Yakima Valley AVA – Blends of friendship and history with wines from Eight Bells and Pearl and Stone Co. #WinePW

Mar 12, 2021

The Yakima Valley is one of my favorite wine regions. We visited a few years ago and were enamored by the wine and the people.

This month I’m leading the intrepid writers of the Wine Pairing Weekend (#WinePW) group on a virtual trip to the Yakima Valley AVA. You can read my preview post here.

With the help of Wine Yakima Valley, many of the writers received wine from different wineries that source from this Valley. While you may expect to see Cabernet Sauvignon, I expect you will find our writers wrote about a variety of wines sourced from all over this valley. You will find links to each of their pieces at the end of this post.

We will be gathering on Saturday, March 13^th to discuss this region, its wines, soil, climates, and people. You can join us by heading to Twitter at 8 am Pacific time (11 am ET) and using and following #WinePW.

*The wines in this post were received as media samples. All opinions are our own.

I received two wines, both from wineries outside the Yakima Valley AVA, but who source from the Valley. The Yakima Valley is revered fruit, so this is unsurprising. But these wines each have stories, one deeply tied to the history of this Valley.

They also have another thing in common. These wineries are not solo operations. They are groups of people, friends of like minds, who came together over their love of wine. Together, they did the hard work and founded a winery. Here are their stories.

Pearl and Stone Co. the whole gang! (photo Courtesy Pearl and Stone Co.)

Pearl and Stone Wine Co.

Pearl and Stone Wine Co. is located in North Bend, Washington. If that name sounds familiar, it might be from the famous cult classic TV show that was set in this place some 30 years ago. This is the town that David Lynch’s “Twin Peaks” was set in.

The town sits 30 minutes from Seattle in the beautiful Snoqualmie Valley. It’s a small town of around 7000 people at last count.

Erika Ribary, Laurie Wesorick, and Wendy Stone were teachers at Fall City Elementary School in North Bend. They would gather with their husbands, Paul, Rob, and Chris (respectively), typically over a bottle of wine.

In 2013 they were celebrating Paul’s Birthday and they decided they should make their own wine. Collectively, they had the knowledge to put together a winery, Chris is the VP of Marketing and Communications for the Washington Wine Commission. Paul owns a commercial construction company and Rob works for Microsoft.

They bought some equipment and sourced fruit from Two Blondes Vineyard in the Yakima Valley. Chris Camarda, the Winemaker for Andrew Will Winery, owns Two Blondes Vineyard and pointed them in all the right directions. It’s never a bad start to get your initial advice on starting your winery from one of the 50 most influential winemakers in the world. Chris Camarda worked with them for their first 5 years, while they got their legs under them.

I had a chance to speak with Chris Stone about how they got started:

“…I have been working in the WA wine industry since 1999 and had made a couple of barrels over the years with colleagues/friends, so I knew enough to be dangerous, but was smart enough to recognize what I don’t know. Rob and Paul both work in other industries and brought other skills. Enter Chris Camarda to teach us how to not mess things up!”

The Pearl and Stone Co. Tasting Room in downtown North Bend Washington

What’s in a name?

Well, the name is a composite anagram of their names Pearl is P for Paul, E for Erika, A (for and), R for Rob, and L for Laurie. Stone is Chris and Wendy’s last name. So “Pearl and Stone Wine Co.” It has elegance don’t you think? There is also a symbolism that they have found in these names with Stone representing a “strong foundation, and a grounding sense of place” and Pearl representing “something of value – there is nothing more valuable than friends and family”.

In November of 2019, they opened their tasting room in Downtown North Bend. It sits catty-corner to the famous Twede’s Café, the real-life version of the “Double R Diner” on Twin Peaks, home of Twin Peaks cherry pie and “A damn fine cup o’coffee!”. Of course, the tasting room was just getting ready for its first peak season, when COVID hit. They are open again at a smaller capacity with a few tables for tasting.

Pearl and Stone Wine Co. 2017 Mailbox Peak

47% Merlot, 47% Cabernet Franc, and 6% Cabernet Sauvignon.

13.3% abv – $36 SRP

This wine is sourced from Two Blondes & Pollard Vineyard

Two Blondes is located in Zillah Washington and is owned by Chris Camarda. This 30 acres site sits at about 1150 feet in clay and loam soils. The vineyard is planted to multiple clones of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Malbec, all own-rooted.

Pollard is owned by Robin Pollard, the former executive director of the Washington State Wine Commission. This vineyard is planted to an experimental dense planting method with 2400 plants per acre (normally you plant about 1700 per acre). The soil here is sandy loam with a subsoil of limestone.

The name for this wine comes from a famous old trail, which has been a rite of passage for Washington hikers. The old trail was straight up the mountain, but a new easier trail has now been put in. At the top, you find not only amazing views, but a Mailbox, decorated and stuffed full of treats and treasure from other hikers.

My notes

Upon opening my nose first picked up notes of a cedar forest. It caused me to close my eyes and picture a forest. Red berries and spice followed with notes of darker fruit, and bramble. Hints of walnuts, dried fig, and eucalyptus rounded out the nose.

* After further research, I found that the forest I was picturing, looks much like the Mailbox Peak trail.

The entrance to the Eight Bells Tasting Room (photo courtesy Eight Bells)

Eight Bells Winery

Eight Bells Winery is located in the Roosevelt neighborhood of North Seattle. This Urban Winery is the collaboration of 3 friends, brought together first by the sea, and then by wine.

Tim Bates, Andy Shepard, and Frank Michiels had each been making wine at home. The three came together in 2009 to move their production out of their garages and into an old building about a mile from the University of Washington. The winery has a tasting room that is open on the weekends (currently only on Sunday). They primarily sell Direct to Consumer, through their wine club, tasting room, and online.

This is a winery that you don’t trip over, it’s off the beaten path, but it is well worth searching out. During the pandemic, they have done “Pick ups in the Alley” to great success.

Most of their fruit is sourced from Red Willow Vineyard with additional fruit from the well-known Boushey vineyard. These are wine-growers who take pride in producing excellent fruit that others can turn into wine. When winemakers get their hands on this fruit they work to make these growers proud.

The bottle we received was the 2014 David’s Block. It is no longer available, and I feel lucky to have received it, but…the 2015 and 2016 vintages are available now and you should check those out. But on to the story behind this wine.

Eight Bells Starting at 12 O'Clock going clockwise: Neal Ratti, Susan Hamilton, Taylor Michiels Nordby, Kip Nordby, Frank Michiels, Terry Michiels, Denise Ratti, Tim Bates, Heidi Shepherd and Andy Shepherd. Photo Courtesy Eight Bells

Red Willow Vineyard, Mike Sauer, and David Lake

In the 1970s after finishing college, Mike Sauer married into the Stephenson family. As the new son-in-law, they handed him a parcel to manage and farm. With the help of Dr. Walter Clore, he began planting wine grapes.

David Lake was the Winemaker for Associated Vineyards. He and Mike began working together and he encouraged Mike to plant many Bordeaux varieties as well as Syrah and others. Being familiar with the way vineyards were planted in Bordeaux, he and Mike planted a block to multiple varieties and clones as they would in Bordeaux. This block was named David’s Block and this is the block where our wine from Eight Bells comes from.

