WLTV Offline - WA/OR tasting

This started out as an offline to meet Tooch and a friend of his who was flying into Seattle for a Mariners/Phillies game. There were initally a lot of attendees, but for one reason or another, there were a lot of people that ended up not being able to make it to the tasting. You never would have known it though by the number of bottles that made it to the tasting.

I met up with Romain at our offsite storage locker to pick up bottles and get a few of them decanted. While we were here, we realized that because of all the cancellations for the event, that there would not be any OR wines in the lineup even though it was going to be called a WA/OR tasting. Brad opened up a bottle of 02 Thomas for us to taste, and sent the rest of the bottle with us to the tasting so that OR was represented. We also tasted a couple other wines while at the locker.

• 2002 Thomas Pinot Noir Willamette Valley 93 Points

  USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley

  The nose had aromas of red cherries a floral note, and a touch of a sweet barbeque sauce. Not too spicy, but just a little. The palate had cherry and strawberry flavors with notes of earth and spices. This has an incredibly soft mouthfeel now. Wow, this is in a nice place. Medium-long finish. The 03 Thomas was always one of my favorite vintages from this producer, but this particular bottle may make me reconsider 2002.

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• 2009 Maison Bleue Gravière Upland Vineyard 91 Points

  USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Yakima Valley Snipes Mountain

  The nose had aromas of dark fruits, anise, white pepper and some herbs. The palate had flavors of mixed berries, plums, licorice and spices. Good mouthfeel, and a medium-long finish. We tasted this bottle at a cooler temperature than the last one, and I did find it more enjoyable.

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• 2009 Château de Beaucastel Côtes du Rhône Coudoulet de Beaucastel 90 Points

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Côtes du Rhône

  The nose of this wine had aromas of dark fruits, anise and a little bit of damp earth. The palate had flavors of cherries, plums, earth and spice. Medium bodied with a medium-long finish.

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We had a real range of wines from WA in the tasting. Some older WA, some newer, and one CA Cab that Romain just couldn't keep from bringing and opening.

• 2010 Merry Edwards Sauvignon Blanc 90 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley

  The nose had aromas of green apple, pear and something that reminded me of snow peas. The palate had very sweet citrus and melon flavors. Nice mouthfeel and a good length finish. This seemed a little heavy for a Sauvignon Blanc to me, and the flavors were a bit different from what I expected, but it was a very enjoyable wine.

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• 1995 DeLille Cellars D2 91 Points

  USA, Washington, Columbia Valley

  The nose had aromas of bell pepper, dusty earth, and some light medicinal aromas. The palate had earthy cherry flavors with some green notes. Medium-long finish. This wine was the surprise of the evening for the group. I don't think that many of us thought it was going to have a great showing, but this was actually pretty nice! There was no doubt that this particular bottle found it's intended use, as there were at least 6 tasters that were happy to have been tasting this wine tonight. All this for a second label of a WA wine that is 16 years old... Pretty amazing.

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• 1997 Andrew Will Merlot Pepper Bridge Vineyard 86 Points

  USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Walla Walla Valley

  The nose had spicy blackberry and currant flavors. The palate was consistent with the nose, but was very simple and had about a 4 second finish. I described it as one of those "Peace Out" wines. It hits your palate, and says "Peace Out!"... I'm sure this was better a few years ago - it just hasn't held up.

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• 2000 Cadence Spring Valley Vineyard 87 Points

  USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Walla Walla Valley

  The nose had aromas of acetone right up front. Too much VA for me to really enjoy. There were other aromas of pepper and red fruits, but the nose wasn't very enjoyable. The palate had a nice mix of red and black fruits on the attack, but it turned to a more tart cherry by the finish. Medium length finish.

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• 2008 Gramercy Cellars Syrah Lagniappe 93 Points

  USA, Washington, Columbia Valley

  The nose had aromas of dark berries, spices, and a sweet brown sugar note. The palate had very nice blackberry flavors with notes of peppercorns and smoked meat. Great mouthfeel. There was just a touch of heat on the finish, but all in all, this was a very nice drink.

