Syrah and Aloha – Doing Earth Month Island Style with L’Ecole No. 41

Apr 21, 2021

Syrah and Aloha, may not be things you think of together, but think about it. There is a sense of generosity in a Syrah. It tends to be more laid back than the Cabs, and it manages to make itself at home, where ever it goes. A bit of a chameleon, fitting in and adapting to soils and climates. It’s easy-going.

Like Ocean waves softly folding on themselves and lapping the shore, Syrah makes you want to close your eyes (go ahead, do it now) relax and take it all in.

Walla Walla Valley Wine Month logo courtesy Walla Walla Valley Wine Alliance

Walla Walla Wine Month

Walla Walla is the home of this wine. L’Ecole No. 41 and their estate vineyards lie within the Walla Walla AVA. If you have never been to Walla Walla, it is a place to put on your list for travel when you are able. You don’t drive through Walla Walla on your way to anywhere, you have to set out to go there.

Located in the southeast part of Washington State, the AVA actually straddles the border to Oregon with 57% of the AVA in Washington and the remaining 43% in Oregon.

The Walla Walla Valley Wine Alliance established Walla Walla Wine Month in 2020. They chose the month because it was right between “Taste Washington Wine Month” in March and Oregon Wine Month in May. As they straddle the state lines, the month in between seemed appropriate.

It’s also the month of their annual Spring Kickoff Weekend when all the spring wine releases come out.

With the pandemic, they did have a wrench thrown in the works and have worked to make this an online celebration! You can visit the Walla Walla Valley Wine Alliance on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to learn more! Follow the hashtags #WallaWallaWineMonth or #WallaWallaWine to see what they are up to!

Earth Month and sustainability at L’Ecole No. 41

The L’Ecole No 41 Schoolhouse – photo courtesy L’Ecole No. 41

Not only is it Walla Walla Wine Month, but it is Earth Month, with Earth Day itself landing on April 22^nd. We have been highlighting Earth Friendly wines this month and with our wine today we get to continue.

I recently had a chance to sit down (via Zoom) with a collection of wine writers as well as part of the team at L’Ecole No. 41. Constance Savage the General Manager and COO spoke to us about L’Ecole and sustainability.

L’Ecole No. 41 has long been a leader in sustainable winegrowing, but you might not have known this. It’s not something they advertised or shouted from the rooftops, you see, it was just the common-sense way that they farmed. It was second nature, they didn’t think about it. Their Seven Hill Vineyard was converted to sustainable and the Ferguson Vineyard with its first planting in 2008 was planted as a sustainable vineyard.

Constance mentions Sadie the viticulturist at the SeVein vineyard development where the estate’s Ferguson vineyard is located, whose philosophy is that she and her team should be able to go home after work and walk straight to the dinner table to eat. They should not have to worry about exposing their family to chemicals on their skin or clothing.

Sadie is very protective of her crew, looking out for their health and well-being in the vineyard. Sadie, by the way, just receive the Erick Hanson Memorial Winegrape Grower of the Year Award “for demonstrated viticultural skills that provide impact in the vineyard and in the bottle.”

They are not organic. Organic agriculture allows the use of larger quantities of copper and sulfur that they do not want to use in their vineyards.

On to some of the sustainable methods they employ!

Salmon-Safe

They are salmon safe, which influences what they feel safe putting into the vineyards. Salmon safe deals with what is in any water runoff from the vineyard or that could soak into the undergrown water. This all wants to be safe for the environment.

Compost tea

They utilize compost and compost teas in the vineyard to promote healthy mycorrhizae. Mycorrhizae is a fungus that works symbiotically with the roots of the vine helping it to take in additional moisture and nutrients. This helps prevent water stress, which is an issue in the dry climate of Walla Walla.

Sap flow sensors

Speaking of water. Marcus the L’Ecole No. 41 winemaker mentions the Fruition Sciences sap flow sensors. They have one of these in each vineyard which measures the transpiration in the plant. This is continually monitoring the vineyard and communicating the information to the vineyard manager. This allows them to water appropriately and not wastewater, as well as looking out for the well-being of the vines.

Falcons

Another way that they stay low impact on the environment is with the use of falcons between veraison and harvest. Birds especially the starlings in the area can wreak havoc on a vineyard, gobbling up the fresh ripe berries. Many in the region resort to air cannons, which fire periodically making a loud noise (like a cannon) to scare the birds away. Others turn to squawk boxes that play the sounds of birds of prey and birds in distress to deter birds from landing and feasting. These deterrents sadly make for a really unpleasant vineyard experience.

At L’Ecole they hire a falconer to come in every few days. Just the sight of a bird of prey is enough to scare away smaller birds.

On to the wine…

2018 L’Ecole No. 41 Syrah Estate Seven Hills Vineyard

Marcus refers to 2018 as a unicorn vintage. Everything was just right. The weather was right so that there was low disease pressure and they had the luxury of long hangtime into October.

This Syrah was picked over 2 days in September from 3 different blocks in the Seven Hills vineyard. Fermented in 1.5-ton fermenters with 2 punch downs each day it saw no pumping until it went into barrel. This is important because it is gentle on the wine.

They did 20% whole cluster in the ferment. What does that really mean? Well, 20% of the fruit did not get destemmed and they put the whole clusters in at the bottom of the fermenter. This gives structure to the wine and adds tannins. It also helps to enhance the color. Marcus had been part of a study on stem inclusion and they found the sweet spot to be at 20-30%.

Stem inclusion can naturally soften acids, build complexity and improve color stability.

*This wine was received as a media sample. No additional compensation was received. All opinions, as always, are our own.

2018 L’Ecole No. 41 Syrah Estate Seven Hills Vineyard

Syrah in Washington State

A little nugget from L’Ecole No. 41 on Syrah from their “Schooled in Wine” program.

HISTORY: Syrah was first planted in Washington State in 1986 by Mike Sauer on 3 acres at Red Willow Vineyard in the Yakima Valley. At the time, most growers believed that Rhone varietals would not thrive in Washington’s cold winters. It was not until the vines survived the severe winter of 1996 that the state began to embrace Syrah. By 1999, there were 1,500 acres of Syrah and now it’s the third-most planted red wine varietal in the state behind Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Today there are more than 4,565 acres/1,847 hectares planted in the Columbia Valley.

Well, if you have visited us here at Crushed Grape Chronicles before, you will know that we have a deep love for Red Willow Vineyard and a great respect for Industry legend Mike Sauer. Here, have a gander at the beautiful chapel (like the one at Hermitage) on the hill of Syrah at Red Willow Vineyard.

Red Willow Vineyard Chapel on the hill in Yakima Valley AVA in Washington State

So wait? What does this Syrah taste like?

My first note with this Syrah was that it was generous. Generous but in an elegant way. You find notes of blackberry, currant, and black plum with notes of spices like nutmeg with bits of green olive tapenade and savory herbs. There are spicy floral notes of lavender as well as the tell-tale cedar character that is a Seven Hills Vineyard marker. This is a savory wine.

It has structured tannins and intense flavors and aromas. This is a wine that you can enjoy right now, but it will evolve and get better over the next 10 to 15 years.

The wine has great acidity for food pairing. Constance suggested pairing it with goat! Marcus mentioned a lentil or bean stew for vegetarians as well as barbeque. We ran with that in a slightly different direction.

Earth Month Pairing for the 2018 Seven Hills Syrah

For our Earth Month L’Ecole No. 41 pairings with their 2018 Walla Walla Syrah, we channeled the Aloha spirit.

We wanted to support local restaurants, so we picked up Laulau from a new local Hawaiian spot, called Island Flavor. (They have 3 Las Vegas Locations and the one in our neighborhood just opened). We lucked out that the Friday lunch special was

Laulau with Kalua Pig Cabbage served with Steam Rice, mac salad, lomi salmon & haupia.

Okay for all you haoles (non-Hawaiians) out there, Laulau is fatty pork and salted butterfish wrapped in taro leaves. This gets steamed and is moist and delicious. And yes, you eat the leaves too. Ours came with Kalua pig (this is the traditional Hawaiian style roasted pig, with cabbage, rice, lomi lomi salmon (which is like salmon poke). Instead of the mac salad (macaroni salad), we got sautéed vegetables (zucchini, summer squash, carrots onions, yum).

We finished with Haupia. Haupia is a coconut milk dessert. Ours was creamy and delicious. When I was a kid, I was not so fond of haupia, I thought of it as Knox Blox (remember those) made with coconut milk. Island Flavors haupia was much better than the stuff I remember from childhood out in Nanakuli.

We didn’t do anything fancy, we just served out of the Styrofoam containers, poured a glass, and enjoyed. (Sorry planet, about the containers, we really have to find a way to make recyclable packaging more affordable and accessible for small restaurants!)

L'Ecole No. 41 2018 Syrah, Estate Seven Hill Vineyard with a Hawaiian feast from Island Flavor

The Syrah was brilliant with the Laulau! The fatty pork and its salt softened the Syrah pulling out its fruit notes.

We also ordered their Avocado Fried (Avocado, fried, chipotle aioli, sweet tamari.) Sooo ‘ono! (so delicious).

So share the aloha, support a local restaurant, and celebrate Earth Month and Walla Walla Wine month with a great wine from L’Ecole No. 41.

Sources Resources and further reading

More on L’Ecole No. 41 from Crushed Grape Chronicles

For more on L’Ecole No. 41 you can visit their website https://www.lecole.com/

Or read some of the other pieces we have written on the winery and their wines.

As always be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and sign up for our monthly newsletter to keep up to date on all of our posts.

Robin Bell Renken I have always loved people’s stories. I spent a career in Theatre helping to tell stories, as a Stage Manager. Daily enabling artists to freely and safely tell stories through their art. Then I fell in love with wine. There are so many details, so many nuances, not just in the glass, but in the vineyard, the region and the people. As I met winemakers and vineyard owners and even the people in the tasting room excited to pour me a glass and tell me the story of this wine, I knew these were stories I wanted to share. I completed my study and became a Certified Specialist of Wine and continue learning daily as I meet and interview people in this industry.

Robin Renken is a wine writer and Certified Specialist of Wine. She and her husband Michael travel to wine regions interviewing vineyard owners and winemakers and learning the stories behind the glass.

When not traveling they indulge in cooking and pairing wines with food at home in Las Vegas.

Syncline Winery Stunning Wines in the Tortured Topography of the Columbia Gorge AVA

Feb 3, 2021

A Visit to Syncline

Each year, with the exception of 2020, we typically take a 1 to 2 week trip to wine countries. Yes, plural. These are road trips and often involve multiple states. In the summer of 2019, this was the case.

We traveled north through Nevada and into Southern Oregon through the Willamette Valley and the Columbia Gorge, to the Yakima Valley and Walla Walla. Oh, and then back again.

During this trip, we visited Syncline on the Columbia Gorge. We’ve posted a little from our visit in “The Scenic Route – Flash Tour 2019 Part 3 – Columbia Gorge to the Yakima Valley” as well as a bit on their wines each year with our 12 Days of wine: “Syncline Subduction Red – Day 3 of the 12 Days of Wine 2020” and “12 Days of Wine Day 12 – Syncline” (back in 2019).

Our morning at Syncline was full and while we’ve shared bits and pieces with you, we wanted to share more of our interview with James Mantone, the owner/winemaker at Syncline.

He has a breadth of knowledge of this region that is detailed and eloquent and is best heard from his lips, so we will share with you some of our interview today.

Syncline Winery

Syncline Winery is located in the Columbia Gorge AVA which straddles the Washington Oregon State line. Syncline sits on the Washington side of the Gorge. The Steep Creek Ranch Vineyard is their estate vineyard, planted to Gamay, Furmint, Mondeuse, Syrah, Viognier, and Grüner Veltliner.

The name “Syncline” comes from their view of the Coyote Wall Syncline; 300-foot cliffs coming straight up from the Columbia River.

James and his wife Poppie made their first vintage in 1999. In addition to fruit from their estate vineyard, they source from many vineyards across Washington, but Rhône varieties are their focus.

You don’t just find their wines anywhere. Their production stays at around 4000 cases annually. These are special wines.

Syncline Winery on the Washington side of the Columbia Gorge AVA

Washington State Wine AVA Map Oct 2020 - courtesy Washington State Wine

Columbia Gorge Soils and the soils of Steep Creek Ranch

When we hear about the soils in Washington and Oregon often we hear about the Missoula Floods (Link to Rudy). In addition to Missoula flood soil, you find a series of cobbly sandy soil for 3 to 6 feet then gravel with no organic matter for the next 90 feet. You find Mount Mazama ash deposits. Pure volcanic ash from the eruptions from the Crater Lake Caldera south of them in Oregon as well as outwash soils.