Eight Bells David’s Block

This wine is a field blend from David’s Block. Frank Michiels described David’s Block for me: there are rows of multiple clones of Cabernet Franc, then Merlot, Petite Verdot, Carmenere, and then 12 rows of Cabernet Sauvignon with 10 different clones. The north end of the block is Malbec, which they no longer use in the blend, but it was in the 2014 vintage that I received.

David's Block at the Red Willow Vinyard in Washington's Yakima Valley (photo courtesy Eight Bells Wine)

David’s Block at the Red Willow Vineyard in Washington’s Yakima Valley (photo courtesy Eight Bells Wine)

I will admit, that on our visit to Red Willow, we did not get to see David’s block. Jonathan wanted to show us as much as possible on our way to the Chapel to catch the sunset and David’s Block is set further away on a separate road. Luckily Frank had a photo to share.

Let’s talk for a minute about the complexity of this. Yes, in the finished wine, but also as a grower and a winemaker trying to choose when to harvest. Until speaking with Frank Michiels, I had not really put together the how complicated a field blend actually is.

The fruit for this wine is picked all at once. So you have different varieties that ripen at different times, as well as multiple clones which add more ripening variation to the mix. Now, you have to go out, taste all that fruit and pick one day, one time for your harvest.

From there, all the fruit is co-fermented. There is no blending of different lots. The vineyard and mother nature are in control. The blend stays the same, they are picking the same rows from the same vines each vintage. What those grapes do within that specific year, is what makes this wine slightly different from year to year.

This may seem counter-intuitive. Wouldn’t it be easier to have the block all the same to give you more control? Why yes, but the thing is, that each year, each of the clones will ripen differently. Some clones are better in warmer weather, some cooler. The idea, as Frank explained is that they balance to give you a more consistent wine, from year to year.

Eight Bells 2014 “David’s Block”

60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Malvec, 7% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc, 3% Carmenere and 3% Petite Verdot.

310 Cases produced – 14.5% abv – $38 SRP

My notes

Notes of Red currant, sour cherry, bramble, and berries mix with anise and eucalyptus with secondary notes of tobacco, walnut, vanilla, and spice. It has wonderful acid and is elegant and smooth with fine integrated tannins.

This is the 40^th Anniversary of the first vineyard designate wine in Washington. David Lake did the first in 1981 which was a Red Willow vineyard designate. We celebrate with them by taking it a step further into a block designate from this beautiful and historic vineyard and thank Eight Bells for being the caretaker for the wines of this block.

Eight Bells David's Block 2014 from the Yakima Valley

Oh my goodness…maybe we should talk pairings? This is Wine Pairing Weekend after all!

Charcuterie platter with Duck Rillettes, morello cherry preserves, black walnuts, cornichons, parmesan, manchego, Iberico ham, blackberries, and raspberries

When I spoke with Chris at Pearl and Stone Wine Co. I asked if he had a favorite pairing. He mentioned duck with cherries. We found duck rillettes, duck legs cooked down in their own fat almost like a confit. It makes a delicious spread and with the morello cherry preserves was amazing with both wines.

Roasted beet and shallot salad with black walnuts, mixed baby greens, and beet greens

We enjoyed this elegant salad with the charcuterie platter for lunch. This salad was a beautiful pairing with the wines. The earthy notes in the beets and their meaty texture give depth to the dish allowing it to stand up to a fuller-bodied red wine.

Roasted beet and shallot salad to pair with a Yakima Valley Bordeaux style blend

Balsamic Marinated Skirt Steak with Bok Choy and Leeks on Couscous

This was our dinner pairing. Okay….originally I was going to do this with grilled fennel, rather than the Bok Choy, but the store was out of fennel. It is fine for the recipe, but not so fine for the wine. The Green notes in the bok choy just didn’t sit well with the wines. The meat was great, the couscous was great, but if you want to pair this dish with a Bordeaux style blend, ditch the bok choy and go with fennel. Or…go without the green completely and top the whole thing with a red wine sauce made from the pan drippings.

The skirt steak was delicious and was great with the wine. It marinates for 30 minutes and then sears quickly to top the dish.

Recipes are listed below.

Seared balsamic skirt steak with bok choy, leeks and a cous cous blend

The #WinePW Crew on the Yakima Valley!

Yes, this post is long…and you know what? I only touched on two of the wineries making wine from the Yakima Valley AVA! I want to thank Wine Yakima Valley for sponsoring this month’s Wine Pairing weekend event.

There are more amazing wines, wineries, and people for you to discover in the Yakima Valley and the writers with #WinePW have worked hard to share a few with you!

Check out the pieces below by my Colleagues. You’ll note that several of them had so much to say about these wines from the Yakima Valley that they had to divide it into two posts!

Don’t forget to join us on Saturday Morning March 13^th as we chat about the Yakima Valley and its wines on Twitter. Just follow and use the hashtag #WinePW to join the conversation.

- Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Cam shares “Yakima Valley’s Sin Banderas Rhone Roses Compliment Dishes with Asian Flair” and “Mediterranean-Inspired Dishes Paired with Yakima Valley Wines from Dineen Vineyards”
- Linda at My Full Wine Glass invites us to “Meet Kerry Shiels: A Yakima Valley winemaker with Vision”
- Terri of Our Good Life shares 2 posts “Fortuity…Taking Advantage of Life’s Great Wines!”, and “Two Mountain Rose and Fennel Wild Mushroom Tarts”
- Payal at Keep The Peas shares “Yakima Valley Wines FTW!”
- Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm is cooking up “Smoked Beef Brisket with Canvasback Cabernet”
- Rupal the Syrah Queen gives us “Yakima Valley – Red Willow Vineyards Producing Some of Washington’s Finest Syrahs”
- Jane of Always Ravenous makes our mouths water with “Filet Mignon paired with Washington Yakima Valley Cabernet Sauvignon”
- Martin with ENOFYLZ Wine Blog is giving us “a Taste of Washington State’s Yakima Valley”
- David at Cooking Chat has 2 posts for us also “Lamb Ragu Pasta with Red Wine from Dineen Vineyards” and “Sin Banderas Rosé with Corned Beef & More Yakima Valley Wine Pairings”
- Nicole of Somm’s Table shares “Big, Beautiful Reds from Yakima Valley and Tasty, Meaty Fare”
- Jennifer at Vino Travels tells us about “Italian Grapes of the Yakima Valley with Sleeping Dog Wines”
- Gwendolyn the Wine Predator explores “Washington Syrah: Hedges, L’Ecole, VanArnam with Lamb Stew”
- Susannah at Avvinare gives us “Malbec from VanArnam Vineyard in Yakima Valley”
- Lori at Exploring the Wine Glass shares “Tasting the Soul of Wine in the Heart of Yakima Valley”

Roasted beet and shallot salad with black walnuts, mixed baby greens and beet greens

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Plating Time : 5 minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes

This is an elegant salad that is perfect for pairing with a bottle of red wine. The earthy notes in the beets and their meaty texture give the depth to the dish that makes it stand up to a fuller-bodied red wine. The beets and shallots roast easily in aluminum foil with olive oil allowing you to easily update the recipe for as many plates as you need.

