the shelf that were consistent with historical European tastes.  I also remember the somewhat rough California field blend reds that had their own charm, albeit in their imperfection.  And then there were the extreme bad examples of the way things were fifty years ago including the somewhat oxidized or cork-tainted fare that was more common than we would like to admit.

So the paradigm shift that has happened in wine tastes means the younger taster only recognizes the cleaned-up model while the older guy remembers the way things used to be.  And that's alright.

Compared to What?

Les McCann and Eddie Harris were a couple of jazz musicians who struck gold in the early 1970s with a crossover hit called Compared to What.  It was an anthem on college campuses when yours truly found himself in that milieu.  The lyrics, like most pop music, don't make sense but what we heard as rebellious youth was confirmation that there was a disconnect between what we were told to believe politically and what we were actually witnessing in the country at that time.  What can I say, it was a different time.  

In a way, the wine world is divided today between historic old Europe with their longer, drier, winier flavors and and new world jammy forward fruit.  They appear to be quite opposite one another.  We here at V&C have taken the position that Old Europe makes dinner wines while California makes cocktail wines.  But that doesn't really cover it either.  If a meal has complex sauces, gravies, stews or soups those longer winier flavors do seem to work best.  If it's hamburgers, steaks or broiled fish then a simpler wine may be better. 

So why do winemakers around the world always compare what they do to the European models?  My Cab is very Bordeaux-like.  My Pinot is very Burgundian.  Implied here in such comments is an acknowledgement that the historic standards for such things are accurate.  The best examples of type are European.

But it gets complicated when you consider all of the technological improvements in winemaking resulting in fresher fruitier wines everywhere and that includes Europe where much of the new technology has been developed.  Today you can taste Euro wines that are indistinguishable from new world fare, so like I said, it gets complicated.

But when you consider personal tastes, which is really what this all comes down to, I'm wondering if the old world/new world scenario as described is even relevant anymore.  Winemakers everywhere are competing for the same worldwide market and they are winning, not by setting themselves off as better than others but by riding the wave of what works now, circa 2026.  

Wine quality today is better than ever so whether you need a dinner accompaniment or just a glass after work, enjoy yourself.  You deserve it.  Compare it to what?  If anything, contrast it to beer or other alternatives.  What the winemaker creates is art compared to those alternatives.

Beringer and Treasury Wine Estates

We've been selling Beringer Knights Valley Cabernet Sauvignon with great success here of late and that has prompted this post.  Beringer is one of California's most iconic brands with its own storied history beginning with family-ownship from 1876 until 1971, which would seem to be the traditional glory days for a winery to us traditionalists...but that was really just the beginning.  

In 1971 Nestle (yes, that Nestle) bought Beringer and held it for twenty years, fifteen years of which overlapped our first fifteen years in the business. But I digress.  In 1996 something called The Texas Pacific Group bought Beringer but sold it four years later to Foster's Group (yes, that would be Fosters Beer.)  They held the company for eleven years selling it to Treasury in 2011, but not completely.  Fosters and Treasury worked out a collaboration much like InBev got by purchasing Anheuser Busch, worldwide distribution.

In 2021 Treasury went on to jettison all of the non-Beringer lower tier labels, keeping the Beringer name, of course, and the winery in St. Helena which they now run.  

Treasury Wine Estates is one of the colossuses of the wine industry today.  Depending on how one calculates these things, it ranks third or fourth in worldwide sales behind Gallo, The Wine Group and perhaps an entity called Castel Freres.  They own 1.2% of worldwide wine sales valued at $434 billion dollars.  Currently their expansion plans include forays into the China market.

Rioja Alta

Rioja Alta, along with Rioja Alavesa and Rioja Oriental, are the three sub-regions of Rioja, Spain's most highly acclaimed wine appellation.  Alta is the westernmost part of Rioja, lying just south of the Ebro River.  What makes this district special are the growing conditions, of course.  The vineyards there are the highest altitude vineyards in Rioja, hence the name, Alta.  The soils are primarily clay and reddish in color from iron and other alluvial components.  

Rioja reds are always elegant in character but the higher altitude Alta vineyards seem to lend color and acidity to the Tempranillo, Garnacha and Graciano grapes grown there.

The reason for this post?  We're hoping you need something really nice to complement your hamburgers or steak tonight because we currently have Taron Rioja Alta Tempranillo in the store at a ridiculously low price if you cite this post.  

Salivating yet?

Touriga Nacional (too-REE-gah nah-see-oh-NAL)

If you like big red wines you need to try this type from Portugal.  Best known for its contribution to the Port apertif blend, Touriga is now finding its place in the greater world of table wines.  And because it is so forthright and assertive, it complements entrees like ribs, brisket, steaks, lamb, stews and barbecue.  If meat isn't your thing, think mushrooms, beans and soups.

Touriga is usually a blender in wines that need a little punch.  It offers depth and structure, body, acidity, color, firm tannins and has a long dry finish.  In other words, it's clicking on all cylinders. In the nose the wine offers lift in the form of fragrantly floral aromas which contrast with the dark berries, black pepper, licorice, plum and earthiness on the palate.

Touriga is indigenous to Portugal and it's planted in unforgiving schisty soils that are more rock-like than traditional soils.  The vineyard yields are small with smallish berries with thick skins which goes a long ways toward explaining the dominant character of the wine described above.

The new world venue most comparable to Portuguese environs is Australia where Touriga has found a home in recent years.  While Portuguese Touriga is savory, earthy, complex and capable of improving for ten to twenty years; consistent with worldwide models everywhere, the Australians make a lighter drink-now style.

Stop in and try some Touriga.  We have good examples of both styles right now.