Thinking of all these soils I’m picturing one of those “this is your life” videos for the Gorge. Flood followed by eruption, followed by winds, rain, and more flooding, cliff walls crumbling, rivers washing soils away and bringing new soils in. It puts our tiny bit of time on this planet in perspective.

The Columbia Gorge AVA

James speaks of the “tortured topography” of the gorge. The Steep Creek Ranch Vineyard sits in that section of the Gorge where it is transitioning from the cool marine influence vineyards of the West to the continental and high desert climate of the east. Rainfall decreases by about an inch per mile as you drive west to east.

Diurnal shifts can be dramatic. In the summer days can be 95 degrees with nights in the low 50s. They are protected here from winter kill by their position in the west and the river.

Here at Steep Creek Ranch, they get about 14 inches of precipitation annually. Just 15 minutes away the rain is 56 inches annually and the fruiting wires get buried under snow all winter.

The marine climate to the west and the hot desert to the east fuel strong summer winds. Plus they have a sub-alpine effect from the canyons on each side of the gorge which drives cold air in the morning and evening.

James calls it “one of the most tortured and broken up AVAs out there”.

“There is no simple way to define the Gorge”

The unifying factor he says is the wind.

Biodynamics and sustainable farming

James and his family use biodynamic practices with their vineyard. But he is not dogmatic in his winemaking. He sources from vineyards and believes the vineyard owner, who is there day and night, all through the year, is the person best suited to decide the methods used in the vineyard.

“Wine is really a mysterious beverage, and one of the things that I pursue in wine is, I want wine to have energy and vitality. And that is more than just intensity and concentration. I want wine to be vibrant and electric. For me, living soils and healthy vines are the best way to do that.”

He and Poppie have been involved in biodynamics for over 20 years. They do it for themselves, their family, their work environment.

“If you look it’s only been in the last few hundred years that we’ve detached spirituality from farming. Food and beverage should do more than just provide fats, carbs, and protein.”

Large Format vessels for fermentation and aging

In the winery, they lean toward large-format vessels for aging. While we were visiting they had two large upright wood fermenters they were working on, sanding down on the inside. They also have 4 concrete tanks. James likes wood for the oxygen exchange and stabilization it brings.

The larger formats have a larger thermal mass, so temperatures change more slowly. He finds the wines aged in concrete to be less round, and leaner and walk the unique line of savory notes from reduction and bright fruit notes.

“You walk this line of 2 things that shouldn’t exist at the same time, and that’s a little bit of reduction, so some savory earthy flavors and also really bright fruit. So two things that usually contradict each other, that you never see together, but in concrete we see it.”

They like the better mouthfeel that they get this way, gaining texture. The format also allows them to take these bigger wines and craft elegance and lightness into them.

Sustaining the property of Steep Ranch Vineyard and building sustainably

We continued speaking with James, he told us of the old oaks one that might be 500 years old on the property. These are Oregon White Oaks. When they built the winery they carefully situated it so that they only had to remove one oak. This 8-inch oak was likely 120 years old.

“It’s a lot of hubris to take out a 200-year-old tree.”

Much of the wood you see in the winery is beetle kill wood. It has been made into stunning raw edge tables and bars. The posts on the patio are juniper posts that were salvaged from Eastern Washington. Fire suppression policies mean that junipers don’t periodically burn and as a result, they become more fragile. They suck up the water and grow much taller than normal. When they do burn, they burn very hot and scorch and sterilize the soil around them.

Juniper is also rot-resistant, so these posts are 50-year posts.

The landscaping here is stunning, a garden filled with Western US plants that were selected for xeriscaping to save water. The garden is magical with small and larger seating areas scattered about.

Into the vineyard

We take the shorter steep route to the upper vineyard. You can feel the temperature change as you climb. It is warmer on the slope, cooling from the wind as you reach the top the difference is typically 6-8 degrees.

We pass the baby furmint, which was the first planting in Washington in the spring of 2019. It is planted on the deepest volcanic ash. It is also the only part of the vineyard that might possibly get botrytis, although that is something they have yet to see.

They have also planted the first Mondeuse in Washington. These vines are vigorous with huge long clusters. There is also Gamay, which is not nearly as vigorous and has more compact clusters.

We continue climbing toward the top of the vineyard where they have Syrah planted.

James points out the curves in the rows in the vineyard. This land had never been farmed before. Instead of ripping and amending the soils, they dug 300 holes, filled them with water, timed the drain, and then planted accordingly. The blocks follow the soil, not straight rows.

The view of the “Tortured landscape” of the Gorge

We turn at last to take in the stunning view, listening to the hawks in the background. The gorge majestically lays before us. It’s a dramatic view where you can see the Coyote Wall Syncline, Catherine Creek, the town of Mosier, and the Mosier Syncline. You can see the stratification on the Mosier Syncline from here.

He points out gravel bars from the floods and the layer cake of basalt above the crest of the top flood. He points out buttes that are the toe ends of lava flows, one from Central Oregon another from Goldendale. The Columbia river moved all this, the river predates the landscape here.

“One of the things that’s really cool about this area is that you don’t have contiguous vineyards, and so you have vineyards tucked into these wild areas. The wine should reflect this little bit of wildness. It’s a landscape of abrupt edges and wind. The wines should be a little uncomfortable a little energetic.”

Steep Creek Ranch Vineyard at Syncline Winery with Mount Hood in the background

He points out the beginning of the constriction in the Gorge. The soils on one side are fine-grained high water-holding soils from the ponding that occurred. These are great for wheat but too vigorous for grapes. On the other side, you have large rocks and gravel of varying size depending on the velocity of the flood at that point.

But soil is just one of the factors that make the various parcels of land in this area so diverse. The river turns a little north right here and the Mosier Valley runs east-west. When thunderstorms bump the syncline they go up the Mosier Valley, while here they stay dry.

James says they are just beginning to see what these different areas bring to the grape. They measure in miles, as opposed to the Mosel, where they have been growing for so long, they can tell you block by block what the climate and soil are like and how they affect the grapes.

The next planting of 500 vines will be all head-trained. They don’t rip the soils, something I am grateful to hear as I learn more about Regenerative Agriculture. They don’t worry if there is a missing vine here and there. It’s tougher for netting when the birds move in since they are on the eastern flyway, but he feels it’s worth it.

As we head back down he points out native vegetation. We smell biscuit root, which smells like celery. They want to leave the native plants intact here. They don’t bring in animals. The animals would select for grasses, rather than the diversity of plant life that they want.

Into the winery

We head into the winery. There are the two large wooden fermenters outside that they are sanding down, plus more inside. They have 1 concrete egg that holds 33 hectoliters and 3 concrete cubes that hold 41 hectoliters each.

The walls in the winery are 85% post-consumer Styrofoam and concrete. The floor has radiant heat. The concrete tanks take on the temperature of the floor. So they can turn the radiant floors to 70 degrees and kick off the fermenters without having to heat the room.

They like the large format. They are also using cigars (320 liter) and puncheons (500 liter). With wood, they want a super long very light toast. While most barrels are toasted in 25 to 40 minutes, their barrels toast over 2 hours to a barely blond color.

In addition, they use Acacia puncheons. He is careful with this word as it can be aggressive in its first vintage, turning the wine yellow from the extraction of the wood. This wood gives notes of yellow flowers as opposed to the spice notes from oak. With a looser grain in this less dense wood, you get more oxygen. James likes the way it rounds out the palate and doesn’t mind the floweriness.

Tasting with James

James uses Acacia for his Grüner Veltliner from Bloxom Vineyard, just east of the city of Yakima. As we taste this wine, he fills me in on a detail I was unaware of, Grüner is traditionally barrelled in Acacia!

After tasting the Grüner, we move to a Picpoul from Boushey Vineyard in the Central Yakima Valley. This is a racy wine made in Stainless Steel to preserve that sharpness. It concrete it would broaden the palate and he believes Picpoul should be focused.

We taste their first harvest of estate Gamay. This was a tiny 3^rd leaf harvest and it was barrelled as they did not have enough to fill a concrete cube. The destemmed this first vintage to see how it would do. The 2018, which they had just bottled they determined they would go 75% whole cluster, which is semi-carbonic, so it is a completely different animal.

James finds that Gamay fits the landscape, while they are still exploring what this grape can be here. He thinks the Gorge might be like Friuli or Alsace or the Canary Islands

“Your white wines are serious wines and the red wines are what you drink while you wait for your white wines to come around.”

We taste his Syrah from Boushey. This is blue Washington fruit from the original Syrah planting at Boushey from one little hillside. His estate syrah, he tells me, is radically different. It’s like the difference between the Northern and Southern Rhône. While the Boushey Syrah is blue and plush the Estate Syrah is delicate.

We discuss the difference between warm and cool climates and he adds to that, differences between sunny and cloudy climates and then also the topography and how that shapes a wine’s flavor.

“I often think wine tastes as a landscape looks. I have a little synesthesia so when I taste wine I see colors and shapes… wines from vertical places should have some elbows and should have some angles to them. In round places, wines tend to be more plush and lush. Flat hot places wines tend to be that way, they are more straight forward.”

A final surprise – Bubbles

He has one more crazy thing for us before we leave and asks us to join him outside. He brings out a bottle of Sparkling Grüner Veltliner from the Gorge. These grapes come from the Underwood Vineyard which he believes might be one of the best vineyards for sparkling wine grapes in the country. This is the 2017 and they are currently riddling it (there were riddling racks inside).

It is all elbows and sharp. James is a sparkling wine fan. You can see it in the joy he has opening this wine. This was a project that they started in 2014 from a shady section of Grüner at Underwood. They made it for the crew and liked it so much that they adjusted the farming method to focus on sparkling wine from here.

These bubbles made for a joyous end to our tasting and we headed off for our next stop with Seth Kitzke in Candy Mountain. We stopped again on our return trip to pick up a few bottles of wine when the tasting room was open.

How can you taste the wines of Syncline?

With the pandemic, Syncline is open only for outdoor tastings with reservations from Friday to Sunday from 12-5. They do have take-out sales available without pre-order during those hours also. You can also order online.

The are located west of Lyle at 111 Balch Road, Lyle Washington 98635

You can reach them by phone or email also: 509.365.4361 [email protected]

Sources and Resources

As always be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and sign up for our monthly newsletter to keep up to date on all of our posts.

When not traveling they indulge in cooking and pairing wines with food at home in Las Vegas.

Co Dinn 2015 Syrah Roskamp Vineyard Block 2 – Day 5 of the 12 Days of Wine 2020

Dec 17, 2020

We got lost on the way to the Roskamp Vineyard to meet Co Dinn. In Washington’s Yakima Valley, GPS service here can be sketchy, and even when you look it up ahead of time, sometimes roads have gates and you find the maps program tried to take you in a locked back door. So after a bit of driving for us and Co talking us in through landmarks we were unfamiliar with, we finally connected and headed up to the Roskamp Vineyard in the Snipes Mountain AVA. Co sources grapes here, for his Syrah and Chardonnay and it is a great vantage point to see the Yakima Valley.

Co Dinn is an expert on the soils and topography of the region. As we walked the vineyard he pointed out the large rocks that had been tumbled through with the Missoula floods. This is “ancestral Columbia River gravel soils, uplifted atop a sharp south-facing ridge top”. You can feel the difference in the wind from this block, to the Chardonnay block on the south side. Block 2 is on an edge at 1150 feet and the block is very exposed to wind. These low vigor vines in these conditions give small berries so you get more structure.

Syrah with a view!

Roskamp Vineyard In Washington State, Snipes Moutain AVA with Co Dinne

Co Dinn of Co Dinn Cellars

Roskamp Vineyard In Washington State, Snipes Moutain AVA with Co Dinn looking toward the Rattlesnake Hills AVA

Roskamp Vineyard View on Snipes Mountain Yakima Valley Washington

Roskamp view looking to Painted Hills

As we stood there in the wind we could look across to Painted Hills and Horse Heaven Hills on one side and Elephant Mountain and the Rattlesnake Hills AVA on the other. The views are really spectacular and listening to Co explain how this land was transformed by the Missoula floods I could picture the floods and the land moving and shifting.

While we had to run off that day to another appointment, we were able to return a few days later to meet Co in his tasting room in Sunnyside. It is a restored historic building that was the city waterworks.

Co Dinn Cellars Tasting Room Sunnyside WA

Co Dinn Cellars Tasting Room in the restored historic waterworks

Co Dinn in the Winery at Co Dinn Cellars

Co showed us the winery and we tasted through a series of his wines. We left with a Chardonnay and with this Syrah.

Co Dinn 2015 Roskamp Vineyard Block 2 Syrah

This Co Dinn Roskamp Vineyard Syrah is fermented in one-ton bins. He presses when he feels the tannins are structured by not too grippy. The wine does secondary fermentation in neutral French oak.