Ingredients

1/2 cup of mixed baby greens
1/2 cup of torn beet greens
2 medium red beets
4 tbs olive oil
4 shallots
¼ cup black walnuts
¼ tsp freshly ground pepper
3/4 tbs Dijon mustard
3 cloves of garlic
1 shallot finely chopped
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1 tbs honey
1 tsp ground white pepper
1 cup of olive oil

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Clean and scrub your beets
Place each beet in the center of a square of aluminum foil
Drizzle with olive oil and wrap
Place directly on the middle rack in the oven to roast for 45 minutes
Place a pan on the rack beneath them to catch any spills
Once these are in the oven, clean your shallots and slice off the root end
Toss the shallots in olive oil and wrap them in a foil packet.
Place these in the oven with your beets to roast for 30 minutes
Make the vinaigrette
In a blender combine the garlic, finely chopped shallot, red wine vinegar, honey, and white pepper. Blend. Open the center of the lid and drizzle in the
olive oil slowly while the blender is going. Set this aside (I like to put it in a jar so that I can shake to remix if needed)
When the beets and shallots are done, removed them from the oven and the foil and let them cool.
Turn the oven down to 350
Cut the beets into wedges
Slice the shallots in half and peel off the petals
Place the walnuts on a baking sheet and toast for 5-10 minutes (give them a shake ½-way through).
Place your greens in a bowl and season with salt and pepper
Add a tbs of the vinaigrette and toss
Plate with the greens topped with the beets, shallots, & walnuts
Drizzle a little more of the vinaigrette on top.

Notes

You can peel your beets when they come out of the oven and have cooled a bit if you prefer your beets peeled.

The vinaigrette makes enough that you will have some left for later (or for another dish, I used mine in my cous cous for dinner!)

Balsamic Marinated Skirt Steak with Bok Choy and Leeks on Cous Cous

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Marinating & Resting Time: 40 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 45 minutes

A blend of pearl couscous cooked with saffron and marjoram and quinoa form the bed for this dish. The grains are tossed in a vinaigrette. This is topped with bok choy and leeks braised in a balsamic mixture and finished off with a balsamic marinated skirt steak.

Ingredients

Balsamic Marinade

3 tbs balsamic vinegar
2 tbs dry red wine
2 cloves of garlic minced
2 tbs olive oil
1 tbs fresh rosemary chopped
2 tbs brown sugar
salt & pepper

1 lb beef skirt steak

Seared Bok Choy and Leeks

1 leek chopped
3 bunches of baby bok choy
2 tbs olive oil
4 cloves of garlic chopped
3 tbs balsamic vinegar
2 tbs balsamic reduction
1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp lemon zest
2 tbs water

Vinaigrette for cous cous

1/2 tbs Dijon mustard
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 shallot finely chopped
2 tsp honey
1/2 tsp ground white pepper
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp fresh rosemary chopped
1/2 tsp Herbs de Provence

Couscous Quinoa blend

1 pinch of saffron
2 sprigs of marjoram
4 oz of Pearl Couscous
2 tbs olive oil
1/2 cup of cooked Quinoa

Instructions

Make the marinade
Combine all the marinade ingredients in a bowl
Cut the skirt steak in half
Place the steak in a zip lock bag, pour the marinade over it.
Marinate for 30 minutes in the refrigerator
Make the Vinaigrette
Combine all ingredients except the oil in the blender and pulse until mixed
Drizzle in the oil, blending to emulsify
Store in a jar in the refrigerator for later
Make the couscous
Bring 2 cups of water to a boil
Dry the saffron in a dry skillet over low heat
Remove the boiling water from the heat, add the saffron and marjoram. Cover and steep 10 minutes
Toast the couscous in a dry skillet for 3 to 4 minutes
Remove the saffron and marjoram, and return the water to a boil
Add the couscous, reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes
Drain under cool water. Toss with olive oil and quinoa.
Sear the skirt steak
Remove the skirt steak from the marinade (discard the marinade)
Heat a cast-iron skillet on high for 3 minutes
Add olive oil and the skirt steak. Press the steak into the pan with tongs to get complete contact.
Sear 2-4 minutes per side depending on the thickness of the meat. (internal temp of 130 degrees F)
Transfer to a cutting board to rest
Make the bok choy & leeks
Remove the outer layer of the leeks and cut into 2-inch sections, discarding the green at the top. Slice the sections in half lengthwise and then into 1/4 inch strips
Slice the bottom off of each baby bok choy so the leaves separate. Cut each in half
Heat a large skillet over med-high heat add the olive oil and garlic, cooking until the garlic is fragrant (30 seconds)
Add the balsamic, reduction, Worcestershire sauce, salt, lemon zest, and water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium.
Add the leeks and stir. Cover and cook for 3 minutes
Add the bok choy and stir. Cover and cook for 2 minutes.
Remove from heat.
Assembling the Dish
Toss the couscous with the vinaigrette
Make a bed on the center of your plate top with the bok choy and leeks
Slice the skirt steak on a 45-degree angle, against the grain
Place the steak on top.

Notes

*Make sure to discard the marinade for safety, it may now contain microbes from the raw meat.

The remaining sauce from the bok choy may be drizzled on top of the meat.

Nutrition Information

Yield

Serving Size

1
Amount Per Serving Calories 609Total Fat 43gSaturated Fat 10gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 30gCholesterol 74mgSodium 208mgCarbohydrates 27gFiber 3gSugar 13gProtein 27g

Nutrition information isn’t always accurate.

Sources, Resources and further reading

More on the Yakima Valley from Crushed Grape Chronicles (this is just the tip of the iceberg!)

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.

Exploring Wines of the Yakima Valley AVA with #WinePW

Mar 3, 2021

It’s been several years since my first trip to the Yakima Valley. I remember being so surprised at the landscape, it didn’t look so different from home, in the desert of Nevada. Of course in the Yakima Valley, there is a river, bringing water and with it, agriculture.

The State of Washington is agriculture forward. They lead the country in growing cherries, apples, pears, hops, potatoes, onions, and grapes.

There are plenty of grapes grown here for Welches grape juice and jelly. More than that, they grow the kind of grapes, that if you are reading this, you care about. Wine grapes.

#WinePW explores the Yakima Valley

This month the writers at #WinePW (Wine Pairing Weekend) are partnering with Wine Yakima Valley to dive into all those wine grapes. You might be surprised at the range of varieties that are grown in this Valley. We will add links to all the articles by this fine group of writers at the bottom of this piece.

You can join us on Saturday, March 13^th on Twitter to discuss the wines of this amazing region. You can join us, following and using the hashtag #WinePW at 8 am PST or 11 am EST.

The Yakima Valley AVA

The Yakima Valley AVA is a nested AVA inside theater Columbia Valley AVA in Washington State. Located in the Southern part of the state it spans over 70 miles from the city of Yakima in the west to the city of Richland to the east. At its widest point, you could fit the Napa Valley AVA from north to south.

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

Nested AVAs of the Yakima Valley

Within the Yakima Valley, you find 4 nested AVAs.

