The tasting room at Leonetti Cellar
Leonetti Cellar, located in Washington’s Walla Walla Valley AVA, makes some of the most collected, sought-after, recherché, and praised wines in America. The term “cult winery” seems to be a uniquely American term (we don’t know of any Bordeaux or Burgundy cult wineries) that refers to wineries whose wines are available only via mailing list and have received huge scores and praise from the wine press at large. By those measures, certainly Leonetti would be considered as one of America’s cult wineries.
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The first vintage of Woodward Canyon Old Vines Cabernet Sauvignon
When one talks about Washington wine, the name Woodward Canyon is bound to come up. The winery, along with Leonetti Cellar is credited as one of the founding wineries in a region finally getting its due on the world wine stage. When you’re one of the very first wineries to establish yourself in a relatively new wine region, maintaining a level of quality amongst many up and coming formidable peers can be a challenge. Woodward Canyon has not only produced outstanding wine for more than 35 years, they’ve built a lasting legacy that shows no signs of slowing down. Not content to rest on their laurels of simply being one of the “originals”, they continue to look ahead and set the bar in terms of quality and sustainability.
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Within the larger Columbia Valley American Viticultural Area (“AVA”), sitting at its southern end and straddling the Washington/Oregon border sits the Walla Walla AVA. Roughly 57% of its area is in Washington with the balance in Oregon. AVAs are delimited by homogenous soil and climatic characteristics and ignore political boundaries. But Walla Walla is the only AVA that crosses a state border.
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2001 Woodward Canyon Old Vines Cabernet Sauvignon
Remarkably youthful for a wine that is 16 years past the vintage. Drinking wonderfully now, but there is still enough fruit and structure for another 5, maybe 10 years of good drinking. Dark fruits, cassis, blackberry and blueberry mix with subtle notes of cedar, tobacco, and herbal notes to make for a very complex Cabernet. The tannins are present but ripe and the overall texture of the wine is very smooth with just enough acidity/tannin to keep it from becoming too polished. There is a Bordeaux-like quality to the dry finish, not quite austere, but not the plushness that often comes with wines from the New World, which allows the complexity to really grab your attention. The finish goes on and on. Very sophisticated, very classy.
Excellent/Extraordinary
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The tasting bar at Januik Winery in Woodinville.
We pulled up to the Novelty Hill-Januik tasting room in Woodinville, Washington on a warm sunny afternoon; the kind of bright day that really shows off the beauty of this spectacular facility. The design is simple: rectangular shapes made of just concrete, glass and wood. But that simplicity brings a sophisticated elegance to the space, the high ceilings create a feeling of airiness and the clean lines show efficiency. The main room is dominated by the long rectangular tasting bar with a fire place and couches at one end. It is a comfortable and beautiful place to relax and taste wine.
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