100% Syrah. 14.6% abv SRP $45

My notes:

This wine is a burgundy purple color and it is glass staining.

It has an intense nose of dark fruit with red notes. Red currant, cocoa powder, espresso, baking spice, anise, and brown sugar come to mind. Kinda sounds like dessert right? (We’ll get to that later).

In your mouth, it is intense again and warms and coats your teeth and gums. Flavors of dark tart black cherry, and blackberry with notes of anise.

We did a full meal to go with this! I was inspired.

BBQ chicken, grilled eggplant with chimichurri sauce, and smoked gouda mac and cheese with Co Dinn Roskamp Vineyard Syrah

We made BBQ chicken thighs with my special blend BBQ sauce. I played to the wine with my flavors, including black cherry preserves, and spices, a bit of espresso and cocoa, along with my usual mix of tomato paste, ketchup (yes, or catsup if you prefer), Worcestershire sauce, soy, honey, cider vinegar, balsamic, paprika, nutmeg, and assorted other spices. We did these in the slow cooker. If I do them again I will skin the chicken. Alright, I like fat and the flavor it imparts, but in this case, my sauce didn’t get to permeate the meat as well as I would have liked.

We also did grilled eggplant. In his tasting notes, Co mentions the wine will pair well with eggplant dishes.

Lastly, I made a smoked gouda mac and cheese. This made the whole thing feel like a Southern picnic to me and well, there is a little bit of pandemic virtual travel to be had in that!

Co Dinn 2015 Roskamp Vineyard Block 2 Syrah with BBQ chicken, grilled eggplant with chimichurri and smoke gouda mac and cheese

Co Dinn 2015 Roskamp Vineyard Block 2 Syrah with BBQ chicken, grilled eggplant with chimichurri and smoked gouda mac and cheese

Slow-Cooked BBQ Chicken

Smoked Gouda Mac & Cheese

Grilled Eggplant with Chimichurri Sauce

All the dishes paired beautifully with Co’s Roskamp Vineyard Syrah, but the smoked gouda mac & cheese was my favorite.

You can check out the recipes here.

Black Cherry Ice Cream Sandwiches

To complete our Southern picnic theme, I made black cherry ice cream sandwiches. Okay, I made the cookies for them and bought black cherry ice cream which I thought would pair well with the wine. The cookies though included cocoa and espresso powder which I hoped would pair well with this Roskamp Vineyard Syrah.

Indeed they did! It was delicious! You know, those moments when you take a bite and a sip and close your eyes and groan with pleasure just a bit. Yeah, that kind of good!

Find the recipe here.

Co dinn Cellars Tasting Room in Sunnyside Washington

Finding Co Dinn Wines

Co Dinn’s wines are wines that you should search out. These are made in small quantities so they are rare finds. When you can visit his beautiful tasting room at 501 Grant Ave in Sunnyside WA.

In the meantime, you can head to his site and order this Roskamp Vineyard Block 2 Syrah as well as his current releases.

Sources and Resources

More by Crushed Grape Chronicle on the Yakima Valley and Co Dinn

As always be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and sign up for our monthly newsletter to keep up to date on all of our posts.

When not traveling they indulge in cooking and pairing wines with food at home in Las Vegas.

Syncline Subduction Red – Day 3 of the 12 Days of Wine 2020

Dec 15, 2020

It was a cool summer morning when we visited Syncline. Located on the Washington side of the Columbia River Gorge just where the lush green western part of the gorge begins to turn into the flatter browner drier landscape. Here though, the trees still grow lush and we entered the quiet property and set up in the gardens where James Mantone the vigneron and winemaker met us.

James is thoughtful and quiet, a man who uses words sparingly. He is happy to share information on his property and wines but is in no way boisterous. When he speaks, you know that he has thought through what he is saying.

He took us to the vineyard up on the ridge to see the view the Syrah has. You can see the river in the gorge from there. It’s beautiful and perhaps a little humbling, as you can see far into the distance and the scale really puts your smallness into perspective.

The patio at Syncline Winery

Syncline interview behind the scenes

Walking the Steep Ranch Vineyard with Syncline's James Mantone

James Mantone of Syncline walked us to the top of their vineyard to enjoy the views from their spectacular location on the Columbia Gorge

Views of the Gorge make this Washington Wine delicious

View of the Columbia River and the Gorge

The View from Syncline’s Steep Ranch Vineyard

Syncline 2017 Subduction Red from the Columbia Valley

Syncline 2017 Subduction Red – Columbia Valley

A blend of 49% Syrah, 26% Grenache, 12% Carignan, 7% Cinsault, 6% Mourvedre, this is their version of a Côtes du Rhône Villages wine.

Syncline sources this fruit from a variety of vineyards in multiple AVAs: Columbia Gorge, Horse Heaven Hills, Red Mountain, and Yakima Valley. With all of the vineyards that they work with, they have long term contracts and a good relationship and sense of trust with the growers.

91 barrels were produced. 13.7% abv SRP $25

My notes on this wine start with its medium color of dark red with blue notes. On the nose, there are raspberry notes in the front, with deeper black fruit and rich red notes. Sitting in the very back you find notes of dried currant and whiffs of anise. There is also an undertone of brambles and dried herbs. As it evolves I get more spice.

Medium in body, dry and elegant with medium to low tannins, in my mouth it has deep juicy red and black fruits and something like the scent of a woodfire with herbs.

While this wine is from many vineyards it is incredibly integrated.

Bacon-wrapped stuffed pork tenderloin with raspberry sauce, beet greens, and a root vegetable gratin

Syrah loves bacon, and raspberry notes with this wine meant I wanted to tie those in somehow. I found a recipe for a stuffed pork loin and thought this would be a good match. I had just bought fresh beets, so beet greens on the side were a no brainer.

The pork loin is stuffed with crème cheese and a raspberry sauce. The loin is wrapped in bacon, basted in the sauce, and roasted for a few hours.

This was really wonderful with the wine, bacon, and raspberry and Subduction Red makes for a perfect trio.

You can see the full recipe here.

I did a side of sauteed beet greens, that brings in an earthy note and added to that with our rainbow root vegetable gratin. You can find the gratin recipe as part of this post.

Bacon brie raspberry bites

We stuck with the bacon and raspberry notes for a sweet/savory dessert bite. This is really an hors d’oeuvres, but it was a perfect bite to finish the meal. These are quick and easy with phyllo cups filled with brie, bacon, and a raspberry preserve.

This was a perfect little bite with the wine.

Check out the recipe here.

Phyllo cups filled with brie, raspberry sauce, bacon, rosemary and almonds

Syncline 2017 Subduction Red with bacon, brie, raspberry phyllo bites

Syncline is open for limited outdoor seating on weekends for tasting and you can do take out bottle sales. They have a reservation section on their site.

The outdoor tasting bar at the Syncline Winery with its juniper posts

Syncline Wine’s tasting garden in the Columbia Gorge AVA

They are located across the river from the Dalles. If you can’t get there to enjoy their beautiful gardens you can order online and enjoy these delicious wines in the comfort of your own home.

Production here is under 6,000 cases annually. These wines are truly something special.

Sources and Resources

Black cherry Ice Cream Sandwiches with cocoa and espresso cookie

When I read that the Co Dinn Syrah we were opening had notes of Black Cherry, cocoa, and espresso, I knew that a good dessert pairing would be epic. I searched and stumbled across this recipe for black cherry-chocolate ice cream sandwiches on Food & Wine. I encourage you to check out their recipe

https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/black-cherrychocolate-ice-cream-sandwiches

The single tweek I made was using espresso powder rather than instant espresso granules, due to what was in my cupboard.

Time: 40 Minutes
waiting time 11 hours

Yield: 6 people

Ingredients for Black cherry Ice Cream Sandwiches

What to Pair?

Co Dinn 2015 Roskamp Vineyard Block 2 Syrah

This Co Dinn wine is fermented in one-ton bins. He presses when he feels the tannins are structured by not too grippy. The wine does secondary fermentation in neutral French oak. 100% Syrah. 14.6% abv SRP $45

Ingredients

1 ¼ cups flour (plus more for rolling)

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa

1 tsp salt

¾ tsp baking powder

½ cup unsalted butter softened

¾ cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon espresso powder

1 egg

2 tsp vanilla

1 quart of black cherry ice cream (no I did not make my own ice cream for this)

Directions

In a medium bowl sift the flour, salt, baking powder and cocoa together.
In your stand mixer with the paddle attachment cream the butter, sugar and espresso powder until it’s light and fluffy
Keep the mixer running and add the egg, mixing until it is well combined.
Add the vanilla
Turn the mixer to low and slowly add the flour, ½ cup at a time. You want to mix this just until it is combined.
Wrap this in plastic wrap and let it chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
When the dough is chilled, preheat the oven to 350 degrees
Roll the dough out on parchment to a 14×11 inch rectangle that is 1/8 inch thick.
Trim this to a 13×10 inch rectangle to clean up the edges.
Slide the dough with the parchment onto a baking sheet
Chill for 30 minutes
Poke holes all over the dough about ¾ inch apart.
Bake 9-11 minutes (it will be set, but still soft)
Cool on a wire rack about 30 minutes
Cut this cross wise into 2 rectangles (2- 6 ½ x 11 rectangles)
Line a cookie sheet with foil big enough to hold one of the large cookies
Place ½ face down (the poked side) on the foil
Top with the softened ice cream.
Place the other cookie on top (poked side up, you want to see those!)
Wrap in aluminum foil and freeze 8 hours
Remove from the foil, trim the edges and cut into 12 bars!

Co Dinn 2015 Roskamp Block 2 Syrah with a Black Cherry Ice Cream Sandwich

Black cherry Ice Cream Sandwiches with cocoa and espresso cookies

1 ¼ cups flour (plus more for rolling)

2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp salt

¾ tsp baking powder

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa

Watch our quick video for the highlights.

½ cup unsalted butter softened

¾ cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon espresso powder

1 egg

Black Cherry Ice Cream Sandwiches

Indeed they did! It was delicious! You know, those moments when you take a bite and a sip and close your eyes and groan with pleasure just a bit. Yeah, that kind of good!

Bonny Doon 2018 Riesling to Live – Day 12 of the 12 Days of Wine 2020

We kicked off this year's 12 Days of Wine with a story of endings and beginnings and we end in the same way. It has been a tough year, filled with changes, so we end again with joyful bubbles. These bubbles are made in the Method Champenoise style but made of Riesling. They come to [...]

Herederos del Marqués de Riscal El Ciego (Alava) Rioja 2014 Reserva

Herederos del Marqués de Riscal Reserva Rioja 2014 – Day 11 of the 12 days of Wine 2020

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Bailey Family 2017 Chardonnay – Day 10 of the 12 Days of Wine 2020

Earlier this fall I wrote a piece about Youngberg Hill. In 2019 they created Bailey Family Wines. It was a place we had visited years ago with a friend and tasting through the Pinot Noirs they had sent, I got a bit nostalgic. You can read that piece here Youngberg Hill – Reminiscing and Making [...]

LaZarre 2017 Central Coast Pinot Noir and black bean lentil burgers

LaZarre 2017 Central Coast Pinot Noir – Day 9 of the 12 Days of Wine 2020

Adam and Angie LaZarre have a bit of a “Rockstar” vibe. We met them during Merlot Month when we sampled their 2017 Paso Robles Merlot. We wrote about that in our piece Merlot from Elegant to Badass. When they sent us that sample, they included a bottle of their 2017 Central Coast Pinot Noir. *We [...]

Strawberry mousse filled macarons (and a blackberry goat cheese chocolate bomb)

Strawberry Macarons

Strawberry Mousse filled Macarons I will admit, I was not ready for this. Pandemic food show bingeing had Michael ready to make macarons. I was not so sure. I’d seen how skeptical Zumbo was when someone tried to make them. Michael, though, was determined. So we set forth to make macarons. I would love to [...]

Meinklang Hárslevelü with Hungarian Nut Cake and Apricot Mousse

Hungarian Nut Cake with Apricot

Hungarian Nut Cake was my mother's favorite cake, as her hand-typed recipe below attests. I remember having it often at home growing up and it was her favorite to make for friends birthdays, potlucks, or other gatherings. I have a vision of her carrying this cake out to the picnic table in the yard for [...]

Meinklang h17 – Day 8 of the 12 Days of wine 2020

Today we dive into Meinklang a wine from Hungary. I went to pick up a wine a while back at GaragisteLV and decided to add a bottle while I was there. “What do you have that is interesting,” I asked Eric. He immediately suggested this wine. It wasn’t until I got home that I realized [...]