Rattlesnake Hills est. 2006
- In the Northwest part of the valley, this is the largest of the sub AVAs covering 74,380 acres with 1,832 under vine. Elevations here run 850 to over 3000 feet.
Snipes Mountain est. 2009
- Named for a rancher, Ben Snipes who live here in the 1850s, the AVA is 4,005 acres on both sides of the mountain. There are 859 acres under vine with more than 30 varieties.
Red Mountain est. 2001
- Nope, it’s not really a mountain. It is a steep southwest slope in the east end of the valley with elevations between 500 and 1500 feet. It gets its name from the cheatgrass that grows here that is deep red in the spring. It is home to some of the most well-thought-of Cabernets in the State.
Candy Mountain est. 2020
- Yep, this is the newbie! It’s just east of Red Mountain, covers only 815 acres, and has 110 acres under vine. (It’s so new that its not yet on the AVA map! But it would be just east of Red Mountain before you get to the Tri-Cities)

Map Yakima Valley 2019 courtesy of WineYakimaValley.org

Volcanos, Floods, and soils

This region was volcanic. Think about it, Mount Adams, Mount Ranier, Mount Hood…there are stunning peaks everywhere. More than mountains, these were volcanos active 15 million years ago. All that lava is the basalt that lies under the top soils here in the Yakima Valley. This soil includes a wide variety of minerals and it’s well-draining. This gives you small berries, high in acid and full of concentrated flavors and textures.

This is also the land of the Missoula Floods and many vineyards will tell you where they are in relationship to the flood levels. The floods came up to 1200 feet here, so it’s only the higher vineyards that sit in soils above the flood levels, they are happy to show you the difference in the soils. You find deep silt loam over gravel or basalt.

The Missoula floods rolled through this region 13,000-15,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age. An ice dam backed up the water in what is now Idaho. The water above it started to melt and the pressure built and the ice plug would get pushed up and release the water. The water would slow, the dam would reform….this happened over and over about 2000 years.

All those floods washed things downstream and you find boulders in vineyards on top of ridges and hills. Kitzke has one the size of a VW bus in their vineyard

The modern history of wine in the Yakima Valley

While the first grapes in the Yakima Valley were planted in 1869, it was the early 20^th century when things picked up. In 1917 an agricultural research site was started in Prosser in the middle of the Yakima Valley.

Today it is known as the Irrigated Agriculture Research and Extension Center. It was here that the wine grape growing in the state really kicked off, under the guidance of Dr. Walter Clore.

In 1962 Columbia Winery (at that time known as Associated Vintners) planted a 5.5 acres site in Sunnyside. In 1973 Mike Sauer planted his first Cabernet Sauvignon at Red Willow Vineyard, in 1975 Kiona on Red Mountain was planted. Now things were really rolling.

Associated Vineyards Winemaker David Lake, encouraged growers to plant Bordeaux varieties and in 1981 did the first vineyard-designate bottling from Red Willow Vineyard.

Yakima Valley’s Impact on Washington Wine

More than half of the grapes for Washington’s wines come from the Yakima Valley AVA. The region boasts 17,000 acres of vineyards, whose grapes go to both wineries within the region and further afield. Many of the tasting rooms in Seattle source fruit from the Yakima Valley.

This is a place where a vineyard name means something. 40 years ago David Lake did the first vineyard designate wine in the state. Red Willow, Klipsun, Boushey…these names are legendary here. The soils the weather, the people that grow the grapes…the more you know the more you want to know, and the learning is delicious.

On March 12^th and 13^th, the writers of the #WinePW Crew will post pieces on the wines and wineries of the Yakima Valley. When these posts go live I will include links here! In the meantime feel free to check out their sites, listed below.

Participating writers include:

Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Cam shares “Yakima Valley’s Sin Banderas Rhone Roses Compliment Dishes with Asian Flair” and “Mediterranean-Inspired Dishes Paired with Yakima Valley Wines from Dineen Vineyards”
Linda at My Full Wine Glass invites us to “Meet Kerry Shiels: A Yakima Valley winemaker with Vision”
Terri of Our Good Life shares 2 posts “Fortuity…Taking Advantage of Life’s Great Wines!”, and “Two Mountain Rose and Fennel Wild Mushroom Tarts”
Payal at Keep The Peas shares “Yakima Valley Wines FTW!”
Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm is cooking up “Smoked Beef Brisket with Canvasback Cabernet”
Rupal the Syrah Queen gives us “Yakima Valley – Red Willow Vineyards Producing Some of Washington’s Finest Syrahs”
Jane of Always Ravenous makes our mouths water with “Filet Mignon paired with Washington Yakima Valley Cabernet Sauvignon”
Martin with ENOFYLZ Wine Blog is giving us “a Taste of Washington State’s Yakima Valley”
David at Cooking Chat has 2 posts for us also “Lamb Ragu Pasta with Red Wine from Dineen Vineyards” and “Sin Banderas Rosé with Corned Beef & More Yakima Valley Wine Pairings”
Nicole of Somm’s Table shares “Big, Beautiful Reds from Yakima Valley and Tasty, Meaty Fare”
Jennifer at Vino Travels tells us about “Italian Grapes of the Yakima Valley with Sleeping Dog Wines”
Gwendolyn the Wine Predator explores “Washington Syrah: Hedges, L’Ecole, VanArnam with Lamb Stew”
Susannah at Avvinare gives us “Malbec from VanArnam Vineyard in Yakima Valley”
Lori at Exploring the Wine Glass shares “Tasting the Soul of Wine in the Heart of Yakima Valley”
I’ll be here at Crushed Grape Chronicles with “Yakima Valley AVA – Blends of Friendship and History with wines from Eight Bells and Pearl and Stone Co.

Don’t forget to join us on Saturday, March 13^th on Twitter at 8 am Pacific or 11 am Eastern time (17.00 European Central Time), to discuss wines of the Yakima Valley! Just follow and use the hashtag #WinePW to join the conversation.

If you would like to join us and write a piece, there is still time. Email me at [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.

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

Dec 11, 2020

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!

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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.

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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.

Chardonnay: Nuances in expressing site – an example from the Yakima Valley

May 21, 2020

Chardonnay is one of the world’s most popular grapes. A noble grape, its parents are Pinot Noir and Gouais Blanc. We first see mention of it in the 16^th century in Burgundy.

You can find it grown all over the globe. From its home in Burgundy to Australia’s Hunter Valley. You find it in Italy, South Africa, Spain, Chile, Argentina, California, Oregon, Washington…Yes, Washington. We will get to that later.

The Different Styles of Chardonnay

These different regions bring in some of the differences in the wines. With wine grapes, flavors and aromas come from the variety, the location where it is grown (climate and soil) and then the winemaking. Chardonnay is incredibly adaptable.

Chardonnay can have aromas and flavors of yellow apple, citrus, tropical fruit, butter, vanilla, chalk, lime, white flowers, or stone fruit. Warm climates give you tropical notes, cool climates more citrus and pear.

The wine makers hand…

Here there are many variables. It can be as simple as when the winemaker chooses to pick, what the sugar levels are at. Then you can ferment in stainless or in wood. You can allow the wine to go through malolactic fermentation or not, you can age on the lees, you can filter or not filter….so many options that will affect the taste of the wine.

A tale of two Chardonnays

With all these variables that can affect the outcome of a bottle of Chardonnay, what if you eliminate a few. Would the wines then taste the same? We had a chance to investigate the nuances of Chardonnay with two vineyards in Yakima Valley. These vineyards sit in 2 different AVAs within the larger Yakima Valley AVA. DuBrul Vineyard in the Rattlesnake Hills AVA and Roskamp Vineyard in the Snipes Mountain AVA. While they are in two separate AVAs, if you were a crow you would have a 6 to 7-mile flight to get between the two vineyards. Standing in one vineyard, on a clear day, you can easily see the other.

Last year we visited with two winemakers we had met there before. Co Dinn of Co Dinn Cellars and Kerry Shiels of Cote Bonneville. The two both make Chardonnay from these vineyards that look across the Yakima Valley at each other.

