Evergreen Family Wines

We recently tasted five from Evergreen Family Wines and all were quite good for their modest prices.  Their various labels were confusing to me though until I went to their website.  There I learned Evergreen is Washington's largest family-owned winery sitting on a 3,000 acre estate with vineyards in the Wahluka Slope and Ancient Lakes AVAs.

Previously known as Ryan Patrick Wines, Evergreen soon acquired Milbrandt Family Wines, Luke, Alki, Simply..., Rhodes, Evergreen, Caliche Estate and 1889.  Not necessarily in that order.  But you get the point - This is a sizable operation.  

At our tasting the best wine on the table by acclamation was the Caliche Albarino.  We thought the best red wine was the 1889 Red Blend and here's a tip for you - Red blends from Washington are usually exceptional for their grape composition, especially when one of the featured grapes is Washington's Syrah.

On a budget?  Try the Simply...Red Blend here in the store at this time.  

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.