2018 Rowlee Nebbiolo from Orange NSW Australia

Rowlee 2018 Single Vineyard Nebbiolo – Day 7 of the 12 Days of Wine

We visited Rowlee a little over a year ago with a group from the Wine Media Conference This was a post-conference excursion to Orange Australia sponsored by Orange 360. We joined Nicole and James at their cellar door on the vineyard. We gathered on the porch to look out on the vineyard as the sun [...]

Tablas Creek 2019 Bourboulenc with Coquilles St. Jacque and a pineapple, cucumber, avocado salad

Tablas Creek 2019 Bourboulenc – Day 6 of the 12 Days of Wine 2020

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Pavlova with Apricot crème and berries

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Chicken Paprikas with Meinklang Hárslevelü

Chicken Paprikas paired with Meinklang H17

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Blackberry Goat Cheese Chocolate Bombs

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Cannolis with Lemon Curd

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Co Dinn 2015 Syrah Roskamp Vineyard Block 2 – Day 5 of the 12 Days of Wine 2020

Tertini Private Cellar Collection 2018 Arneis with grilled peach, chicken and tarragon salad from Southern Highlands NSW Australia

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Syncline 2017 Subduction Red with a Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Pork Tenderloin with raspberry sauce

Syncline Subduction Red – Day 3 of the 12 Days of Wine 2020

AD Beckham Amphora Pinot Gris – Day 2 of the 12 Days of Wine 2020

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Strawberry Mascarpone crepes with AD Beckham Pinot Gris

Mascarpone crepes with strawberry sauce with an Amphora Pinot Gris

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Beginnings and Endings The year 2020. Unexpected, unpredictable, a year of endings and beginnings. This Terre di Bacco Prosecco brings up a story of endings and beginnings – a chapter in my life. In 2008 after having a successful business for 10 years, the economy crashed and my business was no longer viable. A Warm [...]

As always be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and sign up for our monthly newsletter to keep up to date on all of our posts.

When not traveling they indulge in cooking and pairing wines with food at home in Las Vegas.

BBQ Chicken in Crockpot with Grilled Eggplant and Gouda Mac and Cheese

Dec 11, 2020

BBQ chicken, grilled eggplant with chimichurri sauce, and smoked gouda mac and cheese with Co Dinn Roskamp Syrah

Our BBQ lunch to pair with this Washington Syrah from Co Dinn paired beautifully! BBQ with Syrah, especially when you play up the notes in the wine in the sauce, can be spectacular. Co had suggested eggplant dishes on his site and I found a recipe for Grilled eggplant with chimichurri sauce and lastly a smoked gouda mac and cheese!

Co Dinn 2015 Roskamp Vineyard Block 2 Syrah

Time: 2 hours 25 Minutes

Yield: 2-4 people

Slow cooker BBQ chicken thighs with a syrah inspired BBQ sauce

This recipe was inspired by Jennifer Banz – crock pot chicken thighs

https://jenniferbanz.com/crock-pot-bbq-chicken-thighs

2 people, 2 hr 15 min to 4 hr 15 minutes (depending on slow cooker setting)

Ingredients

4 bone in chicken thighs (I recommend pulling the skin off of these, I did not and I regret that, the meat was not able soak up my brilliant sauce)

1 tbs paprika (smoke or sweet)

1 tsp mustard powder

1 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp Montreal Chicken seasoning (it’s what I had)

¼ tsp ground white pepper

1 ½ cups of BBQ sauce (

Directions

Mix the spices and the salt and pepper in a small bowl
Put your chicken thighs in the slow cooker and sprinkling the spice mix over the top.
Pour on 1 cup of that BBQ sauce (use my recipe below, make your own concoction or grab a bottle from the store)
Cook on high for 2 hours or low for 4 hours.
Pre-heat the broiler.
Place the chicken thighs on an aluminum lined baking sheet
Baste with the rest of the sauce
Broil on the center rack of the oven for about 5 minutes (keep an eye on them) They should caramelize and bubble.

BBQ Sauce recipe

First, I love making BBQ sauce, and it’s never the same. I throw together flavors and taste as I go. Here is what I used for this recipe.

Minced garlic

Dried cranberries

Dark brown sugar

Worcestershire sauce

Apple cider vinegar

Honey

Balsamic vinegar

Espresso powder

Cocoa

Ketchup

Soy sauce

Tomato paste

Paprika

Ground white pepper

Montreal chicken seasoning

Black cherry preserve

Nutmeg

Salt

Directions

Nope, you don’t get exact measurements. You need it to be your desired consistency so that will guide you. The other thing that will guide you is your taste buds. Grab a jar or bowl, or a big 2 cup measuring cup. You are looking to have 1 ½ cups of this in the end. Add, stir, taste. Maybe there are other flavors you want to add in? Do it! If you are not sure, then take a bit to the side and try it there.

The important thing for this recipe, was the black cherry preserves (I added about 2 tbs) the cocoa ( I added 1 tsp) and the espresso powder (again 1 tsp). These were the components that would pick up in the notes of the wine.

Grilled Eggplant with Chimichurri sauce

20 minutes 4 servings

This recipe was adapted from one on Foodie Crush https://www.foodiecrush.com/grilled-eggplant/

I didn’t need to make quite so much and I’ll be honest, I mixed up my chimichurri so that it is more of a sauce and is not quite a traditional chimichurri which is thiner and more drizzly. None the less it was delicious. I also cut this recipe in half and adapted for ingredients that I had on hand.

Chimichurri style sauce

Ingredients

½ cup flat leaf parsley leaves only

¼ cup fresh cilantro leaves only

2 shallots finely chopped

3 cloves of garlic

¼ cup olive oil

2 tbs of red wine vinegar

½ lemon juiced

½ tsp salt

½ tsp red pepper flakes

Directions

Do this in a food processor
Start with the parsley, cilantro, onion and garlic, pulse to mince
Add the olive oil, vinegar and lemon juice, and red pepper flakes.
Pulse just to mix
Season with salt.

Grilled Eggplant

Ingredients

1 large eggplant

1 tbs of olive oil

1 ½ tsp salt

1 ½ tsp freshly ground pepper

Directions

Heat your grill pan over medium high heat (I typically grind fresh salt over the pan first, it will help with clean up)
Cut the eggplant into ½ inch slices
Brush the slices with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper
Grill turning once until they are tender and you have lovely grill marks
Plate and drizzle with the chimichurri sauce.

Serves 4

25 minutes

Smoked Gouda Mac & Cheese

I love baked mac & cheese, but sometimes you just don’t have the time for that. This mac & cheese with smoke gouda is so good, I didn’t miss the baking! I found this recipe on Hey Grill Hey an adapted it cutting the recipe in half. I also messed up my sauce and guess what? Still turned out okay!

Ingredients

½ lb of elbow macaroni

¼ cup of butter

2 tbs flour

1 ½ tsp mustard powder

1/2 cup of crème

½ cup whole milk

2 oz of crème cheese

1 ½ cups of shredded smoked gouda

¾ cup of shredded white cheddar

Directions

Cook the pasta. Read the directions on the package, just use a big pot, bigger than you think you need, so those macaroni have space and salt the water. Salty like the sea, my chef friend always says!
Drain the pasta. (yes, I did that before I made the sauce, because I didn’t want to break my focus on the sauce, by having to stop and drain pasta)
Get out your cast iron skillet (12 inch) melt the butter over medium heat
Add the flour whisking until it forms a thin smooth paste. This is your roux, I am notorious for over cooking my roux, keep this over medium and you should be okay.
Whisk in the mustard powder.
Slowly pour in the milk and crème, continue whisking while you bring this to a boil.
Reduce the heat and add the crème cheese, whisking until smooth
Add the gouda and cheddar and stir until melted.
Turn off the heat, add the pasta and stir to make this a gooey bunch of deliciousness.

Watch our quick video for the highlights.

BBQ chicken, grilled eggplant with chimichurri sauce, and smoked gouda mac and cheese with Co Dinn Roskamp Syrah

We got lost on the way to this vineyard to meet Co Dinn. In Washington’s Yakima Valley GPS service can be sketchy and even when you look it up ahead of time, sometimes roads have gates and you find the maps program tried to take you in a locked back door. So after a bit of driving for us and Co talking us in through landmarks we were unfamiliar with, we finally connected and headed up to the Roskamp Vineyard in the Snipes Mountain AVA. Co sources grapes here, for his Syrah and Chardonnay and it is a great vantage point to see the Yakima Valley.

Bonny Doon 2018 Riesling to Live – Day 12 of the 12 Days of Wine 2020

Herederos del Marqués de Riscal Reserva Rioja 2014 – Day 11 of the 12 days of Wine 2020

Bailey Family 2017 Chardonnay – Day 10 of the 12 Days of Wine 2020

LaZarre 2017 Central Coast Pinot Noir – Day 9 of the 12 Days of Wine 2020

Hungarian Nut Cake with Apricot

Meinklang h17 – Day 8 of the 12 Days of wine 2020

Rowlee 2018 Single Vineyard Nebbiolo – Day 7 of the 12 Days of Wine

Tablas Creek 2019 Bourboulenc – Day 6 of the 12 Days of Wine 2020

Co Dinn 2015 Syrah Roskamp Vineyard Block 2 – Day 5 of the 12 Days of Wine 2020

Tertini 2018 Arneis – Day 4 of the 12 Days of Wine 2020

Syncline Subduction Red – Day 3 of the 12 Days of Wine 2020

AD Beckham Amphora Pinot Gris – Day 2 of the 12 Days of Wine 2020

Terre di Bacco Prosecco – Day 1 of the 12 Days of Wine 2020

Hungarian Nut Cake, Caramelized Apples and Crème Anglaise with Prosecco

Pineapple meringues with pineapple curd and roasted pineapple toasted coconut and pistachios with Tablas Creek Bourboulanc

Tablas Creek 2019 Bourboulenc The bourboulenc we tasted was from the first vintage of this variety at Tablas Creek Vineyard in the Adelaida District AVA of Paso Robles California. It is full of pineapple notes, so we ran with that on our pairing. Honey Roasted Pineapple, pineapple curd filled meringue cups with toasted coconut, pistachios, [...]

Tertini Private Cellar Collection Arneis with peach crisp

Peach Crisp paired with a beautiful Tertini Arneis

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Grilled Peach and Roasted chicken and Tarragon Salad Plating

Grilled peach, Roasted Chicken and Tarragon Salad perfectly paired with Tertini Arneis

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Bacon Brie Raspberry Bites inspired pairing with 2017 Syncline Subduction Red

Bacon Brie Raspberry Bites Yep, more raspberry and bacon! We munched these for dessert but they would be great for an appetizer too. What to Pair? Syncline 2017 Subduction Red – Columbia Valley A blend of 49% Syrah, 26% Grenache, 12% Carignan, 7% Cinsault, 6% Mourvedre, this is their version of a Côtes du Rhône [...]

Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Pork Tenderloin with Raspberry Sauce, inspired by 2017 Syncline Subduction Red

Bacon-Wrapped Stuffed Pork tenderloin with Raspberry Sauce I cannot even believe I waited this long to discover pork loins! They are relatively inexpensive and make for a simple and fancy meal. We did a stuffed pork tenderloin with chimichurri a while back and it was delicious. When I went to pick it up at the [...]

12 Days of Wine Day 12 – Syncline

Syncline Let's start with the name. Syncline...where does that come from? It was a new word to me. This winery & vineyard in located in the Columbia Gorge AVA. Vineyards are typically in scenic areas. Grapes like a view. But the Columbia Gorge? Come on...this is a pretty stellar backdrop. View of Mt. Hood [...]

Johan Grüner Veltliner 12 Days of Wine Reveal

12 Days of Wine Day 11 – Johan

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12 Days of Wine Day 10 – Girardet

If you have tried today's variety I want to hear about it! This is Baco Noir, a French American hybrid created by Francois Baco from folle blanche (which is a wine grape from France) and a red grape of the vitis riparia species (comes from America, but the exact grape is unknown). This variety is [...]

12 Days of Wine Day 9 – Wooldridge Creek

We are sticking to Southern Oregon today, but...we are into a white wine. Viognier is a white Rhône variety that has found a home in the new world. It is thought to be the leading white variety in Virginia, where it does very well. You will find it in California where it can vary in [...]

12 Days of Wine Day 8 – Cowhorn

We are sticking with Southern Oregon today, but we are heading into the Rhônes. No...I'm not giving you another Syrah. Today we focus on Grenache from Cowhorn in Southern Oregon's Applegate Valley AVA (which is nested in the Rogue Valley AVA). Cowhorn Entrance Gate We've done a bit on Bill Steele and his wife [...]

As always be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and sign up for our monthly newsletter to keep up to date on all of our posts.

When not traveling they indulge in cooking and pairing wines with food at home in Las Vegas.

