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Annual Walla Walla Wine Trek - 6/5/2008 9:31:15 AM

rjonas

Posts: 148
Joined: 11/5/2006
From: Newcastle, WA
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Heading over to Walla Walla this weekend for our annual wine trek (this will be our 3rd trip).

There are more than 70 wineries in the general WW area, many of them boutique wineries.. I'm curious if anyone has experienced any gems from the Walla Walla region..

We have a "short" list of about 20 favorites that we have hit both previous times and are always looking for new additions...

Some of our favorites include: Walla Walla Vintners, Abeja, Colvin (sadly, they went out of business earlier this year), SYZYGY, Rulo, Dusted Valley, Saviah, Morrison Lane, Basel Creek and Pepperbridge.

This year, there are a bunch of new wineries and we've scheduled aMaurice and Trio into the mix.

Obviously you can't hit all 70+ wineries in a weekend (although my friend Jeff has certainly given it his all in the past...) so would be very curious to see what wineries from Walla Walla other CT'ers have experienced and like..

Thanks! Ron

Post #: 1

RE: Annual Walla Walla Wine Trek - 6/5/2008 9:41:17 AM

mbannon

Posts: 268
Joined: 10/1/2004
From: Portland, OR
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I predict big things for Va Piano. If you haven't visited their tasting room, you should.

edit - I liked Dusted Valley, too. Got to chat with the owners for a while, nice guys.

< Message edited by mbannon -- 6/5/2008 9:43:32 AM >

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RE: Annual Walla Walla Wine Trek - 6/5/2008 9:46:04 AM

rjonas

Posts: 148
Joined: 11/5/2006
From: Newcastle, WA
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Totally agree... Va Piano is on the list.. We actually bought some artwork there last time. My SO is a Gonzaga grad, so there's always a little "support the home team" action going on!

Dusted Valley is really fun and unassuming (for those that don't know, their "tasting room" is the basement of their house... Last time we had a great picnic out in the yard.. The winemakers are great.

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RE: Annual Walla Walla Wine Trek - 6/5/2008 11:26:36 AM

Sundesertcactus

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Joined: 1/10/2008
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I have been there twice, most recently this past January. We found three new places that we really liked, Trust Cellars, Tertulia, and Waters. Tertulia and Trust both recently opened. The guy at Trust has a really interesting story regarding the naming of his winery, which you should ask about. Both winemakers went to the local community college wine making program together and are frineds. Trust shares his tasting room with another winery whose name escapes me right now. Trust and Tertulia and are very close to each other and are near Isenhower Cellars one of our favorite wineries in Walla Walla.

The third new discovery was Waters Winery. Waters isn't too far from Pepperbridge. Waters has a really nice red blend. Waters also tastes wines from Gramercy Cellars a very small production winery. I love the wines from Walla Walla. I will be interested to read your post visit report.

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RE: Annual Walla Walla Wine Trek - 6/5/2008 11:51:08 AM

Dad of vinny

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Joined: 6/3/2008
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I will vouch for Waters as doing some great Syrahs, but they are very tight when they are young. Va Piano is OK-

If Three Rivers is pouring their Champoux cab, its worth a stop. On the off chance that Christophe is in town, its worth it to see if Cayuse is open (very doubtful though). Abeja is the bang for the buck over there.

Are you staying at the Marcus Whitman?

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RE: Annual Walla Walla Wine Trek - 6/5/2008 11:55:09 AM

rjonas

Posts: 148
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From: Newcastle, WA
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Excellent!! We actually just added Waters to the list last night and were perusing the Trust website... Trust is over by the airport I believe and we have a number of wineries we like there.. We'll stop in for sure...

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RE: Annual Walla Walla Wine Trek - 6/5/2008 11:57:59 AM

rjonas

Posts: 148
Joined: 11/5/2006
From: Newcastle, WA
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Yep, we have an appointment at Abeja this time... We always stop by Cayuse when we're walking around downtown, however I've actually had decent luck finding some of their wines online now...