Co Dinn Chardonnay Roskamp Vineyard Snipes Mountain AVA

Co in Vineyard — Co pointing out DuBrul vineyard to the North

Co Dinn makes his Chardonnay from the Roskamp Vineyard on the Snipes Mountain AVA. Snipes Mountain sits in the middle of the Yakima Valley, an anticline in the Yakima fold belt. The north side is a gentle slope, while the south side is steep, with basement rock exposed.

His Chardonnay sits on the north slope. While that might be odd in most regions, you have much longer days in the growing season here and they rarely have trouble getting fruit to ripen. Keeping the Chardonnay on the north slope gives it the morning sun and keeps it protected from the afternoon heat. They have 3 blocks of Chardonnay here at Roskamp, the one Co pulls from is the most protected. It is planted to the Dijon clones 76 & 96 in a field blend.

These grapes, thanks to the sandy soil in Washington are own rooted. They keep the west side shaded and expose the east side. The vines need more protection from the southwest heat and wind. Soils here on the gentler north slope are deeper, you can see the difference in vigor between these vines and the syrah vines growing closer to the south side.

Co makes his wines in a very traditional way. His chardonnay is barrel fermented with full malolactic fermentation and ages 17 months on the lees. His goal? To really showcase the site.

“I believe that the ultimate expression of a wine is to capture the character of the site. You can make beautiful wines by blending but you lose specificity. I’ve decided to find these special places and to express them. For example, this place is very unique and so are the wines.”
Co Dinn, July 2019

Roskamp Vineyard 04 — The view of Rattlesnack Hills and DuBrul Vineyard from Roskamp Vineyard

Co points out DuBrul Vineyard across the valley to the North. The vineyard there is southwest facing. Theirs is the older clone.

Kerry Shiels, DuBrul Vineyard, Rattlesnake Hills AVA

Dubrul Vineyard with Kerry Shiels — Talking with Kerry Shiels of Côte Bonneville in her DuBrul Vineyard in Yakima

A few days later, we spent the morning with Kerry Shiels at DuBrul Vineyard. This site sits on a basalt upthrust. They have a south facing slope with a cutout that allows for southwest and southeast aspects. They sit high in the foothills of the Rattlesnake Mountains. This unique vineyard with its aspects grows quite a range, from Cabernet Sauvignon to Chardonnay to Riesling!

Mt Adams — Mount Adams, West of the Yakima Valley

The morning we visited the Mountains were out. When you looked to the West you could see Mount Adams to the south and further north in the distance Mt. Rainier.

We spent some time in the cool chardonnay vineyard. This was early July, and they would not pick the Chard until the beginning of September.

Kerry also does her Chardonnay in a classic style with a barrel ferment, full secondary, full malolactic. They keep it on the lees, and it spends about a year and a half in barrel.

“I have a friend who doesn’t like Chardonnay, she says “your chardonnay is good, I recognize the quality, it’s not my favorite grape. Which is fine, but it’s good enough that she says “If I’m going to drink Chardonnay, I’ll drink yours. But I’d rather drink coke”. If you like Burgundian styled classical age-worthy complex balanced Chardonnay, then you are going to like our Chardonnay.”
Kerry Shiels, July 2019

We look across to the South to Snipes Mountain and Roskamp vineyard.

“I think it’s really interesting how different that Chard taste from this Chard.
I mean they are different clones, but also the soil is different. Snipes is its own, geologically it’s totally distinct from this. It’s fun to see that sense of place.“
Kerry Shiels, July 2019

Similarities and Differences

So how did our side by side tasting go? It was interesting. Let’s run down the similarities and differences again.

Chard Pairing — Cote Bonneville 2015 DuBrul Vineyard Chardonnay and Co Dinn 2015 Roskamp Vineyard Chardonnay

Both were barrel fermented, with 17 to 18 months on the lees. They were both unfined and unfiltered and from the same 2015 vintage. Both come from the Yakima Valley, from vineyards just 6 to 7 miles apart. They were both made by winemakers with similar styles, both wanting to showcase the site.

They were Chardonnays from different clones, from 2 different AVAs (regardless of how near they are), the aspects were different with the Roskamp Chardonnay on the gentle North slope and the DuBrul on a South west facing slope. The soils and the microclimates (most definitely the microclimates) are different. Lastly, quite honestly, I don’t know what yeast they each used.

Tasting & Comparing

The Co Dinn Roskamp Chardonnay was plush and creamy with baking spice, whereas the Cote Bonneville was leaner and more elegant with not quite ripe pear notes and a lovely mineral note.

How much of this was the soil, the different aspect, perhaps the picking date? I don’t know, I just find it wonderful and amazing that two wines made from grapes in vineyards that look out on to each other, can be so subtly different.

I’m going to also mention that these are probably two of the finer Chardonnay’s that you will find in the Yakima Valley and they don’t come cheap. In fact, the Cote Bonneville may no longer be available. Pick up the latest vintage. They pride themselves on consistency and it is bound to be good.

The Wines and where to find them

Both of these wineries can be found in Sunnyside Washington, at about the mid point of the Yakima Valley. Both has beautiful historic buildings for tasting rooms and are well worth the trip. But, in these days, when travel is not so easy…you can order them online.

2015 Chardonnay Cote Bonneville SRP $50

Cote Bonneville, Tasting Room Sunnyside Washington

https://www.cotebonneville.com

2015 Co Dinn Chardonnay Roskamp Vineyard SRP $45

https://codinncellars.com/

Other resources on Chardonnay and the Yakima Valley

More on this region from Crushed Grape Chronicles

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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.

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Robin Renken CSW (photo credit RuBen Permel)

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…

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

Yakima Valley Cabernet Sauvignon with JB Neufeld

Mar 4, 2020

We’d been up early, catching sunrise in Naches Heights, just outside the city of Yakima. After a quick bite to eat we went to meet Justin Neufeld, to talk about his JB Neufeld wines. We met out at Gilbert Cellars where he is the winemaker. Soon we were to find that there was a connection there. He had grown up in this area.

Justin Neufeld’s journey to wine

Justin graduated from High School in Naches Washington, just outside of Yakima in 1998. Unlike many in this region, he did not come from an agriculture family. His father was a carpenter and his mother a nurse. Like many he was ready to get out of the valley. So he went on to U Dub (University of Washington or UW) to get a degree in molecular biology.

During his junior year, he got the wine bug. UW did not have a oenology or viticulture program at that time. So he did a bit of reading and researching on his own. This pull of viticulture was also the pull of home. Seattle is great, but it takes getting away from rural lands to appreciate them. He returned to the Yakima Valley.

Justin is currently the winemaker and manages the vineyards for Gilbert Cellars as his full time gig. Still, he always knew he wanted to have his own winery. He and his wife Brooke (the B in JB Neufeld) created and run JB Neufeld.

JB Neufeld and Cabernet Sauvignon

Justin didn’t start out planning to make Cabs. Early on he had a couple of Bordeaux wines. That gradually led to exploration into those blends and finding that he was intrigued by the Cabernet Sauvignon in them. Of course there are a lot of cabs in Washington, so he started tasting them. The Yakima Valley is diverse with multiple microclimates.