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• 2008 Gramercy Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Columbia Valley 90 Points

  USA, Washington, Columbia Valley

  The nose had aromas of cherries, earth and pickle barrel. No funky aromatics on this bottle at all. The palate had flavors of currants, cherries, herbs and a little damp earth. Good mouthfeel and a medium-long smooth finish. I have to backtrack on this wine because this bottle tasted nothing like the bottle we were poured in the tasting room during Cayuse weekend. That's a good thing, but I'm almost certain now that the note that I have back on 4/9 was from an off bottle that was poured at the tasting room.

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• 2003 Long Shadows Wineries Cabernet Sauvignon Feather 91 Points

  USA, Washington, Columbia Valley

  The nose of this wine had aromas of blackberry, chocolate and some spices. The palate was consistent with the nose, but it did seemed to be very front loaded. Good mouthfeel, but not a very long finish. This wine was much better than the last time I tasted it about a year ago, but we also gave this bottle several hours of air before we tasted it. Several tasters suspected that Randy Dunn utilizes reverse osmosis for the Feather bottling, but I don't know for sure. I enjoyed the bottle, but it would be nice to know if it was a product of RO or not.

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• 2003 Page Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Limited Edition 91 Points

  USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Red Mountain

  The nose had aromas of cherries, earth and herbs. The palate had big plum flavors with notes of cherry and earth. Good mouthfeel and medium-long finish. I'm glad I let these rest for a while as this bottle was drinking much better than some bottles did a few years ago.

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• 2008 Grand Rêve Vintners Collaboration Series II Ciel du Cheval Vineyard 93 Points

  USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Red Mountain

  The nose had aromas of dark cherries, raspberries and brown spices. The palate had very rich cherry flavors with notes of espresso and white pepper. Very nice mouthfeel and a long finish.

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• 2004 Cadence Ciel du Cheval Vineyard 90 Points

  USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Red Mountain

  The nose had aromas of raspberries, dusty earth and a perfumed note. The palate had red fruit flavors and a little note of dark chocolate. This wine was much more elegant than I had remembered it. I was a little surprised that this wine actually was medium bodied with a medium length finish. Most of the Cadence wines that I have tasted were a bit fuller bodied with more noticeable tannins.

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• 2003 Northstar Merlot Columbia Valley 89 Points

  USA, Washington, Columbia Valley

  The nose had aromas of mixed berries, licorice and a little earth. The palate had dark fruit flavors and some nice herbal notes. Very smooth mouthfeel, but a short finish. This was blind for the other tasters, but several of them had narrowed this down to a WA Merlot fairly quickly. This bottle was in a nice place to drink, but I stilll prefer the Walla Walla Merlots from Northstar.

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• 2004 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon Galitzine Vineyard 93 Points

  USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Red Mountain

  The nose of this wine had aromas of black & blue fruits with notes of eucalytptus and herbal notes. The palate had dark fruit flavors with eucalyptus, coffee and spice notes. Very nice balance and a fairly long finish. Nice showing from this wine. I don't normally associate eucalyptus with Quilceda, and I've only noticed the eucalyptus notes on the 07 Cab previously - but I did enjoy it a lot.

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• 2007 Pepper Bridge Cabernet Sauvignon Walla Walla Valley 91 Points

  USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Walla Walla Valley

  The nose had aromas of dark fruits and spices. The palate had flavors of spicy blackberries and currants. Great mouthfeel and a medium-long finish. I didn't take very detailed notes for this wine as we were tasting it next to an 04 Quilceda Galitzine and an 08 Rivers Marie Cab, and I just wasn't as intrigued by the Pepper Bridge even though it was an excellent wine.

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• 2008 Rivers-Marie Cabernet Sauvignon 94 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  The nose of this wine had aromas of dark cherries, anise and a very spicy sandalwood note. The palate had flavors of dark cherries, licorice and spices. Really big and smooth mouthfeel and a long finish that somehow seems to gain in intensity. A real Wow wine for me, and once again my WOTN.

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• 2006 Waters Syrah Loess Vineyard 90 Points

  USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Walla Walla Valley

  The nose had an aroma that reminded me of a blueberry cream danish. It was a fairly sweet smelling nose. The palate had flavors of mixed berries with some small notes of licorice and earth. Good mouthfeel and medium length finish.

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This was my first time at Bin on the Lake. The service was excellent, and there were plenty of nice stems and decanters - even though we were a bit on the overboard side with the number of bottles we had opened. This was a lot of fun, and a restaurant that I'm sure we'll be back to many times for wine dinners!