Auction of Washington Wines 2010: Barrel Auction Adventure

The difficulty in holding a glass of wine, a plate with the leaning tower of cheeses and tweet at the same time is underestimated. I managed to accomplish this feet, only loosing a few chunks of Gorgonzola and spilling on myself once, all for the name of charity and Washington wine.

The Auction of Washington Wines‘ 2010 “A Wine Odyssey” cast their usual star line-up of Thursday’s barrel picnic auction, Friday’s winemaker dinner, Saturday’s Covey Run race along the Burke-Gilman trail following with the grand finale gala event. Altogether, the 23rd annual auction raised $1.4 million for uncompensated care at Seattle Children’s Hospital and the Washington Wine Education Foundation.

As promised through name in the likes of Master of Wine Bob Betz, Executive Chef Bobby Moore of the Barking Frog and “investigative reporter” Jesse Jones of KING 5 News, the Barrel Picnic was just the spectacle I anticipated it to be for my third year in attendance, minus the scorching heat from 2008 and the melancholy drizzle of 2009.

Metropolitan Market 2009 “Selection #3″ White

How many wine months does this state have? Granted, March was “Taste Washington Month,” discreetly differing from its big sister “Washingtone Wine Month” in this blessed 31-day span.

Duh.

For Washington Wine Month (August – duh) I decided to conquer a few things, including a mystery I wanted to unfold.

Side note: this is my 100th bottle I’m reviewing and it falls on a grocery store brand? Hey, no hating. I’m open to all flavors, man, especially ones that sit above a $8 price tag when I’m in serious need of a heat reliever and life is burning a hole in my pocket.

And so – Metropolitan Market, a local, family-owned operation first opened its doors on Queen Anne in 1971 and now has become an award-winning grocery store with six thriving locations throughout the Seattle and Tacoma area.

Bodegas Illana 2006 Casa de Illana Tradicion

1626 made a pretty hefty dent as a page in the history books.

Much like this blog entry, it started on a Thursday.

King Charles the First was crowned in February, remaining on the throne until his timely execution 23 years later (the guy attempted to start not one, but two civil wars in the greater British empire, which was of wealthy stature at that time!)

In May, the Dutch explorer Peter Minuit arrived in “New Netherland,” now more commonly known as Manhattan Island. Ever heard of it?

An earthquake in Naples killed nearly 10,000 in July.

November of 1626 brought the consecration of St. Peter’s Basilica, which still to this day has the largest interior of any Christian church on the planet, busting at its seams with a maximum of 60,000 people.

Also in 1626, Bodegas Illana y Vinedos established itself as a full-production winery in Cuenca, Spain.

Ross Andrew Winery 2008 Meadow

I find it sad that I have to rely on the oracle that is Google to give me answers that my brain is gradually (and very slyly) erasing. Such as, have I already reviewed this wine?

Blame it on the alcohol, a worldly Jamie Foxx would recommend, but I am far too young to be forgetting things – placements of keys, movies I’ve already seen or wines I’ve consumed. Nay, recites the Oracle after multiple searches in several different word formations, I am safe. At least this time.

It gets even a tad trickier when you’ve had a handful(s) of wines from the same producers. Such is this case with the wines of said Ross Andrew Mickel. I am guilty to have sauntered into The Ross Andrew Winery Woodinville tasting room to flirt with his beautiful Bernese Mountain dog (Galena, like the city in Idaho) and beg for the winemaker’s claim-to-fame bottle of Pinot Gris from the praised Celilo Vineyard in the Columbia Gorge. Refused many a’times for the limited wine, this purchase time I decided to dive for the Meadow White Blend, the alleged “little sister” to Mickel’s exalted white.

And why shouldn’t it be well-reviewed? The man is a direct descendant of the Bob Betz School of Fine Wine, having played in puddles of grape juice with Bob for nine years before breaking out on his own with the 1999 harvest. Before that, Mickel was gathering experience at Rosemount Estate in South Australia and later with DeLille Cellars also in Woodinville.

Kokomo 2007 Dry Creek Valley Petite Sirah

*Bottle #97: Kokomo 2007 Petite Sirah, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County
*Price Tag: $25
*Running Tab: $1,324
*Retailer: Kokomo Winery herself

Kokomo. Not the one in Hawaii or the island in Jamaica formerly known as such, but the Kokomo that is in Indiana. Kokomo, Indiana: the state’s 13th largest city, home of the famous “Gas Tower” and an unfortunate old-school notoriety for the Ku Klux Klan…

Kokomo, Indiana: the hometown of young Erik Miller, Purdue grad and proud-midwesterner, in which he named his Dry Creek Valley winery after. Erik moved west quickly after he turned his tassel and started building relationships with the wine industry vets around him in Sonoma County.

