2014 Betz Family Clos de Betz

JebDunnuck.com

• By Jeb Dunnuck
  Latest Releases from Washington State, 4/5/2018, (See more on JebDunnuck.com...)

  (Betz Family Winery Clos de Betz) Login and sign up and see review text.

JamesSuckling.com

• By James Suckling
  3/20/2018, (See more on JamesSuckling.com...)

  (Betz Columbia Gorge Clos de Betz, Red, United States) Login and sign up and see review text.

• By Stephen Tanzer
  Focus on Washington: Hot Times in the Desert (Nov 2016), 11/1/2016, (See more on Vinous...)

  (Betz Family Vineyards Red Wine Clos De Betz Washington) Login and sign up and see review text.

Full Pull

• By Paul Zitarelli
  Full Pull Betz, 3/26/2017

  (Betz Family Winery Clos de Betz) Hello friends. It remains one of my great professional thrills to get to work with the wines of Betz Family Winery. I’ll repeat what I have said before: Bob Betz’s face would doubtless be chiseled on a Mt. Rushmore of Washington winemakers. He is the only Master of Wine making wine in Washington, having achieved that honor back in 1998. After a 28-year career at Chateau Ste Michelle he launched his eponymous winery in 1997, crushing 150 cases worth of wine in the Woodinville warehouse district. Since then, production has grown to 3500 cases total, but acclaim has grown more quickly than that, forcing the family to close their mailing list in 2008 and establishing them as one of Washington’s cult wineries. Steve and Bridgit Griessel came on board as managing owners in 2011, and the winery is open to its list members on just two weekends each year: once in the fall, for the release of its Rhone portfolio, and once in the spring, for the release of these Bordeaux-styled wines (that spring release just happened two weeks ago). The challenge, as usual, is allocations. (As a reminder, our allocation scheme favors breadth over depth, so that everyone gets one bottle before anyone gets two. And our formula for prioritizing allocations includes overall orders, frequency of orders, recency of orders, and list tenure, among other factors.) Just like every spring, these are painfully limited wines, but trust that we’ll do our best to source as much as possible for our list members. Clos de Betz is a blend of 71% Merlot, 19% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 10% Petit Verdot, raised in 100% new French oak. In my experience, Clos is a glorious wine, at its best 8-12 years past vintage, and an exemplar of the power and grace of Washington Merlot. Vinous: Copyrighted material withheld. [Note: this is the strongest review Tanzer has ever bestowed upon Clos de Betz, besting the 93+pt reviews earned by the 2006, 2007, 2010, and 2012 vintages. For Tanzer to view this as the finest Clos yet is high praise indeed.] Here is what Bob Betz has to say about this vintage of Clos: The quality and character of the 2014 Clos de Betz reflects the success we had with the merlot variety in this vintage. Following an August with consistently warm temperatures, the night time temperatures in the vineyard began to fall rapidly during the first full week of September. The first Merlot of the season was picked on September 8th, which included 3 individual blocks at Ciel du Cheval, and 1 block at Klipsun. This first flush of Merlot provided a picture of what would continue for the remainder of the Season: Remarkably clean, intensely flavored grapes that easily stained our hands and palates. The character of each block was clearly on display- Ciel du Cheval expressing not only the different planting years (including the 1976 planting of Merlot), but the 3 individual clones that are planted here (181,348,3). Over the following 10 days, four additional blocks of Merlot were harvested including Red Willow, Elephant Mountain, Seven Hills, and Dubrul Vineyard. The trend of compelling Merlot continued, reaching its summit with the Dubrul Vineyard Merlot. The berry size came in smaller than any Cabernet Sauvignon of the season, and the grape skins quickly stained our sorting table a deep shade of maroon. This deeply colored lot aided Clos de Betz reach a new level of density and complexity. In 2014, Clos de Betz could be mistaken for Père de Famille if judged by appearance only: A vibrant magenta hue on the edge of the glass, leads to an opaque core. Intense aromatics of lavender and thyme share the stage with layers of Black cherry, red currant, pomegranate fruit. In line with our other 2014 Bordeaux wines, Clos de Betz offers weight and richness on the palate, softening the tannic impression, and has a long sweet finish.