Elisabetta Geppetti Fattoria Le Pupille 2007 Morellino di Scansano

*Bottle #106: Elisabetta Geppetti Fattoria Le Pupille 2007 Morellino di Scansano

*Price Tag: $11

*Retailer: McCarthy & Schiering, Queen Anne

Apparently, a broad heading up the winemaking department at an Italian winery is rare. More typically seen in the old world wine arena is sons of sons of sons (all with the same Christian name that is passed down with the winery itself, mind you), who pick up what their daddies gave them, work until they are no longer physically capable then give it up to the next in line male to do the same thing and carry on tradition.

Apparently, Elisabetta Geppetti did not branch from such a lineage. She started her own.

After discovering a farmhouse blessed with a bounty of  Sangiovese vines, Geppetti single-handedly bought out and revamped the original five-acre property in the late 1970′s, then adding to its size over time. Alongside of the creation of the DOCG dubbed Morellino di Scansano in 1978, Geppetti released her first vintage of the wine under the identical name at the restored winery, Fattoria Le Pupille

Domaine Jean Masson & Fils Apremont 2008 Vin de Savoie Villes Vigne Traditionelle

Raises your glasses, saluting adieu to 2010 and hailing the coming of a potentially identical successor year. Be it a good or evil twin, ready or not – it’s 2011 tomorrow. Toast your unlikely-to-be-true-Champagne to your new make-out partner at midnight, as you accidentally spill most of it down your new froufrou designer dress that you might take back to Nordstrom come Monday and get prepare for that pounding migraine in the morning with a Kamikazi shot to seal up the first 10 years of the millennium.

In the mean time, let’s drink something else – don’t get me wrong, I love me some bubbles but don’t find it necessary to position it only to celebrations/New Year’s Eve. So this NYE, I’m looking for something a little esoteric.

And esoteric I did receive – after walking into McCarthy & Schiering Queen Anne and requesting the weirdest thing they could get me (price point considered). We came to the agreement that moderately odd was the best solution to my Same Year’s Eve dilemma.

Leading us to the lesser known region of Vin de Savoie (often referred to simply as Savoie), we found a wine with the same name that struck a chord with me as it was described as “sharp.” You had me at musical terminology.

Darioush “Caravan” 2008 Chardonnay, Russian River

Lesson for the day: The region called Shiraz in Iran does not grow Shiraz grapes and has no connection to the variety or Australia. Thank you for your help, Wikipedia.

However, Shirazi winegrowing once did flourish – up until the Islamic/Iranian Revolution in 1979. Having grown up in the greater Shiraz area, Darioush Khaledi, proprietor of Darioush Wines, has fond memories as a child of sneaking tastes of wine from his father’s garagiste hobby that later lead him to a substantial chapter of his life.

In the early 1970′s, Khaledi packed his bags and set out from Iran to Southern California, land of promise, with a former career in construction and a love of fine swill. He set up camp with his brother-in-law and the two funneled their finances into the purchase of a crumbling grocery store, which is now one of the most lucrative independently-owned grocery businesses in the country.

After the success of the store and eyeing the sensation of wine in the retail world, Khaledi scoured northern California for the most premium vineyard to set as his estate for the winery. Today, the Darioush estate vineyard property itself now spans over 95 acres with plantings of Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz (the grape!), Merlot, Malbec, Petite Verdot, Chardonnay and Viognier.

Nicholas Cole Cellars: Rock Solid

When we first got our hands on a few bottles of wine from Nicholas Cole Cellars, they came with a word of sage advice from Jeanie Inglis-Chowanietz, the General Manager of NCC: “For optimum experience, please decant or wait a day after opening before tasting.” She said that while they were elegant, they are powerfully built. Truer words were never spoken.

Never one to follow instructions exactly as they’re given, the first time we gave these wines a go, we cracked open the bottles and let them sit a mere eight hours before tasting. We revisited the wines a couple of weeks later (new bottles), and this time we gave them a full twenty-four hours to breathe before diving in.

While a decanter or aerator would have adequately done the job, it was interesting to see the difference the extra time did to the wines. They were all really impressive and delicious at the eight-hour mark; but at twenty-four hours, further complexity became evident, adding a lot of points of interest not noticed on the first go-around.

Taken together, these wines are something to behold. They’re all sturdy, structured and balanced as a brick shithouse, while still pretty, graceful, interesting, sexy and nuanced as a chapel designed by Steven Holl. You could take shelter during a hurricane and find satori in the parallax at the same time.

Nefarious Cellars 2007 Estate Syrah, Defiance Vineyard

 

Slightly evil if consumed in one sitting, solo.

*Bottle #102: Nefarious Cellars 2007 Estate Syrah, Defiance Vineyard

Long time, no write. I have a whole alphabetical Rolodex of excuses if you’re interested but more importantly, I’d like to pick up where I left off… Washington Syrah. Remember, the stuff I said I wasn’t the fondest on? Try, try again!

This time, we’re moving from the greater regions of the Columbia Valley to the freshly established Lake Chelan AVA.