A Côtes du Rhône from Franck Balthazar and a deconstructed pairing #Winophiles

Sep 18, 2020

At long last, we have a reprise from the 114 degree days. It is time to again venture outside and perhaps in the evenings, as the stars begin to dot the sky, don a sweater. It is time to dig back into red wines in a different way. A Côtes du Rhône is the perfect way to ease into this season.

The French Winophiles (#Winophiles) are throwing a wide net this month with a venture into the Côtes du Rhône. Led by Cam of Culinary Adventures with Camilla, we will explore these wines. You can read her preview post here.

Scroll to the bottom for the pieces written by my colleagues on the subject and for details on how you can join us to talk about your favorite Côtes du Rhône on Saturday, September 19th at 8 am PDT

The Rhône Valley

The Rhône Valley sits between the Massif Central and the Alps, which long ago was flooded by the Mediterranean. The Greeks brought grapes to the region in the 4^th century BC and gradually wine-growing spread north.

In the 14^th century, the papacy moved from Rome to Avignon. Vineyards in abundance popped up in the region. In fact, Châteauneuf de Pape was the summer residence of the Pope.

The Rhône river became a means of shipping and the “Côste du Rhône” on the right bank, became famous for its wines. Later in the mid-19^th century, it became the Côtes du Rhône and extended to include the left bank.

As you can see, this is a really old wine region.

The Côtes du Rhône AOC

Paysage du Cotes du Rhone / Cotes du Rhone landscape| Photo © Christophe Grilhé courtesy Inter Rhône

The Côtes du Rhône AOC stretches from Vienne in the north to Avignon in the south taking in some 171 communes over an area of 30,000 hectares. Over such a distance and space you can expect some variety. Within this overarching AOC, you will find many small appellations. But today we focus on the Côtes du Rhône.

Domaine Franck Balthazar

The wine that we enjoyed is from Domaine Franck Balthazar.

This Domaine goes back to 1931 when it was founded by Franck’s grandfather Casmir. Franck’s father René took over in 1950 and eventually moved to bottling their wines in the late 1970s or early 80s. Franck took over in 2002 when the Domaine had just 2 hectares of vines, ½ of which were 100-year-old vines in Chaillot, and the other ½ 50-year-old vines in Mazard.

Franck Balthazar

2018 Côtes du Rhône

This wine is made in a traditional (old school) manner and Franck Balthazar is a purist. The vineyard these grapes come from 3 hectares close to Vinsobres, an AOC on the Aigues River. They plough with a horse and do whole cluster native yeast ferments in concrete.

The wines are aged in 600 liters demi-muids and are bottled unfiltered.

The blend is 75% Syrah and 25% Grenache, 14.1% abv.

Imported by Savio Soares Selections, I picked this bottle up at my favorite local wine bar/shop Garagiste, for $23.

What to pair with a Côtes du Rhône?

Classic pairing for a Côtes du Rhône is Daube, a Southern Rhone stew. Michael is not a lover of stew, so we decided to deconstruct this.

A Daube typically is a stew cooked in wine in a daubière which is a deep casserole dish or a Dutch oven. You would cook the bacon first, then sear your meat, which is cubed. Then you cook up onions, shallots, garlic, carrots, maybe parsnips or potatoes, add a little brandy, put the meat back in, and dump in a bottle of red wine. Top it with a bouquet garni (herbs like thyme, and rosemary), cover, and cook in the oven for a few hours.

Our deconstructed version included bacon-wrapped fillets, roast carrots with thyme and rosemary, potato cakes, and a red wine sauce for the steaks. All the ingredients, just in a different order.

Deconstructed daube to pair with a Côtes du Rhône

How was the wine? How did it pair?

This is a medium-bodied wine with a pretty big nose. I got volcanic rocks (have you ever smelled a lava rock that has been sitting in the sun?), roasted meat, cigar box, allspice, dried herbs, berry bramble, and a little smoke (think smoke from meat roasting on a grill). In my mouth, again I first found tobacco leaf, then currant, blackberry, and black cherry, dark juicy fruit. While the wine was dry, I sensed a little brown sugar.

There was good acid and tannins that coated my teeth. This was tasty and well balanced. It is young and I bet it will age nicely, but it’s joyful enough now, that you shouldn’t wait.

I did use half a cup of this wine to make my red wine sauce and the steak with the wine was a highlight. My potato cakes might have gone better if they had a bit more fat in them, but I drizzled some more of the red wine sauce on them and that made them perfect. If you like stew, by all means, try the daube, it would be delicious. Really any red meat dish that is grilled or roasted, braised or stewed, would be delicious.

Côtes du Rhône from Franck Balthazar with bacon wrapped filet, roasted carrots and potato cake.

The French Winophiles

I can’t wait to hear about the rest of the adventures that my fellow #Winophiles wine writers tackled! We will be gathering on Twitter on Saturday Morning September 19^th at 8 am PDT to discuss Côtes du Rhône wines. You can join in by following and using #Winophiles. Read on to hear more about the Côtes du Rhône!

A Côtes du Rhône Tasting by Payal of Keep the Peas
All the Colors of Côtes du Rhône with Famille Perrin by Nicole of Somm’s Table
A Trio of Côtes du Rhône Pairings by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
A Window Into The Côtes du Rhône Through Maison M. Chapoutier by Avvinare
Back on the Rhône Again by Christy Majors
Beef Tongue Stew with a Côtes du Rhône Gigondas by Wendy at A Day in the Life on the Farm
Côtes du Rhône and Clearwater Camping: Charcuterie in God’s Country from Terri of Our Good Life
Côtes du Rhône: Essential French Wines by Jill at L’Occassion
Lamb Meatballs Paired with Côtes du Rhône by Jane at Always Ravenous
Linda shares Leaning Savory with a 2016 Alain Jaume Côtes du Rhône from My Full Wine Glass
Rhône Roam for Viognier and Syrah by Gwendolyn at Wine Predator
Rhône Wine with Brisket by David at Cooking Chat
Turkey Does the Côtes du Rhône from Andrea with The Quirky Cork
What the Heck is Côtes du Rhône Villages? by Wining with Mel

Resources & sources

As always be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to keep up to date on all of our posts.

Robin Renken CSW (photo credit RuBen Permel)

When not traveling they indulge in cooking and pairing wines with food at home in Las Vegas.

Pour in the Alley Virtual Tasting with Garagiste and 2 Fascinating wines from Greg Brewer

Jul 24, 2020

I watched many Virtual tastings pop up and while I joined in on a few casually, I’d actually been too busy to do a proper Virtual Tasting. Then I saw a friend of mine post that he and his fiance got all dressed up and did a virtual tasting at home with a local wine bar.

Well, that had my attention. 1st “Local Wine Bar”?!! I live in Vegas and there are so few. The ones I was familiar with were on the other side of the valley. But this one was new. Garagiste opened this past year in downtown Las Vegas (no not Fremont street…the cool local section). It sits off of Main street at the corner of California and Casino Center. It’s in my favorite section of downtown, where the Majestic Theatre, ReBAR, and the Priscilla Fowler Gallery are located. It’s across from the delicious Esther’s Kitchen. How did I not already know about this!?

Pour in the Alley

The tasting was scheduled through Fergusons Downtown as part of their Pour in the Alley series. With the pandemic, this series needed to go virtual. Okay…Fergusons is another favorite spot of mine. They are a renovated downtown motel, that now has 2 restaurants, Mothership Coffee, and then lots of small businesses. It’s an incubator of sorts and it rocks! Great people looking to create a community space that supports each other.

As if I was not already sold on this tasting…it came with a cheese and charcuterie platter from another of my favorite spots Cured & Whey. Ding, ding, ding! I was all in. But wait…it gets better.

I go online and set up for the tasting. I’m excited because it’s a Zoom tasting and I’ll get to see my friends, Dean & Amanda, virtually too. Then I jot down the names of the wines and go to look them up. Turns out they are both by a winemaker I am familiar with in Santa Barbara. Greg Brewer was the winemaker for Melville for many years and created with a partner, Brewer Clifton. We had visited their tasting room in Lompoc. They made great wines from Sta. Rita Hills. So I’m extra pumped.

They pick up pack for “Pour in the Alley”, 2 bottles of wine from Garagiste, 2 Fergusons tasting glasses, our cheese and charcuterie from Cured & Whey, plus a tasting card and some other extras from Fergusons.

The night arrives. We set up on the computer and layout our spread. I see that it is part of a Winemaker series. Well, that makes sense, it’s wines from one winemaker. But no, that’s not all, Greg Brewer is actually there on the Zoom to discuss the wines.

This was beautifully put together. The folks from Fergusons, kicked things off and introduced everyone. They also stayed with us to help with managing any online questions. Mario & Eric were there from Garagiste to facilitate the conversation on the wines. Emily from Cured and Whey was there to talk us through the cheeses and potential pairings, and then Greg to give us details on the wines. As a big bonus his wife, winemaker Sonja Madjevski of Casa Dumetz dropped by!

Let’s start with the cheese by Cured & Whey!

"Pour in the Alley" cheese plate from Cured & Whey, laid out on a cutting board with bread, crackers and olive oil. — “Pour in the Alley” cheese plate from Cured & Whey.

Emily with Cured and Whey had put together a Spanish cheese and charcuterie platter for us and talked us through it.

We began with a Los Cameros cheese, which was made from 3 kinds of milk, goat, cow, and sheep. It is a washed rind cheese with olive oil and will tend to have an earthy flavor. Next was the 3-month manchego, of sheep’s milk. This cheese was young, creamy, and salty with notes of hay and fruit.

We move on to the Cana de Cabra, a bloomy rind goats milk cheese. The outside is softer than the center that will have mushroomy notes. For meats, we had Mortadella which is a thinly sliced pork sausage that many may interpret as fancy bologna and finally a salami with white peppercorns. The platter finished with almonds to cleanse your palate and Italian olives.

About Greg Brewer the Winemaker

Greg Brewer of Brewer-Clifton, online with us for the "Pour in the Alley" tasting of his wines. — Greg Brewer of Brewer-Clifton, online with us for the “Pour in the Alley” tasting of his wines.

Greg Brewer is from LA. In 1991 he applied for a job in Santa Barbara Winery’s Tasting room. He didn’t get it. But, the smells, the sounds…he was hooked. In 1996 started Brewer Clifton Estate with Steve Clifton. They started with just 12,000 dollars.

We found out he also worked at Sunstone (that stunning winery that most of you will now know as Jean-Luc Picard’s vineyard in the series “Picard”). You can read a bit more about this winery that we visited in 2014 in our 2014 R etrospect. Scroll down in that piece to July 2014.

In 2015 he and Steve Clifton parted ways, and in 2017 Brewer Clifton became part of Jackson Family wines.

The Wines – Diatom & Ex Post Facto

Diatom 2018 Chardonnay from Bar-M Vineyard & Ex Post Facto Syrah made by Greg Brewer

Diatom Chardonnay from Bar-M Vineyard

A diatom is a plankton fossil. It’s where we get the term diatomaceous earth. There is lots in of this type of earth in Santa Barbara’s Lompoc area.

Los Alamos is a magnificent and relatively unknown region whose sandy loam soil lends itself to fruit with a bit more flesh and weight – perfectly suited to the diatom model.

Diatom Bar-M is sourced from the stunning contiguous blocks of clone 76 Chardonnay planted over 20 years ago in the Los Alamos region of Santa Barbara County.

This vineyard sits near the junction of Alisos Canyon Road and the 101 if you know the area. This is one block from one clone, no oak, no malolactic fermentation.

Due to its weight, it can pair with quite a bit. Greg suggested tater tots (which at this point in the pandemic were in short supply, due to everyone wanting to put them in their waffle maker!),or french fries. Emily suggested a salmon Crudo or another fatty fish, perhaps grilled peaches with an acidic dressing. Pork belly or pork loin would be a good match. She found the buttery cheese with the wine made the acid mellow and the fat comes forward, which she really enjoyed.

Greg spoke of picking this early, pushing the envelope for pH. He did 6 separate picks over 3 weeks for this wine. the wine retains it’s freshness from the malic acid.

You get stone fruit, citrus and saline with lush white flowers (in a humid place). There is citrus blossom and some tropical notes as it opens up.

ExPost Facto Syrah

This idea for this wine came about in 2015 and he started making this wine, once he was with Jackson Family Wines. The name for Greg indicates a law that you cannot be held accountable for breaking, if it was not a law at the time. He finds this a bit naughty and deviant, which is what working with Syrah feels like to him. (He is by all accounts a Chard and Pinot guy).

These grapes are cool climate, and are harvested late. It is whole cluster primarily. With the generosity of fruit in Santa Barbara, Greg feels the stem inclusion helps to fetter the fruit note. It gives the wine structure and is evident in the mouthfeel. It ferments for 2 months (that’s a long time) and then is aged in 20 year old barrels (so super neutral oak).