Justin began by doing vineyard designate Cabernet Sauvignons, working to show the differences in climate and site through the wines. Eventually he found he could craft a better wine by blending these sites. He would use Red Mountain AVA fruit as a base with it’s structure and ripe fruit. Then blend in cab from cooler areas that are softer with almost chalky tannins and more complexity. Then there is Red Willow fruit….

That’s a really unique site. It doesn’t fit that upper valley, cooler site profile of the chalkier tannin and floral notes. You know I’ve only worked with fruit now for 2 vintages, but so far it’s really unique, it takes on a more earthy minerality type character on the nose. There’s still some dark fruit for sure, but almost a similar structure to the Red Mountain. It’s pretty cool.
Justin Neufeld, July 2019

We second the love of Red Willow Vineyard fruit. It’s an amazing site. You can read more about our visit with Mike and Jon Sauer at their beautiful vineyard here. You can look forward to seeing more on our visit to this stunning vineyard run by some truly wonderful people.

New clones

Washington State started with Clone 8 and it continues to be the most widely grown clone in the state giving consistent fruit and yields. But there are other Cabernet Sauvignon clones making their way into Washington. Justin is pretty excited about some of these.

337 I’ve kinda been geeking out about. They’re still really young vines, but they have a different profile from clone 8, they are a little more red fruit. A little bit grittier of a tannin and rather than being vegetal when they are picked green they are more herbaceous. So I’m really excited.
Justin Neufeld, July 2019

I found an interesting piece by Shannon Dininny on goodfruit.com about Cabernet Sauvignon clones in Washington State. Most of the discussion was regarding yields and reliability, as opposed to flavor. None-the-less it’s an interesting discussion if you want to nerd out about that stuff. https://www.goodfruit.com/wine-grape-growers-weigh-in-on-cabernet-sauvignon-clones/

When it comes to the clone Justin is speaking of, clone 337, it came up from California. It is a clone that can make very extracted wines and lacks the typical herbal character when picked late. In a comparative tasting of clones from Bell Wine Cellars, they noted that 337 had the most lush profile when compared to clones 6,4 & 7. What does all this mean? It’s like Justin said, you can blend Cabernet from different clones and different sites to create a more complex wine.

Cabernet a “stubborn” grape

We spoke a bit about Cabernet and how it expresses terroir. Syrah and Pinot Noir are notably varieties that express location. They are wines that take on notes of their climate, soil and anything the winemaker throws at them. Kind of like a person with a full closet in tons of different styles.

Cabernet is noted for being, as Justin calls it “stubborn”. It does not show site as dramatically as Syrah or Pinot. With Syrah or Pinot Noir, when you pick, at what ripeness level, can also have a dramatic affect on the wine that you bottle. Cabernet on the other hand has a wider picking window that won’t show a great difference. It can also handle oak better without being overly influenced.

He noted a tendency to pick late to avoid any vegetal notes. Justin feels that causes you to lose complexity in the finished wine. He prefers to pick a little earlier.

I think, personally, my opinion is that a lot of Cabernet Sauvignons are pushed a little too far. They go to ripe and then a little past because they don’t want any vegetal character. I’ve found that when you take it to that next level, a lot of that wonderful complexity is sort of gone. So that’s what I’m trying to shoot for, timing wise, with picking at a point where there might be a little bit of vegetal. I’d rather it be herbaceous. You just get a lot more complexity in the nose and I think the terroir shines through a little bit more.
Justin Neufeld, July 2019

Soils and microflora

Parts of the Yakima Valley sit in the Missoula Flood Plains. This was the tremendous floods that spanned 2000 years after the last ice age. This flooded the Columbia Valley and down into Oregon. You can read more about these in our post with Rudy Marchesi at Montinore Estate. For more about how it affected the Yakima Valley see our conversation in the vineyard with David O’Reilly with Owen Roe.

The floods deposited soils and the levels in the Yakima Valley get to 1200 to 1300 feet. Above that are older soils. These soils affect the wine, but Justin is digging deeper. He is interest in the microflora. Microflora you hear about these days regarding your gut (kombucha and keeping the micro flora in your gut healthy). But you find them in soils also. Microflora are defined as: bacteria and microscopic algae and fungi, especially those living in a particular site or habitat.

Justin is fascinated by the microflora which has a symbiotic relationship with the plant. These microflora would also be affected of course by the composition of the soil. It’s yet another factor in “terroir” or the sense of place that you find in a wine.

Terroir and all it’s variables

We had discussed the difference in micro climates and soils, and it’s interesting to see all the variables. Red Mountain is hot and early. Bloom can happen here 2 or 3 weeks earlier than the rest of the Yakima Valley. This gives Justin more hang time on that fruit. He spoke with Fred Artz in Red Mountain and discussed the wind they get there. Wind can stress the vine and delay ripening. But if it’s a sustained wind it causes thicker skins, which give you more accumulated tannins. So wind is a significant part of the terroir in Red Mountain.

The full time gig at Gilbert

Being the head winemaker at Gilbert Cellars is Justin’s full time gig. He works with Assistant Winemaker/Oenologist Dusty Jenkins. Other than some extra help at harvest, between the two of them they do most everything regarding wine making.

Gilbert is primarily from estate fruit and they focus on Bordeaux varieties. They do have a wide variety of vineyards from Horse Heaven Hills AVA, Wahluke Slope AVA and the greater Columbia Valley AVA. The River Ridge Vineyard in Horse Heaven Hills AVA is the one with the new Cabernet Sauvignon clones Justin is really excited about.

In addition to Bordeaux style wines they are doing a Rhône white blend of Grenache Blanc and Viognier, called Vin du Vallee. They also do a Rhône red called Allobroges which is a GSM.

Gilbert is a busy spot in the Summer. They do a full concert series on the beautiful grounds that you see behind us in the videos. Music in the Vines celebrates it’s 10th season in 2020.

Getting ahold of some JB Neufeld wine

JB Neufeld can be found through a variety of distributors. You can check out their distributor page.

You can also order direct from their site and feel free to contact Brooke for more details!

It’s Taste Washington Wine Month, so we will be featuring some great Washington wineries and vineyards throughout March. So check back as we visit some other regions in the state! Here are a couple of links in case you want to dig a little deeper into Washington 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.

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

A tale of two syrahs

Feb 6, 2020

It’s no secret that I am a syrah lover. I love it’s wild side, it’s unpredictablility. Winemakers find it to be a malleable grape, one that can take off on tangents. Soil, climate and winemaking technique can affect this grape, making syrah from different regions dramatically different in the glass.

I listened to winemakers across the Santa Barbara region talk about their Syrah’s a few years ago. The difference in climate there can be a bit more dramatic than in other regions their size. The temperature increases by a degree each mile inland you go, making syrah grown in the Santa Rita Hills climatically different than that grown in Ballard Canyon or even further into Happy Canyon. We tasted these wines as they spoke with us about them and the differences were interesting to note.

Since then we have traveled further in California falling in love with the Rhônes at Tablas Creek, and discovering one of our favorite Rhône Rangers, Randall Grahm. We ventured further north into Washington and tasted syrah’s from Yakima Valley, including Red Mountain, which, while primarily known for Cabernet Sauvignon is turning out to be an exceptional place to grow syrah.