How to identify newly active winos in the biz:

1. The Web sites are atrocious.
2. The wineries still do complimentary tastings (and God bless them!).
3. The names reflect the area (i.e. Tsillan Cellars, Chelan Estate Winery, Chelangr’La Winery, Lake Chelan Winery, etc.).
4. Everyone still likes each other and recommends visiting neighboring competition.

Aged day-tripper venues have picked up a smidgen of jadedness in Washington’s 20+ years of tourism in the wine industry but Chelan (although it has been producing grapes for over 10 years now) is still so fresh and so clean-clean that it has become one of the most popular wine tasting regions in the state.

One of my personal favorites (see this little number) is Nefarious Cellars, home of one of the most panoramic views on the lake and home to one of the most amiable couples in the trade, Dean and Heather Neff. Esteemed wine writer Paul Gregutt had been there tasting with the grape-crushing, nuptial-ed duo the week before and they were just as animated to see this nobody last summer who wanted to write a diddy on them too. 

L’Ecole No. 41 Takes Us To School

Recently, we sat down to taste through some vino from L’Ecole No. 41, three bottles from the heart of the Walla Walla Valley. We’ve come to expect good things from Walla Walla grapes, and the ’07 Cabernet Sauvignon was nice, but L’Ecole’s Perigee and Apogee are, shall we say, stellar examples of what can be done with the fruit of the earth. Shazaam!

Located in historic Frenchtown just west of Walla Walla, L’Ecole No. 41 resides in a schoolhouse built in 1915 (“L’Ecole” is french for “the school”). Producing 30,000 bottles of barrel-aged wine every year, the winery is operated by Megan and Martin Clubb, daughter and son-in-law of founders Jean and Baker Ferguson. Martin is something of a colossus in the Washington wine community. Not only is he the head winemaker for L’Ecole, he is also a partner in Seven Hills Vineyard along with Leonetti Cellar and Pepper Bridge Winery. He was a Director for the Washington Wine Commission for ten years, and was the President and a Director of the Walla Walla Valley Wine Alliance. Now he represents Washington as a Director of WineAmerica and is President and Director of the Washington Wine Institute. You would hardly think he would have time for wine-making, especially for a production level as large as L’Ecole’s, but the Perigee and Apogee show the care and attention to detail of small-lot artisan wines.

Trust Cellars 2007 Columbia Valley Syrah

Trust Cellars in Walla Walla is, by definition, a one-man show. Trust’s Steve Brooks doesn’t have bells on his feet, a symbol between his knees, an accordion barreled to his chest or a harmonica wired to his jaw, but he is the janitor, dishwasher, tasting room associate, solo winemaker and owner of Trust Cellars.

Rumor has it, through a genuine leap of faith, Brooks left his Atlanta-based job as a CNN journalist for the rolling agricultural fields of Eastern Washington after reading a New York Times article on the booming new industry. After playing in other people’s wines, Brooks took hold of his first vintage in 2005 at the Va Piano Vineyards cellar, to do his own cork dorking with their juice. Not a shabby start, considering Va Piano’s acclaim and vineyard sourcing connections.

After taking classes at the Center for Enology and Viticulture in Walla Walla alongside of his cellar experience and the connections he had made, Brooks took his show on the road – down the gravel road, to be exact – to open Trust Cellars.

Laurelhurst Cellars: Gettin’ It Done

Making wine is a lot of work. Some of it has that tinge of romance, out in the vineyards with clusters of berries in your hands. Some of it is geeky, testing alcohol, acidity, and other chemical components in the juice. And, some of it is just laborious and mundane, like bottling. But, the Laurelhurst Boys know how to turn any job into a good time.

In May, we headed down to Laurelhurst Cellars at their new location in Georgetown. That night, they were bottling their new Cab Franc, and Gabe, Greg and Dave invited us down to lend a hand. We were happy to oblige.

The Laurelhurst triad is a genial bunch, and time spent with them is filled with stories and laughs. Helping out with the bottling meant eating a dozen kinds of grilled sausage, drinking beer and wine, and shooting the breeze. Not one to miss a party, Clive Pursehouse from the Oregon Wine Blog arrived, and a night of labor felt more like a backyard barbecue than a work session. However, we did finally get down to the business of bottling, and had a great time on the assembly line. Washing, filling, corking, boxing, we all had a go at it, and I could just imagine how the vino we were drinking out of a giant beaker was going to taste after some time in the bottle. We’ll get to that soon enough.

While the new vintage wasn’t ready, we did go home with three bottles from ’06, and a few weeks later, spent a rewarding evening tasting through them. Look for these in restaurants around Seattle, at your local wine shop, and at the winery.

2006 Red Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon

Roiling dark fruit on the attack sends you into a defensive parry. The mid-palate, with a structured body driving you backwards with a intense ferocity, forces the acceptance of a fate to which you succumb. In the end, a stark and resolute finish washes over you, like the final moments of a fallen steward in a land with no king.

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.

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