After putting in some grunt work in a few cellars, Erik went back to school at U.C. Davis to work on his oenology degree which lead him to a full-time job opportunity in the cellar for Amphora Winery. On the side, Erik got his start and launched his first release for Kokomo Winery in 2004 with single vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon from Dry Creek Valley.

Punkt Genau 2008 Sparkling Rosé

*Bottle #96: Punkt Genau 2008 Weinviertel Sparkling Rosé
*Price Tag: $19
*Running Tab: $1,299
*Retailer: Madison Market, Central Co-Op

You read it right. Punkt – as in the producer of the wine, not in an Ashton Kutcher sense of the word, thank God.

“Punkt Genau,” meaning “on the dot” in English, captures the quintessential Austrian’s own Blauer Zweigelt in a pink fashion. I’ll be the first to admit I do not know too much about Austria or fashion, for that matter.

With nearly 70% of Austrian wine production consisting of white wines (most familiarly Grüner Veltliner), the remainder made up mostly of the red wine varietals Blaufränkisch and Zweigelt. Austria is on the wine map for their unique grape varieties, a classification system that was put into place in Hitler’s rule and makes about as much sense as a screen door on a submarine and as the motherland of the Riedel wine glasses.

Palamà Arcangelo 2008 Salice Salentino

*Bottle #95: Palamà Arcangelo 2008 Salice Salentino, Puglia
*Price Tag: $15
*Running Tab: $1,280
*Retailer: None – gifted by my work hubby!

Winemaker Cosimo (aka Nini) Palamà made this wine in honor of his father, Arcangelo. Winemaker Nini Palamà’s family has been making small lot wines in the highly underrated southern heel of Italy, Puglia, for almost 75 years, rooting with his father.

Like most producers in Puglia back in the day, Palamà was pumping out bulk wine from the get-go in the small town of Salice Salentino, now a designated DOC region of Italy. Scattered with intermixing olive orchards and vines, homes and history were thrown in the midst, allowing families to thrive off the land.

Given this land and the fields of Negroamaro and Malvasia Nera surrounding them, Arcangelo’s original production of bulk wine gained finesse enough to be enjoyed and distributed to restaurants in the area, acquiring positive publicity and praise.

Haras de Pirque 2009 Maipo Valley Sauvignon Blanc

*Bottle #94: Haras de Pirque 2009 Maipo Valley Sauvignon Blanc
*Price Tag: $13
*Running Tab: $1,280
*Retailer: Village Wines

My statements usually come in pairs or triples. Pairs because I usually only have two reasonable points and triples because journalism school merited it as giving rhythm to words. Likewise, my glasses of wine also usually come in pairs and triples.

Statement #1: This wine has three different names. Front label identifies the wine at Haras Estate Sauvignon Blanc from Maipo Valley, Chile. Back label gives a Web address citing the name to be Haras de Pirque. Web address calls the wine Vina Haras de Pirque.

The issue here is product packaging/brand management. It’s like when you misspell the varietal on the label. Does no one check for consistency or copy-edit in the wine world?

*Please mind my type-os…

Alvaro Palacios 2007 Camins del Priorat

*Bottle #93: Alvaro Palacios 2007 Camins del Priorat
*Price Tag: $23
*Running Tab: $1,267
*Retailer: McCarthy & Schiering, Queen Anne

I am first to admit that I don’t know right from left with Spanish juice. Unfortunately, amongst a group of wine industry peers, it took failing a pop quiz on Spain to outwardly own up.

Accept failure? Never. Use this necessary learning experience in my blog? Of course!

Starting from the basics, I went to a trusted wine shop, knowing that the lovely staff would step in as my guide dog on this blind adventure of a wine region I should be able to see with greater clarity.

That’s when I was introduced to Alvaro Palacios with sincere enthusiasm. Figuratively – the Man vs. Food host Adam Richman doppelganger was not in store but a fair representation of his wine was – the Camins del Priorat.

Domaine Paul Autard 2008 Côtes du Rhône Rouge

*Bottle #92: Domaine Paul Autard 2008 Côtes du Rhône Rouge
*Price Tag: $15
*Running Tab: $1,244
*Retailer: 12th and Olive Wine Company

The value of young love is often times discounted.

Ask any 14-year-old girl about what her parents think of her boyfriend of three weeks – whom she totally loves more than like anything in the whole wide world and nothing, not even a curfew or her tyrannical parental units, will EVER stop them from being apart. EVER.

Such intensity and merit of youthful infatuation can be slightly overlooked but fortunately, for 17-year-old Jean-Paul Autard, his young love for his family’s vineyard and winery was not taken lightly. Now, after decades of dedication and fidelity, Jean-Paul has been managing the domaine ever since.

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