2013 Descendants Liegeois Dupont Red Mountain Syrah from Hedges Family Estate.

On a chili evening a while back, we pulled out a bottle of Syrah . This was the 2013 Descendants Liegeois Dupont Red Mountain Syrah from Hedges Family Estate.

wp 15810261968757584236047541247002 — 2013 Descendants Liegeois Dupont Red Mountain Syrah

We had picked this bottle up when we visited Red Mountain this last year and spoke with Sarah Hedges Goedhart.

I posted about this wine on Instagram that evening…

The geeky bits…
These grapes are from their Les Grosses Vineyard on Red Mountain. Destemmed, partial crush, stainless steel fermenters…pressed to barrel, malo-lactic fermentation, racked off lees. Barrel aged 11 month in 40% new American and French Oak.
14.5% abv $29.00 srp
My notes
It opens with great Syrah funk that I adore! Earth smoke barnyard leather cocoa….my nose was in heaven! The fruit on the palate is blueberries, blackberries and figs, with dark cherries and chocolate and then a bit of lovely baking spice on the end.
Intense without being overpowering, we sipped this for a while (working on videos) before pairing (you’ll have to watch for the pairings)
Crushedgrapechron on Instagram January 15, 2020

At the time I promised to share the pairings. Well, as we started with the pairings, Michael got up, he came back with a bottle of 2013 Le Pousseur Syrah from Bonny Doon. There is a little sadness as I write this. I went to the website to check some of the production notes on this wine…they are gone. Bonny Doon, a legendary California winery helmed by Randall Grahm was sold to Lapis Luna Wines on January 1st. Randall will still be involved, but he will be able to spend more time focusing on his Popelouchum project in San Juan Bautista. (You should read about that, because it’s really fascinating)

None the less…on to the wine.

2013 Le Pousseur Syrah from Bonny Doon

wp 15810260272071458562976537011275 — 2013 Le Pousseur Syrah from Bonny Doon

Here’s a snipet I found on the web about this wine

If the ’12 Pousseur bore an uncanny resemblance to Crozes Hermitage, our ’13 Syrah definitely shades slightly in the direction of a St. Joseph. With a (gulp) substantial (63%) percentage of Bien Nacido Syrah in the mix, we certainly recognize the contribution of the mostly coolish (global climate change adjusted) Santa Maria climate to the natural acidity and freshness of this wine, as well as to the correctness of varietal expression. Wild plums, blackberries, Griotte cherries and licorice (of course). The tannins are soft and supple, but the wine has so much persistence, there is every indication that it will greatly benefit from cellaring. But for now, the Pousseur will enormously benefit from decantation and the investment in large balloon Burgundy glasses. Excuse me, a lamb chop with a bit of a minty chimichurri is calling my name.
Winemaker notes from (from Randall Grahm) Wine.com

Let it be known that I am indeed a sucker for Bien Nacido. I have waxed poetic before about wines from this vineyard. Recently, I listened to a wonderful interview (from a while back) with Bob Lindquist about the planting of Syrah in this vineyard. (I highly recommend diving into the “I’ll drink to that” podcasts with Levi Dalton). The Bien Nacido Vineyard imparts something to a wine, the nose…I can put my nose in a glass and if it is from Bien Nacido I can tell. So..to begin I knew I was in love with this wine.

Pairings

2013 Descendants Liegeois Dupont Red Mountain Syrah from Hedges Family Estate with gouda, bleu cheese, prosciutto and seaweed snacks
2013 Descendants Liegeois Dupont Red Mountain Syrah from Hedges Family Estate and Bonny Doon 2013 Le Pousseur syrah, mostly from Bien Nacido

We paired these wines with bleu cheese, gouda, proscuitto and some dried seaweed snacks. Then we did a simple dinner of peas, potatoes in herbs de provençe and bbq beef. Why peas and seaweed? The umami in these pulls up the umami in the wine.

Comparing the two…

So the Le Pousseur gave me barn, wet hay, leather and smoke on the nose, followed by Eucalyptus and mint. Red and black fruits and barbeque spices. This wine as compared to the Red Mountain was more red fruit, less smoky. It was brighter and a little less brooding.

Both wines were delicious, but the differences were noticeable. While the both had barnyard, earth, smoke and leather, there were nuances between the two even in those notes. The Hedges gave me darker fruit; blackberries, blueberries, dried fig, dark cherries while the Bonny Doon was red and black currents, brighter fruit. The Hedges finished with notes of chocolate and baking spice, while the Bonny Doon pulled in notes of eucalyptus and mint and finished with bbq spices.

It’s something I love about syrah, the nuances. These were great wines that both checked in at under $30 a bottle. The Bonny Doon runs between $20 and $27, depending on where you pick it up. I recommend getting your hands on both of these bottles if you can. Try a side by side, like we did and share with us your thoughts!

Want more on Syrah?

Well we can help you out with that. Here are just a few of the other pieces we have done on this grape!

https://www.crushedgrapechronicles.com/wine-secrets-syrah/
(the above link has additional links at the bottom to all of the conversations with Santa Barbara Winemakers on syrah)
The Syrah clones at Larner Vineyard
A Trio of Syrahs from the Central Coast
The Secret to Syrah Wine pairings
Dedication Syrah from the Larner Vineyard & Winery
12 days of Wine 2019 – Owen Roe Chapel Block Syrah

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.

Sarah Hedges Goedhart on her journey to winemaking and biodynamics

Jan 29, 2020

When we planned our trip to Washington, I was specifically looking for biodynamic vineyards. Biodynamics in wine is a subject I find fascinating and quite honestly, I find I really like speaking to the people who are into this practice. They feel like my kind of people.

These people are passionate, care deeply about the planet, they are detail people who are not looking to cut corners just to make a profit. They believe strongly in doing things the right way.

Choosing Hedges Family Estate on Red Mountain

As I looked at the Red Mountain AVA, I searched for a vineyard that was using biodynamic practices. Hedges Family Estate was the only one that came up, so they were kind of a shoo-in.

I continued to look into the property (and it’s stunning) and came across a video on their site, that was warm and a bit enchanting.

Then I read a bit about Sarah Hedges Goedhart and her approach…and well that pushed it over the edge, I knew I wanted to speak with her.

Red Mountain AVA, I searched for a vineyard using biodynamic practices. Sarah Hedges Goedhart and Hedges Family Estate

Sarah’s journey to winemaking

We spoke with Sarah about the history of the winery. It’s come along way from the days when her father started buying and selling bulk juice. Back then, her 12 year old self had no interest in the business and no desire to live in eastern Washington.

They came every summer from Seattle, where they lived and as she got older, she got into wine. But her true passion was to be a veterinarian. Her father insisted that she get a business degree. She got that degree in San Diego and then went to Santa Barbara to get the pre-reqs for vet school. It was there that she met her husband. Okay…actually they met in high school, but they reconnected in Santa Barbara.

Getting hooked on wine in Santa Barbara

While going to school she got a job as a tasting room manager at the Santa Barbara Winery. Her future husband was working there in production. It was there that she got hooked. They would pick 2nd harvest grapes and make bathtub wine. They had the bug, and were on the journey to start their own winery.

On to Preston in Healdsburg

They ended up in Healdsburg working at Preston, where she learned biodynamics, organics, in addition to breadbaking and olive production. This was about the entire culture of working with the land.

Preston is a kind of magical place. We visited in 2011, I remember feeling like I’d taken a step back in time. This is simple beautiful Americana with home baked breads and olives in the tasting room. This is a farm and an enchanting one at that.