Mario noted that this felt like a beautiful blend of a California and Rhone style Syrah with California fruit and the white pepper and sage brush of the Rhone. He mentioned a perfect pairing of grilled steak with char and a pepper crust with a drizzle of reduced port and garlic and then a bramble berry sauce. (Are you drooling yet?)

For me this wine had great acid, but was rich with smoke and garrique and a nice funk. You get a little of that olive tapenade in here.

Emily mentions that the Cana de Cabra is perfect with this wine.

At some point in here, Loki, our cat jumps up to say hello and then I disrupt things by adding a hello in the chat to Sonja, who has to lean in front of Greg to type a response. Ah the joys of Zoom. In addition, as the evening wore on, I looked at the Zoom pictures more closely. I got to meet my friends, Dean & Amanda’s, new dog. Then I realize other friends are there! Seb & Lori, fellow Zumans! “Pour in the Alley” really brings people together!

Full Disclosure – this happened in May – so what’s happened since?

The Big Rig Jig the sculpture at the entrance to Fergusons Downtown. Made of 2 18 wheelers held together by an s-shaped structure. — The Big Rig Jig the sculpture at the entrance to Fergusons Downtown.

The view as you sit in the amphitheatre at Fergusons Downtown with Mothership Coffee Roasters and the Big Rig Jig Sculpture as you look out onto Fremont Street. — The Big Rig Jig the sculpture at the entrance to Fergusons Downtown.

This glorious evening with Pour in the Alley occurred back in mid-May. Wow. Time flies when you’re stuck at home! Fergusons Downtown has continued to do their Pour in the Alley events, which include Wine, coffee, beer, and a variety of tasty beverages.

I have not had an opportunity to attend another Pour in the Alley event yet. But, I have escaped on a couple of occasions to sip at Mothership coffee.

Fergusons since they reopened have been following safety protocols. They have what I like to think of as a “concierge desk” at the front of the property. There is always someone there to greet you and direct you. They now also make sure you are wearing a mask, when you enter the property (they actually have artisan-crafted masks for sale there also). You can grab a coffee at Mothership and sit out in the amphitheater to enjoy it. The greeters, roam the property, politely reminding folks to put their mask back up after taking a sip. It is a space that feels safe and for that I am grateful.

As to Garagiste? Well they have become my go-to wine shop! You can order online and pick up and they do have tables outside where you can enjoy a glass of wine. I have been by several times to pick up wine. The last time I went to pick up my wine, I asked Eric if they had anything else interesting. He laughed “Everything we have is interesting, it’s what we do!” He’s right of course. He and Mario only pick things they find interesting for their list. You can’t go wrong with wine here.

I have not, since I have been staying in, had the opportunity to get over to Cured & Whey (great name for a cheese shop, right?). But…they are doing online cheese classes! This week they are doing a virtual “Ultimate Grilled Cheese” class. You order ahead, pick up the ingredients curbside and go online for a cheese and cooking class!

You know, if I have to live through a pandemic, I’m awfully glad that I have great local businesses like these to get me through.

As always be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to keep up to date on all of our posts.

When not traveling they indulge in cooking and pairing wines with food at home in Las Vegas.

Finding Connections in the Northern Rhône

Apr 17, 2020

Connections

I’ve only been to France once. We were in Germany and during our week in Hamburg we took the train to Paris for a single day. Up early, we arrived at the Gard du Nord train station and made our way to Le Sacre Coeur to climb the steps. We wandered past the Opera House on our way to the L’Arc de Triomphe. Lunch was at a small table with an appropriately rude waiter under the Tour d’Eiffel.

A boat took us down the Seine to Notre Dame and we walked back to the Louvre to look at the Castle beneath it and then wandered the museum briefly, with a quick late day stop to see the Mona Lisa. Feet hot and sore from all the walking, we kicked off our shoes and cooled our feet in the fountains around the glass Pyramid.

I could not remember dinner. I asked Michael and his memory was clear, it was at a small sidewalk café. The table next to us had a German couple that refused to speak German or French and would only speak English to the waiter. We returned to our tiny hotel room only to quickly sleep and wake early to take the train back to Hamburg. It was only a brief “Golden Day”.

All of my knowledge and connection with France come through connections. That entire day was based on the connections I had put together from 4 years of studying these places in High School French.

Now, my knowledge of France and French wine come through bottles of wine, and wonderful people I have met who connect me with France through their eyes.

Connections are something I look more closely for these days.

The French #Winophiles

This month the French #Winophiles, are discussing the Northern Rhône. I love Rhône style wines. The key word is “style”. There are so many of the rhône varieties have been planted in the new world and that is where I find my connections.

Rather than focusing on food this month, (my pantry did hold the ingredients to make a cassoulet!), I thought I would focus on the other connections that I have to the Northern Rhône.

Grapes of the Northern Rhône

Unlike the Southern Rhône where you find at least 16 different varieties, the Northern Rhône has just a few varieties to choose from. While there are several white grape varieties you might come across here, including Viognier, Marsanne and Roussanne, the Northern Rhône is focused solely on one red grape, Syrah.

JL Chave Sélection Crozes-Hermitage “Silène” 2016

Northern Rhone, Silène 2016 Crozes-Hermitage from J.L. Chave Sélection — Silène 2016 Crozes-Hermitage from J.L. Chave Sélection

This wine is from the Crozes-Hermitage AOC of the Northern Rhône. These vineyards sit around Hermitage AOC on the East bank of the Rhône River. The revered Hermitage AOC, is commune size and is surrounded on 3 sides by Crozes-Hermitage, with it’s last side against the river. Crozes-Hermitage is much larger with plots less sought after than Hermitage. None-the-less, this is a fine wine and a little less exorbitantly priced than the other smaller AOCs. Half of the grapes for this wine are from an estate parcel planted in 2003 that is on the east facing flank of the Hermitage Hill. This allows the vines a more granitic soil than the vines on the valley floor.

Bob Lindquist & Chave

My story, as I said, is about connections and I chose the JL Chave syrah for a connection with Santa Barbara. In 2016 we attended a Syrah Seminar hosted by the Santa Barbara Vintner’s Association. On the panel was Chris Hammell, the Vineyard Manager for Bien Nacido Vineyards, in the Santa Maria Valley. Chris told a story about meeting Jean-Louis Chave . Chris was pretty excited about being in the cellar with one of the most famous people in the Syrah world. The first thing that Jean-Louis says to him? “Hi Chris, thanks for coming. How’s Bob Lindquist?”.

Bob Lindquist at the Zaca Mesa Seminar April 25, 2015

I had the honor of meeting Bob Lindquist, while in Santa Barbara the year before, during a seminar on the winemakers of Zaca Mesa. Bob was an early Rhône Ranger advocating for syrah in the US. He made his Qupé wines at the winery on Bien Nacido Vineyard with Jim Clendenen of Au Bon Climat for many years. After selling Qupé, he remains at the same winery, making his Lindquist Family Wines. He is quiet and humble, makes delicious wine and is a legend in California Syrah.

The Chapel connection

Chapel of St. Christopher, L´Hermitage, Rhône-Alpes, France

My other connection is via Hermitage. No, I have never been there. I have only seen photos of the iconic stone chapel that sits on the Hill behind the town of Tain l’Hermitage. This is the famous Chapel of St. Christopher.

When we visited the Yakima Valley in 2018, we heard about a vineyard with a stone chapel created to be similar to this famous Chapel. This past fall we were able to return and to take in the sunset with the owners of the Red Willow Vineyard where it stands. We sat eating Rainier cherries and drinking wine with owner Mike Sauer and his son Jon. Again, humble people who grow amazing and sought after fruit. The story of the chapel, you can hear straight from Mike below. They planted this difficult area with Syrah and Viognier. The chapel is very reminiscent of the Chapel of St. Christopher.

The Chapel on the Chapel Block at Red Willow Vineyard Yakima Valley Washington — The Chapel on the Chapel Block at Red Willow Vineyard

Connections with Art

I looked around to find a place to photo this bottle and it practically pulled me to a painting downstairs that was done by my brilliantly talented friend RuBen. The painting has always felt like a glimpse of the universe to me, which felt appropriate. RuBen painted this piece inspired by a wine. That wine? Syrah.

2016 JL Chave Selection Silène with the painting "Syrah" by Act2Art by RuBen — 2016 Silène with the painting “Syrah” by RuBen

A final thought

These places are states or continents apart. Some share climates or soils that are similar, and all have kindred spirits working the land. They are different and unique, as are the wines that come from the grapes they grow and turn to wine. But, in their own small region, a dot on the map of this large globe, they are connected. It’s a reminder that we are all connected.

Join the French #Winophiles on twitter this Saturday April 18^th at 8 am PST to speak about all things Northern Rhône. And then take a look below at the other amazing pieces shared by my fellow #Winophiles.

Cindy from Grape Experience shares “Strength and Power Meet Balance and Elegance in Syrah from the Northern Rhone”
Wendy from A Day In The Life On The Farm presents “To Syrah with Love”
Lauren from Swirling Dervish explores “Old World Syrah from the Northern Rhone: 2016 Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage”
Jeff from Food Wine Click presents “A View of Northern Rhone’s Saint Joseph through Three Wines”
Linda from My Full Wine Glass shares “Crozes-Hermitage: A gateway to Northern Rhône wine (#Winophiles)”
Jill from L’Ocassion tells us “How France’s Northern Rhône and Southern Rhône Valleys Differ”
Gwendolyn from Wine Predator writes about “In These Times, Drink from Deep in The Cellar: Two from Northern Rhone’s St Joseph’s #Winophiles“
Susannah from Avvinare writes about “Virtually visiting Crozes-Hermitage through Chapoutier’s Wine”
Camilla from Culinary Adventures With Camilla shares “Chicken Chasseur + Guigal Crozes-Hermitage 2016”
Nicole at Somm’s Table presents “A Simple Spring Lamb Feast with Maison Nicolas Perrin Crozes-Hermitage”
Jane from Always Ravenous shares “A Taste of Hermitage Marsanne”
Martin from Enoflyz shares writes about “Looking For Value in Northern Rhône? Look For Crozes-Hermitage!”
Lynn from Savor The Harvest presents “Exploring Treasures of the Northern Rhone #Winophiles”
Terri from Our Good Life shares “Hey Syrah, Syrah, whatever will be, will be: Mushroom Rice #Winophiles”
Rupal of Syrah Queen shares “Exploring Côte-Rôtie – Syrahs With A Twist”

As always be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and sign up for our monthly newsletter to keep up to date on all of our posts.

When not traveling they indulge in cooking and pairing wines with food at home in Las Vegas.

Seth Kitzke on Kitzke Cellars, Upsidedown Wine and so much more.

Apr 2, 2020

After checking out the Syrah out back, Seth walked us to the vines out front. Here you walk between 2 vineyards, Kitzke‘s Candy Ridge vineyard and their neighbor Jim’s vineyard. (You can read our previous piece in the back block here.)

Boulders the size of VW buses!

Out front is where Jim’s old vine stuff is as well as a bit of geological history. Seth takes me to a spot where we can see a large piece of granite poking up through the ground. Jim found it while he was planting the vineyard and thought he would pull it out. As he started digging he realized it was bigger than he thought, approximately as big as a VW bus! So…he covered it back up. This large boulder was likely part of the Missoula Flood that rolled through the Columbia Valley at the end of the last ice age. With all that debris being swept down by the floods Seth says “Who knows what’s really under here?” He’s found decomposed granite before. It’s not common in Washington, it’s random, brought in by the floods. This boulder is chipped on the top. From the mower Seth tells me.

a large boulder just off of Kitzke's Candy Ridge Vineyard in Jim's yard — Boulders the size of VW Buses

Jim’s old vines

The Boulder sits next to a block of chardonnay that he believes is close to 30 years old.

Jim also has cabernet sauvignon & merlot. Seth says they get about 2 barrels of the old vine cab and one of the merlot. Jim originally planted these just to make wine for himself. He now sells to at home wine makers in smaller quantities. He’s been known to even crush the grapes and ship them to Portland for clients.

Cab Franc Pet Nat

We talk about the cab franc on the lawn. These plants get more water than the rest, due to the proximity to the lawn sprinklers. So Seth decided to make a Pet Nat from them. Pet Nat is short for petillant naturel, a light sparkling wine that has become popular (it’s a favorite of mine). It’s made by bottling the wine while it’s fermenting to capture the carbon dioxide, giving it a bit of effervescence.

Cab Franc on the lawn at Kitzke's Candy Ridge Vineyard — Cab Franc on the lawn at Kitzke’s Candy Ridge Vineyard

“I don’t want it (the cab franc) to go to waste just ‘cause it gets too much extra water. When I was looking at the acids, the pH was low. It actually worked out pretty perfect for it.”
Seth Kitzke, July 2019

They pick early and don’t thin this as much, so they get a heavier crop. He found the pH was low so that seemed perfect. He says it can be hard to get exact numbers on it, but he shoots for 21 to 22 brix.