Normally we do stay at the Whitman but this time, we're going with 3 other couples and we opted to rent a house. Looks pretty nice and couldn't beat the price. We'll see how that goes (that will be in my post-visit report as well!)

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RE: Annual Walla Walla Wine Trek - 6/5/2008 12:05:50 PM

Dad of vinny

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We did a blind taste of the 05 Abeja Cab against the 05 Chaleur Esate, Cadence Tapteil and the Betz Pere de Famille and I think it will age better than any of those. If you get a good discount at the winery, I'd buy it up.

If Christophe is there, it is so worth your time as he is the most unique individual I have ever met at a winery.

One more- specifically for the Syrah is Russell Creek. The other reds are pretty typical Walla Walla, but their Syrahs I've always found pretty special.

Have

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Post #: 8

RE: Annual Walla Walla Wine Trek - 6/5/2008 12:11:31 PM

rjonas

Posts: 148
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From: Newcastle, WA
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Russell Creek does have great Syrahs... Plus the winemaker is a cranky old man and I find him hilarious....

Thanks for the Abeja notes.. We're very excited to finally try this one...

I have my map, my itinerary and my CT cellar listing of what I already HAVE from Walla Walla, so I'm good to go!!

(Bit of a nerd, I know...)

Please keep the suggestions coming!! We're not leaving until Friday morning.

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RE: Annual Walla Walla Wine Trek - 6/5/2008 3:01:50 PM

mbannon

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From: Portland, OR
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Quite a lot of Viognier being planted over there, with intriguing results so far. I wouldn't be surprised if eventually it becomes a mainstay grape in the area on par with the big reds.

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RE: Annual Walla Walla Wine Trek - 6/5/2008 3:05:39 PM

rjonas

Posts: 148
Joined: 11/5/2006
From: Newcastle, WA
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And, oddly enough, Sangiovese and Malbec seem to be the varietals du jour in the current releases... That's fine with me as those are a couple of my favorites...

I'm looking forward to the weekend and reporting back on the adventure!

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Post #: 11

RE: Annual Walla Walla Wine Trek - 6/9/2008 9:35:03 AM

rjonas

Posts: 148
Joined: 11/5/2006
From: Newcastle, WA
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Had a great time in Walla Walla this past weekend!! We tasted at 18 different wineries and averaged 5 tastes per winery... My tongue is still purple....

Some of the highlights:

Abeja was a new stop. You have to make an appt and it is SO worth the stop... Beautiful grounds/tasting facility and excellent wines.
Morrison Lane was the superstar this trip... They provide such care in their wines and it shines through in every varietal. We were sad when we learned that Colvin Vineyards was out of business as we really enjoyed their Carmenere... Morrison Lane MORE than made up for the loss with their Carmenere... They also did an outstanding job on their Syrah (as usual) but the surprises were the tremendous Dolcetto and Nebbiolo.
Many of the wineries were featuring Malbecs and Sangioveses this trip. Most of the Malbecs were disappointing when done as a 100% varietal but did add some complexity when supporting other varietals. Most of the Sangios were so-so but there was one sangiovese-based rose that was wonderful.
One of the new wineries that shone through was Trio Vintners... An ambitious lineup of wines and not surprisingly their Syrah was quite good.
Pepper Bridge and Basel Cellars were our final stops on Sunday. Pepper Bridge has outstanding Cabs, however it will be some time before their '04 and '05 will be ready to drink. We tasted them yesterday and they were so tight they were almost untasteable... They did open up a little bit with some vigorous swirling but they will benefit from another 2-4 years in the bottle before trying again... Basel Cellars was our last stop and even if their wine was junk, the setting would be worth the stop.. Fortunately, their wines are quite good, especially their Bordeaux blends and the weather cooperated beautifully yesterday, so we had a very relaxing lunch out on the patio and had a glass of wine as we wound down our trip.

