We arrived at Avennia’s “facility” in Woodinville’s warehouse district, about 30 minutes drive north of Seattle. We use the word “facility” because it is not a tasting room, but a barrel room, winery, office and a little reception area where we tasted their wines. Avennia is not open to the public, but that does not stop them from selling out all of their wines via their mailing list along with wine specialty and high end grocery stores in the Northwest. (You can register on their mailing list here.) As the tasting notes that follow will show, this has become one of the rising stars on the Washington wine scene, producing wines of great finesse and intense flavours.
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Founded on the former site of a blacksmith shop, Forgeron Cellars Winery in Walla Walla takes its name from the French word for blacksmith while at the same time paying homage to winemaker Marie-Eve Gilla’s French heritage.
Natalie McLean is a terrific and prolific wine writer from Toronto (check out http://www.nataliemaclean.com). When she called us up with the opportunity to attend the Australia’s First Families of Wine “Tour de Force” in Vancouver, we jumped at the chance.
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Owner/winemaker Rollin Soles of ROCO Winery
ROCO Winery’s founder and winemaker, Rollin Soles, makes an impression as soon as he walks in the room. We arrived at his tasting room outside of Newberg, at the north end of Oregon’s Willamette Valley, at 9 a.m. for our appointment with him on a rainy Saturday morning in March. Rollin arrives a few minutes later and takes over the room before he says anything. He has a triathlete’s lean body, a big handle bar moustache, broad smile and a twinkle in his eyes that make you think he would have some great stories to tell. Even though he left Texas almost 30 years ago, he still has plenty of a Matthew McConaughy like drawl. We waited for the “allright, allright”… but it never came. Underneath the drawl, and the twinkle and the warmth is an educated, and articulate man who is passionate about wine and is making some of Oregon’s finest Pinot Noir.
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àMaurice Cellars is a recent discovery of ours. The winery flies somewhat under the radar as most of its annual production of 5,000 cases is sold direct from the winery or to select restaurants. The list of restaurants that carry their wines includes the likes of the French Laundry and Per Se. You are unlikely to find a bottle of àMaurice at your local bottle shop, but if you do, grab it!
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