Tasting with Seth Kitzke and more

Tasting with Seth Kitzke at Kitzke Cellars Candy Ridge Vineayard Washington — Tasting with Seth Kitzke at Kitzke Cellars

We did a tasting of both Kitzke wines and Upsidedown wines. Everything they do, with the exception of their Method Red is vineyard designate. The Method Red is a blend of cabernet, nebbiolo and either sangiovese or Malbec depending on the year.

Rescue rosé

Upsidedown Wines Rescue Rosé
Rescue Rosé notes fro Upsidedown Wine

We begin with discussing the Rescue Rosé which at this point is the only rosé of nebbiolo in Washington. This is 100% nebbiolo that was grown specifically for this rosé. They crop at a higher tonnage. Seth says they do the opposite of what they do with cabernet sauvignon. Here they water during fruit set, trying to get bigger clusters and bigger berries. More and larger clusters with more acidity is what they want, and they want to slow down the sugar accumulation. This is whole cluster direct press, no skin contact and Seth cuts off the press when he feels it’s starting to be too astringent. He notes that nebbiolo has thin skins, but those skins have quite a bit of tannin. His wine making technique is low intervention so he does not use bentonite for stabilization or fining agents which would pull out some of the astringency.

Color and thin skins in Rosé

It seems strange that thinner skins often give more color. “If you do something like a cab franc that has thicker skins…like Michael Savage, he does a cab franc he does a direct press and it has very little but it has thicker skins”. With nebbiolo, the skins are so thin that it really leeches out the color.

Savage Grace Blanc Franc with Ranier cherries at Red Willow

Here is one of those wonderful coincidences in the universe. This wine he was speaking of was Savage Grace Blanc Franc, which we actually tasted later that day, thanks to Jonathan and Mike Sauer of Red Willow Vineyard, we sipped this white cab franc at the Chapel with fresh Rainier cherries, watching sunset…

Seth is looking to make in a Provenće style rosé. To create that big luscious mouthfeel with fruit, but keeping it dry, they do lots of lees aging in stainless.

Why is it called Rescue Rosé?

At Upsidedown Wines they work with a different non-profit with each wine through their Give Back program. For the Rescue Rosé they work with the Humane Society.

The Syrah (artist series)

2016 Artist Series Syrah from Upsidedown Wine

Seth poured us a syrah, and warned us that it would need to open up. In fact, he swears that this syrah is best on day 3 after having been opened. That’s when it really comes into it’s own. This is from that east/west block of syrah in the back, closest to Candy Ridge. 100% syrah, they did 50% whole cluster in the 2016 vintage. Since then they have opted for 100% whole cluster. It’s neutral oak large format when possible, with lots of lees aging to create a style that feels like Northern Rhône to him.

He loves the sense of garrigue and crunchy red fruit of the Northern Rhône. Seth finds (similar to what we heard about cab sav from Justin Neufeld) that in Washington people are worried about picking early and getting too vegetal a flavor.) They pick this earlier and end up with a syrah that sits at 13.3%.

Oak, but not by choice

They have been integrating some new oak, not really out of choice. He is trying to switch over to 500 liter puncheons and you don’t find those available used. Those puncheons will just have to age and become neutral in his cellar over time.

The syrah was really elegant. Seth says if you pick early you get this coffee/smoky side that is really interesting. He’s not sure what to attribute that too. The spot where this block is, used to be where the neighbors orchard was and nearby was a big gravel pit. The soil there almost looks like asphalt, like black gravel that has been conglomerated.

Cab franc & labels

2016 Kitzke Candy Ridge Vineyard Cab Franc
Back label of the Kitzke bottle.

The cab franc has a great back label with lots of details. They use it on all of their Kitzke wines now. It actually shows you what pH the fruit was picked at. This wine was 92% cabermet franc. Typically it’s close to 100%.

This cabernet franc also has the Candy Mountain label. With the AVA on it’s way, he wanted to showcase where this sense of place in a timeless way.

The labels at Upsidedown Wine are a bit more fun. The artist series switches each year and they even play with bottle shapes.

This cab franc is one of Seth’s favorite wines from this vineyard. It has good acid, a very cab franc feel, but a rich mouthfeel with the fruit. Seth finds it hard to get the balance in Washington. He finds some Red Mountain cab francs to be big, grainy and really rich, without the green bell pepper spice that he loves in a cab franc. He notes also that at the really cold sites the cab franc gets too thing and the green pepper then just dominates. Getting the balance between these two versions can be tough.

’13 Monte

He pours for us the 2013 Monte Caramelle, which had been opened the day before. It is 66% sangiovese, 18% cabernet sauvignon and 16% syrah. It’s not a blend they do every year. This is their Super Tuscan style wine. Monte Caramelle, is Candy Mountain in Italian. This vintage was made by Charlie Hoppes from Fidelitas Winery. Seth worked with him to make the Kitzke wines in 2013 & 14 and then in 2015, Seth started to take the reins and adjust the wines more to his own style. The 2013 is inoculated and has a shorter fermentation period. With all of Seth’s wines now they are native yeast and 6-7 days to start fermenting with a slower cooler fermentation.

Hood River

We get talking about other things. Seth has a busy week scheduled and is sad he couldn’t meet us in the Upsidedown tasting room in Hood River. I ask him how they ended up there.

“I love Hood River. I lived on Mt. Hood for a while 3 or 4 summers teaching snowboarding after highschool. I used to do the…I was a semi-professional snowboarder. I’d teach and work at the summer camp there in the summers and then winters I’d take off from college and go film videos. So Mt. Hood and Hood Rivers always been a spot for me.”
Seth Kitzke, July 2019

Seth looks at Hood River as a gateway to Washington Wine. Yes….it’s on the Oregon side, but people fly to Portland and head out to the gorge and that’s where the vineyards start. The Columbia Gorge AVA straddles the state line including both Washington and Oregon.

The Kitzke Tasting Room

For the Kitzke tasting room they wanted to be on the vineyard.

“we want to be able to walk you through the vineyard, we want you to come in the fall, you can taste a sangiovese grape you can taste the grapes and taste the wines and see the similarities side by side. That’s more of our style, cause we’re growers at heart.”
Seth Kitzke, July 2019

The benefits to making your wine near the vineyard

Seth lived in Seattle and didn’t want to do the Woodinville thing. He had grown up around the grapes and wanted to be close. He did his 2016 vintage in Seattle “everyday that the truck would bring the grapes was my favorite part. Unloading the trucks you smelled all the fresh cut vines, the dirt…everything. So you kind of felt like you were in the vineyard for a second.”

The downfalls to being so far from the vineyard…you schedule picks 6-7 days in advance and you don’t get to taste the grapes as often as you would like. Picking from the numbers doesn’t always work.

“if you would have picked off of just pH and sugars, in ’15, your wines would have been harsh and astringent and vegetal, because stuff would be 25 or 26 brix, but it would taste bad, the berries were not developed yet. It was so hot, a lot of people were picking at the end of August. If you are not there, tasting that, you don’t know that.”
Seth Kitzke, July 2019

On growing in the Gorge and natural vegetation

In the Gorge, it’s a cooler area, consistently windy and of course rainier. He notes that it is so much easier for people to be biodynamic and organic there because with the wind they have less mildew pressure. This year at Kitzke they had to do sulfur sprays every 10 days. They don’t use herbicides, as they are trying to get the natural vegetation to return.

“In our other vineyard you are really seeing it. We are starting to see a lot of sage and yarrow and stuff starting to grow back in the vineyard. I feel like even last year you could get a little more of that in the wine versus clean under rows and vineyard, planted by vineyard, planted by vineyard without any of that natural vegetation carrying through the vineyards.”
Seth Kitzke, July 2019

He notes people finding more aromatics in the wines depending on the local vegetation. Like the garrigue you get in wines from southern France.

More to Come…

We did speak to Seth more about a grenache he is making from the WeatherEye vineyard on Red Mountain. This is a fascinating project, more on that soon.

As always be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to keep up to date on all of our posts.

When not traveling they indulge in cooking and pairing wines with food at home in Las Vegas.

A Vineyard walk on Candy Ridge, Candy Mountain AVA with Seth Kitzke

Mar 31, 2020

It was July 2019 and we were on summer whirlwind trip called #thescenicroute. We had come from the beautiful Columbia Gorge region and were meeting Seth Kitzke at Candy Ridge Vineyard at Candy Mountain.

We pulled in and up to the Kitzke Cellars tasting room, on a Monday. Their tasting room is only typically open on the weekends, so we pulled up to a very confused looking gentleman. This was Paul Kitzke, owner of the estate and winery and Seth’s dad.

Seth had evidently not mentioned us coming and Paul was surprised to see people at the tasting room so early, not to mention with camera and recording gear. After a quick explanation, he warmed and looked to invite us in just as Seth pulled up.

Seth’s tasting room for his own brand Upsidedown Wine is in Hood River, where we had just been, but he was coming from a meeting somewhere else this particular morning. He had managed to squeeze us in to the middle of his day.

So where exactly are we?

Well, we are in the east end of the Yakima Valley in Eastern Washington. The area is near the Tri-Cities close to the city of Richland. Candy Mountain is just South East of Red Mountain the fairly famous Yakima Valley AVA that is winning high praise for it’s grapes and wine.

Washington AVA Map Courtesy of Washington State, with Candy Mountain AVA — Washington AVA Map Courtesy of Washington State, with the area of the Proposed Candy Mountain AVA penciled in.

We started in the vineyard with Candy Mountain in the background. The view is the same as the view on the sketch on their labels. The first thing I wanted to know about was the proposed AVA.

Candy Mountain AVA( it is now Official)

You know we get into proposed AVAs, we’ve talked about the proposed AVAs in the Willamette Valley and I was really curious about the proposed Candy Mountain AVA. When approved, it will be Washington’s smallest AVA at around 820 acres. Seth told us it’s been submitted and approved on the Washington State side and now they are just waiting on the Federal stuff. The application was “Accepted as Perfected” on January 24, 2017.

As of the date of this piece, the time for public comment had closed and it was just waiting. Likely it will be waiting a bit longer with everything slowing down right now. It’s a little confusing. I went to the TTB page and they are no longer listed on the “Pending approval” page, but they are also not listed on the “Established AVA” page. So they are sitting in limbo in between. As Seth put it “It’s sitting on someone’s desk somewhere in a stack waiting to get stamped.”

Details on the proposed AVA

The thing is, that this AVA which would be nested in the Yakima Valley AVA spills a little over the edge and they would need to expand the Yakima Valley AVA by 72 acres to adjust the overlap. *Update! My understanding is that the adjustment to the Yakima Valley AVA is complete.

The AVA is on the the southwestern slopes of Candy Mountain. Seth mentioned that the slopes here are south facing due to the the way the ridge and Mountain are oriented. Red Mountain AVA with it’s much larger 4040 acres, wraps around Red Mountain with vineyards Southeast facing, south facing and wrapping around to some that are south west and west facing also.

“…Candy Mountain doesn’t really have that option. It’s pretty much all directly south. You might have a tiny bit of southeast and southwest..”
Seth Kitzke, July 2019

Seth studied sustainability and tourism before getting into wine and like preserving ridge lines and views. He mentions that a hiking group that used to do “hike, wine & dine” events bought up the land that goes up to the ridge so that the views won’t ever get obstructed with a bunch of houses.

Candy Ridge Vineyard

Kitzke Cellars on Candy Ridge in the Yakima Valley AVA

The Candy Ridge Vineyard is the Estate Vineyard for Kitzke Cellars. They have another vineyard, the Dead Poplar Vineyard which is in the lower Yakima Valley directly across from (but not in) the Red Mountain AVA.

Here at the Candy Ridge Vineyard they are mostly growing Bordeaux varieties, Cab Franc, Cab Sav, Petit Verdot and then some Syrah in the back and some Sangiovese out front.

“The sangio is kind of an anomaly here. It’s all east facing all lyre style trained stuff, like a double cordon that comes up and splits, a lot more shade.”
Seth Kitzke, July 2019

Their neighbor Jim, is kind of the reason Seth’s parents started growing grapes. He has Merlot that was planted in 1982 as well as some other varieties that they get some of. Seth says that he is really the pioneer of Candy Mountain.

Cabernet Franc and Caliche soil

We walk into the vineyard and Seth points out Cab Franc that was planted in 2008.