All in all, I brought home almost 5 cases of wine (1 case specifically from Morrison Lane, 50% of which was their Carmenere!) and completely blew my budget for the weekend out of the water, however had a great time cataloging last night and will be labeling and storing my booty today.

Thanks for the suggestions I received prior to the trip!

One last note: As far as lodging goes, if you're going the hotel route, there is no other place to stay except the Marcus Whitman.. (there are other places to stay but trust me, I doubt you'd want to stay at any of the other options...) It's pricey but well worth it... This trip, since there were 4 couples traveling together, we opted to do the vacation rental route and it was GREAT!!! The place we stayed is available on VRBO.com and is called Bella Vida, in case anyone is interested.. Great rates and just a beautiful house...

Ron

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RE: Annual Walla Walla Wine Trek - 7/14/2008 1:47:32 PM

zitarell

Posts: 26
Joined: 7/1/2008
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I took my first trip to Walla Walla over 4th-of-July weekend, and this forum was helpful in planning the trip, so I figure I will tack my impressions on. We hit 9 wineries over 2 days:

1. Three Rivers
Really fun place to visit (free 3-hole chip-and-putt course!) with friendly pourers and a long list of wines to try. Their 2006 Tempranillo was excellent.

2. Isenhower
Wasn't blown away by the wine or the atmosphere.

3. Morrison Lane
Great wine, but a misunderstanding with one of the owners clouded the experience. After reading others' descriptions of Morrison, and their wide variety of wines, we were excited to taste. But we arrived at 2 PM, and I think we were the first to taste all day. Verdie really didn't seem to want to open any bottles, and I didn't get that until it was too late and we had pissed her off. Oops; wine is still excellent.

4. Dusted Valley
Nice picnic area, and one of the pourers even volunteered to bring wines out to us as we went through their tasting. They poured a lot of wine, and it ran the gamut from mediocre to delicious (Viognier, several Syrahs, and their Cabernet Sauvignon were the highlights).

5. Trust
Best experience of the trip. We got there at 4:05, and they were scheduled to close at 4, but Steve poured for us anyway, and we liked all four wines that he poured (Riesling, Rose, Syrah, Cab). He's a great story-teller, too; this is a winery to keep an eye on.

6. JLC
Probably the best wines of the trip. Really excellent stuff from this mostly under-the-radar producer (or maybe not, now that Gregutt scored their 2004 Spofford Station Syrah 95 pts). Fun tasting experience, although a little strange, as the young pourer didn't seem to know (care?) much about the wine. Sample quote: "I don't usually like red wine, but this one I like." Okay.

7. Dunham
Disappointing. I think they're pouring too many wines, and given the prices of most of them, I was expecting to be wowed. I wasn't.

8. Buty
Nice wines, but we experienced some classic tasting-room ageism here. I practically had to set off a flashbang to get the pourer's attention. For all the grey-hairs in the room, she went on for 10 minutes in breathtaking detail about each wine. For us, she (twice) lost track of where we were and tried to skip a wine. Her attitude pissed me off so much that I can't give an accurate accounting of the wine. We will avoid this spot in the future.

9. Sleight of Hand
Awesome downtown tasting room, with Trey (the winemaker) pouring and choosing vinyls to play on his old player. Sad that we couldn't taste his Syrah (sold out!) but we were surprised by the quality of his Gewurtz. He's a fun guy and a good teller of tales; I highly recommend dropping by his tasting room.

Overall impressions

Consistently excellent viogniers and syrahs, and just about anything we tasted that included riesling was also dynamite.
Cabs and merlots left a little to be desired.
4th of July is not the best time to visit (many wineries closed, including Abeja, K, and SYZYGY).
If you can afford it (and for 4 people, it's really not that bad) Grape Hill was an off-the-charts experience for lodging: http://www.vrbo.com/155659
Am I ever going to taste a Cayuse wine?

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Post #: 13