Tempranillo grapes almost ready for harvest.
Spain’s Rioja region is almost exclusively Tempranillo country and is also the area most generally associated with quality Spanish wine. The Tempranillo grape is indigenous to the area and has been harvested there for thousands of years. The wines produced in Rioja are structured but elegant, generally more finessed than those from Ribera del Duero, and will easily stand the test of time in a cellar. Our first stop in Rioja on our trip to Northern Spain with Fine Vintage was Remelluri Winery and we couldn’t have enjoyed a more auspicious introduction to this storied region.
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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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1998 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Medium red in colour with a medium to full body showing some age on the rim. This is a beautiful example of an elegant CDP at its peak. An exquisite floral nose with candied cherry, plum, earth, and spice on the palate. Tons of complexity in this wine and quite enjoyable to see what new characteristic each glass would reveal. One of the wines that made us fall in love with the region and at 19 years old, it’s certainly not breaking down but we don’t think ageing it any longer will make it better—if you’ve got it, drink it!
Excellent+
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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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