Cab Franc by the Lawn at Candy Ridge Vineyard

“We kinda added as the wines proved themselves. My parents started gobbling up a little more of the square footage of the area, planting more rows…basically the yard was big and they were like “hey let’s plant some more cab franc.””
Seth Kitzke, July 2019

The cons of caliche soil

Previously all the cab franc was east facing out front and the back was just Petit Verdot and Cab Sav. But just because they had the space didn’t mean it would be easy. The front is rocky with floating basalt in the loam. In the back…well

“My dad called me a wuss, because I couldn’t dig the poles when we got up here. The caliche layer is like calcium carbonate, a really hard layer, like natural cement. He ended up bringing in our backhoe. When we had the backhoe in here it broke 2 teeth off the metal bucket on the backhoe. It shows you how hard this stuff really is.”
Seth Kitzke, July 2019

Caliche comparison at Kitzke Cellars — In the lower hand basalt, in the upper caliche. The caliche, while really hard, is so much lighter.

But there are also pros…

The caliche though, has is pluses. The berries on the cab franc in the back are tiny little stressed berries, where as the ones in the front get a little more size on them. Stress berries equal tasty wine typically. The Cab franc in the back has more shatter and natural stress from the caliche layer. But caliche is also porous.

They had a foot of snow as late as early March in 2019. Where as with basalt the moisture would evaporate, the caliche layer locks the moisture in and holds it. In early July when we were there it was the first time they had turned on the water this season. They were trying to get the canopies to shut down and focus on fruit. You can see in the video that the canopies were kinda going a little crazy.

Petit Verdot and new training systems

We moved on to the Petit Verdot. Seth was getting ready to implement a new training system.

“So you can see we are leaving some of the suckers low this year. This stuff is all around 20 years old and you are getting older and older wood on the cordon. So to preserve the vineyard and make it healthier longer I’m going to slowly start switching to can pruning, lower that way there are less cuts, less possibility for disease, or at least that’s what they say.”
Seth Kitzke, July 2019

This system keeps fresh wood which encourages sap flow. Vines produce less as they get older. Seth wants to keep these elderly vines as happy as he can. At 20 years old they only do one color pass at veraison. The vines tend to regulate themselves keeping to 3 to 3.5 tons per acre. 3 tons is Seth’s sweet spot for quality.

How to manage Syrah planted East/West

We walk back to the Syrah in the back. This is trained differently. When his parents first put these vines in they were not really thinking from a wine making standpoint. This part of the vineyard is all trained east/west. That sounds crazy to anyone who knows much about planting vineyards. You typically run north/south to get the best of the sunlight. Here with the east/west vines, you get sun on one side of the vine all day. So, what do they do?

“We’ll hang more fruit on the shady side, less on the sun side.”
Seth Kitzke, July 2019

Seth notes that in hot areas in Washington, syrah can get rich, ripe, jammy and high in alcohol. He wants to taste the terroir, not just the fruit. So they pick separately the sunny side and the shady side, with again, more fruit on the shady side. This allows them to really keep the alcohol down. We later tried a syrah in the tasting room that Seth said was picked at 23 brix and came out at 13.3% abv. Still it was phenolically ripe with time to develop without the sugar spiking. Rather than pulling out this vineyard, they found a way to work with it that really works for them.

More to come!

Stick with us. We spent a ton of time talking with Seth out in the front vineyard and then in the tasting room where we tasted through Kitzke wines and Upsidedown Wines and talked about all sorts of interesting stuff. You can read about that here. One thing we spoke about was the Grenache that Seth was getting from the WeatherEye Vineyard up on Red Mountain. More on that soon.

Tasting with Seth Kitzke at Kitzke Cellars Candy Ridge Vineyard Washington — Tasting with Seth Kitzke at Kitzke Cellars

In the meantime, some links…

As always be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and sign up for our monthly newsletter to keep up to date on all of our posts.

When not traveling they indulge in cooking and pairing wines with food at home in Las Vegas.

Armstrong Family Winery – The Journey to Washington

Mar 18, 2020

We were driving through rolling hills of fields of wheat for as far as the eye could see. This is the Armstrong Family Winery’s Valley Grove Vineyard. It is their home and an oasis in the wheat fields.. You’ve seen it. It’s popular for car commercials these days, and for good reason. It’s spectacular, and eerie. The vastness makes you feel at once both immense in this wide open vista and extremely small.

Armstrong Family Winery Barn at the Valley Grove Vineyard built in 1895 with clouds above — The Historic Barn at the Armstrong Family Winery’s Valley Grove Vineyard

So this is wine country? You wouldn’t guess that from the scenery. We were driving North out of the city of Walla Walla Washington, past the penitentiary and into the open fields of wheat. Finally, we turned and came upon a green patch. Turning in, we crossed the creek to a spot of green with trees, vineyard, a house and cottage and a spectacular historic barn.

We sat with Tim & Jennifer Armstrong on their back patio overlooking the Audrey block of cabernet sauvignon.

Armstrong Family Winery

It started in Chicago

Neither of them were really into wine to start with. It wasn’t part of their lives, even as young adults (I can relate to this personally). When they got married, Tim had a little interest in wine. He had been to New York and someone poured him a glass of Opus One (lucky guy).

Well, this hooked him on Bordeaux wines and soon enough he was spending a good bit on wine and investing in Bordeaux futures! His pragmatic wife Jenifer asked “Hey, do you know what you are doing?” He found an online class from the UC Davis extension that they both took.

They literally would mail DVD’s
Jennifer Armstrong, July 2019

Yep, they are a little dated by this. They sat in their Chicago bungalow learning about wine and Tim realized that this was his calling. He had grown up in Wisconsin surrounded by farms, and while the family didn’t farm he had a propensity for mechanical things. That and his love for wine…he’d found his bliss. Jen was skeptical, but supportive.

A bottle of Merlot

How did they decide on Washington? Here’s the story. It all kind of started with a bottle of Merlot.

So when we were in Chicago, we were buying mostly Bordeaux, getting progressively geekier about those wines and paying a lot of attention to the wine that we were drinking. One day Tim came home with a bottle of Walla Walla Merlot. It was a Walla Walla Vintners bottle.
Jennifer Armstrong, July 2019

They had been thinking about wine making and researched different regions. Virginia & North Carolina, came up since they were near to Jen’s family. They thought about New York with the Finger Lakes region. With Tim in the technology industry, the Bay area was an idea, but that bottle of Walla Walla Merlot….

We tasted it and were kind of blown away. It tasted like the Bordeaux that we had fallen in love with.
Jennifer Armstrong, July 2019

What blew them away? Tim says this bottle was new world fruit with the structure and earthiness they loved about Bordeaux.

It really was striking this balance between old world wines and the California west coast wines that we had gotten to know.
Tim Armstrong, Armstrong Family Winery, July 2019

Armstrong Family Wines start in Woodinville

So now Washington was a viable option for them. They spent a couple years doing research and paying attention to the region. When an opportunity to move to Washington for Tim’s job came up, they made the move. This was the opportunity to be a part of a world class wine region. Something you can’t do in Napa or Sonoma without coming in with a large fortune. In Washington it is still possible to own a small vineyard and make wine, without being a millionaire.

Tim flew to Seattle and a friend told him he needed to check out Woodinville. He was blown away. Here people kept their day jobs and moonlighted as winemakers! It occurred to them that they could pursue this and get started right here.

They moved out in 2010 buying grapes even before the furniture was delivered. They met people at a wine shop and then a brewer/winemaking supplies company who referred them to people in the warehouse district where they bought a couple hundred pounds of grapes.

Immersive education and a fast track to winemaking

Tim arrived on Jennifer’s birthday in October around 7:30 am to pick up the grapes. Well, the grapes were not there. While he waited (until 4 pm) for the grapes he had them put him to work. He had his first experience in a commercial winery that day. Waiting for those grapes, he helped out, cleaning things and shoveling grape must.

The next summer he called John Patterson of Patterson Cellars in Woodinville. Tim told John he wanted to make some wine and work with him. John tried to talk him out of it. He was unsuccessful. In 2011 Tim & Jen contracted 6 tons of grape and made their first vintage. So the 2010 home batch they started…by the time it was ready to bottle, they were bottling it in a commercial winery. Fast tracking for sure.

Tim dove into classes with the WSU extension as well as South Seattle Community College. As the business evolved they signed a lease at the end of 2012 and opened their own space in 2013. 2013 they did their own crush, in their own facility in Woodinville. By 2016 they had 52 tons of grapes in that tiny spot. They had upgraded equipment, but it was just Tim, Jennifer and Jennifer’s Dad doing it all.

They played the winery tetras game, which was more difficult in this area. The Warehouse district tasting rooms were open all day, so you couldn’t utilize outdoor space in the parking lot until late at night. They pulled 10 all nighters that harvest. They determined it was time to make a change.

The Walla Walla spell

They fell for Walla Walla. It’s easy to do. A drive through town will have you enchanted and you won’t ever want to leave. So they didn’t. They found a small vineyard north of town that was for sale and their fate was sealed. With a vineyard, a house, a historic barn, a creek, a guest cottage…it was perfect.

Not that it was easy. The spot was originally out of their budget. They kept their eye on it and eventually the price came down. Sadly it went under contract just before they got to it. Their disappointment only lasted a day, when a friend in the industry told them the contract fell through. They drove up from Seattle immediately and the rest is history.

The Valley Grove Vineyard is 22 acres with 2 blocks of cabernet sauvignon. They had to do some retraining of the 17 year old vines and pulled their first harvest in 2019. They now have 2 tasting rooms, one in Woodinville and one in Walla Walla, and they have plans for the winery they want to build here on site.

Our conversation didn’t end there. Join us as we talk about the history of the vineyard, and their plans for this beautiful spot just outside of Walla Walla.

For More information

Want more information? You can visit their website or read the other pieces we’ve written about them.

As always be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to keep up to date on all of our posts.

When not traveling they indulge in cooking and pairing wines with food at home in Las Vegas.

Syrah

Syrah and Aloha – Doing Earth Month Island Style with L’Ecole No. 41

Walla Walla Wine Month

Earth Month and sustainability at L’Ecole No. 41

Salmon-Safe

Compost tea

Sap flow sensors

Falcons

On to the wine…

2018 L’Ecole No. 41 Syrah Estate Seven Hills Vineyard

Syrah in Washington State

So wait? What does this Syrah taste like?

Earth Month Pairing for the 2018 Seven Hills Syrah

Sources Resources and further reading

More on L’Ecole No. 41 from Crushed Grape Chronicles

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Syncline Winery Stunning Wines in the Tortured Topography of the Columbia Gorge AVA

A Visit to Syncline

Syncline Winery

Columbia Gorge Soils and the soils of Steep Creek Ranch

The Columbia Gorge AVA

Biodynamics and sustainable farming

Large Format vessels for fermentation and aging

Sustaining the property of Steep Ranch Vineyard and building sustainably

Into the vineyard

The view of the “Tortured landscape” of the Gorge

Into the winery

Tasting with James

A final surprise – Bubbles

How can you taste the wines of Syncline?

Sources and Resources

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Co Dinn 2015 Syrah Roskamp Vineyard Block 2 – Day 5 of the 12 Days of Wine 2020

Co Dinn 2015 Roskamp Vineyard Block 2 Syrah

BBQ chicken, grilled eggplant with chimichurri sauce, and smoked gouda mac and cheese with Co Dinn Roskamp Vineyard Syrah

Black Cherry Ice Cream Sandwiches

Finding Co Dinn Wines

Sources and Resources

More by Crushed Grape Chronicle on the Yakima Valley and Co Dinn

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Syncline Subduction Red – Day 3 of the 12 Days of Wine 2020

Syncline 2017 Subduction Red – Columbia Valley

Bacon-wrapped stuffed pork tenderloin with raspberry sauce, beet greens, and a root vegetable gratin

Bacon brie raspberry bites

Sources and Resources

More on Syncline and Washington Wines

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Black cherry ice cream Sandwiches with espresso and cocoa cookie a perfect pairing with Co Dinn Syrah

Black cherry Ice Cream Sandwiches with cocoa and espresso cookie

Time: 40 Minutes waiting time 11 hours

Yield: 6 people

What to Pair?

Co Dinn 2015 Roskamp Vineyard Block 2 Syrah

Ingredients

Directions

Black cherry Ice Cream Sandwiches with cocoa and espresso cookies

1 ¼ cups flour (plus more for rolling)

2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp salt

¾ tsp baking powder

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa

Watch our quick video for the highlights.

½ cup unsalted butter softened

¾ cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon espresso powder

1 egg

Black Cherry Ice Cream Sandwiches

More Recipes

Bonny Doon 2018 Riesling to Live – Day 12 of the 12 Days of Wine 2020

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Herederos del Marqués de Riscal Reserva Rioja 2014 – Day 11 of the 12 days of Wine 2020

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Bailey Family 2017 Chardonnay – Day 10 of the 12 Days of Wine 2020

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Time: 40 Minutes
waiting time 11 hours