Vinous

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

  (Avennia Red Wine Gravura Washington) Subscribe to see review text.

Full Pull

• By Paul Zitarelli
  Full Pull Spring Release Season, 2/22/2017

  (Avennia Gravura) Hello friends. Nothing gets the heart racing quite like spring release season (I know, I know; mentioning spring in February is optimistic here in Seattle, but every bit of silver lining helps). This period, which runs from now through May, contains some of the most beautiful northwest wines released each year. Beautiful and scarce. This is the season of allocated wines, which means it’s as good a time as any to review our allocation policy: Our allocations favor 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. Always among the earliest wineries to kick things off is Avennia, a winery that launched with loads of buzz and whose star has only continued to rise. You may remember some of the praise during their initial set of releases back in 2012: From Stephen Tanzer (Tanzer’s IWC): This was the best set of new wines I tasted in Washington in July, but given their pedigree this should not come as a surprise. Then from David Schildknecht (Wine Advocate): …one ought to sign up for some [Avennia wine] immediately if they have not all already been spoken for, because this is one auspicious debut! Soon after, I had the chance to write about Avennia for my Seattle Magazine gig, and since they’ve launched, we’ve offered the vast majority of Avennia wines presented to us. Chris Peterson’s winemaking is deeply compelling. The house style retains the character of Washington’s terroir and yet presents this sense of ribald, euro-styled earthiness that is a bit more unusual in these climes. These are beautiful, ageworthy wines, year in and year out. It is amazing to me that this is only vintage five of Gravura and Sestina. Very quickly these wines have come to feel they’ve been around forever. Very quickly they’ve become indispensable. At $35 TPU (our price for the 2010 through 2012 vintages), Gravura was an exceptional value. At $30, where we’ve had the 2013 and 2014 vintages, it’s outrageous. I will say: the only way to get our pricing down to that level last year and this year has been to commit to solid chunks of Gravura, but those have been commitments that were easy to make. For list members who usually max out at $20 or $25 per bottle, I’d heartily encourage a splurge here. Gravura seriously over-delivers its price point. The wine is an homage to Graves, and in 2014 the blend is 51% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Merlot, and 12% Cabernet Franc. It comes from an impeccable list of vineyards: Cabernet Sauvigon from Red Willow and Dionysus; Merlot from Klipsun; Cab Franc from Bacchus. That is a lot of classy old-vine material for the tariff. Raised in 50% new French oak, this clocks in at 14.6% listed alc and opens with a nose of blackcurrant and black cherry fruit, smoky coffee, and gravelly minerality. The palate continues the mix of fruit and earthy mineral tones, with noteworthy complexity and intensity. Even in vintages like 2014 that want to be all yumball fruit, Chris finds elegance and sultry earthiness. This finishes all toothsome tannin goodness, redolent of Irish breakfast tea. Wine Advocate: Copyrighted material withheld.