2016 Ross Andrew Winery Pinot Gris Celilo Vineyard

• By Stephen Tanzer
  Washington: Various Shades of Hot (Oct 2017), 10/1/2017, (See more on Vinous...)

  (Ross Andrew Winery Pinot Gris Celilo Vineyard Washington White) Login and sign up and see review text.

Full Pull

• By Paul Zitarelli
  Full Pull The Huntsman, 5/12/2017

  (Ross Andrew Pinot Gris Celilo Vineyard) Hello friends. We don’t offer many fifteen dollar Cabernets, and there’s a reason for that: most of them are terrible. Lean-and-green, oak powdered into oblivion, overtly sweet; it’s a minefield. But one Washington winemaker who has proven his chops in this category is Ross Mickel. We’ve offered his Glaze Cabernet Sauvignon multiple times over the years, and it is always well-received by our list members. A few years ago, Ross launched another Cab, called The Huntsman. I’ve liked it each year I’ve tried it. It was always priced a few bucks above Glaze, and it always offered a different stylistic take on Cabernet: oomph and depth compared to juicy, gluggable Glaze. We’ve hunted the huntsman ever since. It began as a restaurant-only wine; then I believe Whole Foods had a retail exclusive for a year. But this year, it’s finally available to us, and at a compelling price too: [Note: we’re entering peak white wine season, and I also sampled a smokin’ Celilo Pinot Gris from Ross recently, so we’ll include that at the bottom of this offer.] Celilo is a holy site in Washington white winemaking. Located on the southern flanks of the dormant volcano Underwood Mountain, the high-altitude vineyard consistently produces wines (especially cool-climate whites) of real character, even via varieties that tend towards the insipid (looking at you, Pinot Gris/Grigio). This wine has its roots in matrimony. In 2006, Ross Mickel approached the folks at Celilo. He and his (at that time) fiancée had been drinking and loving wines from Celilo Vineyard for years, and he asked if they would sell him some Pinot Gris for his wedding, which was scheduled in 2007. The result was 130 cases from the 2006 vintage. That's a lot of wine for one wedding (even if it was a winemaker wedding). But Ross had no trouble moving the excess, because local restaurants quickly spread the gospel of this wine: low-alc, high-acid, food-friendly; a somm’s dream! A decade later, the wine is still well-loved by the restaurant crowd, but they don’t get to have all the fun. This vintage clocks in at 13.8% listed alc and offers an appealing nose of pear, apple blossom, and mineral. This drinks right on the borderline between dry and off-dry to me. Whatever sugar is there is in perfect balance with the bright Celilo acidity. This conveys energy and richness in turn, no easy feat for Pinot Gris. I love the impact of the fruit, the sense of palate weight here. This is just full of character and complexity, again two adjectives I rarely use to describe Gris. Sampling this made me want to find a fat fillet of halibut (in season now) for grilling and pairing.