Returning to the Tri-Cities

California is an expensive place to live for two people just starting out and her brother suggested they come work at the family winery. Sarah started out working on the garden and hosting people and a year later became the assistant winemaker to her uncle, when the position opened up.

When she started as assistant winemaker, Hedges was making about 100,000 cases a year. That’s quite a jump from the 8,000 cases she assisted with at Preston.

Biodynamics at Hedges

In 2007 they started the biodynamic conversion. At this point 3 of their vineyards are biodynamic and 2 are organic. Bit by bit they add livestock. Right now they have chickens and a turkey and they want to add sheep. It’s a gradual process and she wants to be sure that they understand and adapt to each part before moving on.

Native ferments

The first wine they tried to make biodynamically was in 2011, with a native ferment. Native ferments can seem simple, just leave the tank alone right? Nope. Since then they have been using the pied du cuvee method. You get a bucket of grapes and get your fermentation started there.

Soothing tunes for the wines

She has also incorporated music in the cellar. She had a white wine that was a little reductive. It seemed to her that the wine was stressed and struggling, so she asked the cellar crew to play mellow spa music. Of course they thought she was a little crazy, but tasting the before and the after…they became believers.

The Goedhart label

The label had been their dream when they lived in California, but with California costs, it was just not possible. In 2005 they moved to the Tri-Cities and started their label with a winery in the basement of the ranch house they were living in. They both had full time winery jobs and would do this in all their free time as a labor of love.

Their focus was Syrah. Not a fruit bomb, but not an old world overly lean wine either.

This wine was to be elegant with a bit of restraint. They ran the label for 6 years. On weekends they would be open for tastings and she would make wood fired breads and panini’s.

Kids, a full time job and running their own winery became too much, so Hedges took over the label. Once the kids are raised, perhaps they will try this again. In the meantime, she can continue to make their Syrah in the style they like here.

Sarah on Syrah

Sarah and I spoke about the Syrah they are growing here. They have the Joseph Phelps clone, which was the first clone available in Washington. This clone tends to be lean with herbal characteristics. Then they have the Tablas clone. This is the clone that Tablas Creek brought over from Chateauneuf-de-Pape.

She describes this clone as “Wild, savage, and fruity”. They do multiple picks over a few weeks, keeping clones and picks separate and then she can blend these to create that elegant style of Syrah that they enjoy best.

We have recently opened up two different Syrah’s from Hedges and both were pretty exceptional. My palate obviously is in line with the style of Syrah that they are making.

Sarah on the reason for biodynamics

I asked Sarah what was most important to her in biodynamics…

Preserving land for the future, for kids, for everybody. I think that’s the one thing on this planet that we’re screwing up and we really need to turn it around. What do we call ourselves? Stewards of the land it’s our responsibility to keep it around.
Sarah Hedges Goedhart, July 2019

The property is beautiful. That is reason enough to come. In addition the wines we tasted here were delicious and their was quite a portfolio of wines to taste. Sarah even brought in a couple of barrel samples for us to taste. The topper here is the people. Sarah was a joy to speak with, her father Tom said a hello as he came through the tasting room.

They had just finished a morning meeting before Sarah came to speak with us. The volume here is high. They do make quite a bit of Columbia Valley wine in addition to the Estate wines that Sarah focuses on, but it’s still a family business. It has that blend of Washington practicality with the elegance of a French Château, blended with the relaxed biodynamic style that Sarah brings.

Panorama of the Hedges Family Estate Tasting Room

Tasting at the Château at Hedge Family Estate on Red Mountain

2017 Biodynamic Syrah Barrel Sample at Hedges Family Estate Red Mountain Yakima Valley Washington

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.

Hedges Family Estate – Red Mountain Washington – the history

Jan 22, 2020

Hedges Family Estate

I had heard of Red Mountain. It is on the East end of the Yakima Valley AVA in Washington and was all the buzz. I had even heard it called “Washington’s Napa”. I was skeptical, not of the wines, but of the buzz. So on our first trip to Washington for a wine conference in Walla Walla, we focused our extra time elsewhere.

Returning a little less than a year later, we had a little more time to spend and time to research. As we have been focusing on biodynamic vineyards, we looked for one in the Red Mountain AVA, and came across the Hedges Family Estate.

Hedges Family Estate

The history, the beginnings

As I started exploring their site and learning about the Estate and the family I was anxious to see the property and speak with Sarah Hedges Goedhart, the daughter of the owners and their winemaker.

The property is beautiful. Upon arriving you feel as if you have been swept away to a French Château. This is no accident. Sarah’s mother Anne-Marie, is originally from Champagne….but wait….let me tell this story in order.

Tom Hedges & Anne-Marie Liégeois

Sarah’s farther Tom is from the Tri-Cities area. His family arrived in Washington back in 1888, settling first in the Waterville area and farming wheat, then moving to Wenatchee to grow apples. Her grandfather got a job in Hanford, so the family moved to this area.

Sarah’s mother, as I said before is from Champagne. It was at a party in Mexico, that her parent’s met. Her mother, there studying language, her father, studying tequila production, while getting his masters in International Business. 3 months after the party they were engaged, a year later married. It’s a romance that is coming up on 45 years.

The beginnings of the Hedges Brand

They traveled the world with her father, Tom, working in International Produce sales, spending time in South America, North East Canada and finally ending up in Seattle, with Tom looking for a new direction. West Coast wines were becoming a thing, so they started brokering wines, starting with bulk wines internationally, then getting more specific when they started getting requests for Washington wines.

The first Hedges wine was sold to the government of Sweden. 5000 cases blended from the bulk wine they sourced from Washington. It was popular and inexpensive compared to European wines. The 2nd year they doubled their volume and decided to try selling this wine in the states. This is when the Hedges Brand was born. They moved from buying bulk wine to buying grapes.

The decision to build on Red Mountain

Then came a trip to Vin Expo in Bordeaux where they were continually asked where their vineyard was. Her father was confused, but her mother explained. In France you are nothing without land. So then the decision to be made was, build a winery or buy land? Her father went to a High School reunion in 1989 and heard that Red Mountain was going to be big, with the best fruit in the state. So decision made, they bought 40 acres at somewhere around $1,200 an acre, and they got the last private water rights ever granted in the area.

The Château

Hedges Family Estate the garden with the fountain Red Mountain Yakima Valley Washington

Chateau is on Red Mountain in Washington. Hedges Family Estate.

View from the Hedges Family Estate on Red Mountain

In 1995 they broke ground on the Château. This is a place that with it’s attention to detail, transports you to France. Vines line the circular driveway leading up to the Château. You enter through the cobbled walkway shaded by Umbrella Calabra trees, with stone benches and lanterns that you can invision lit at evening. When you reach the entrance you arrive in a courtyard with seating under the trees and a large fountain. The large winery doors beckon, but so does the view of Red Mountain the other direction.

We will continue with our interview with Sarah, discussing the biodynamic practices they have chosen to employ on the estate.

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.

Yakima Valley

Yakima Valley AVA – Blends of friendship and history with wines from Eight Bells and Pearl and Stone Co. #WinePW

Pearl and Stone Wine Co.

What’s in a name?

Pearl and Stone Wine Co. 2017 Mailbox Peak

Eight Bells Winery

Red Willow Vineyard, Mike Sauer, and David Lake

Eight Bells David’s Block

Eight Bells 2014 “David’s Block”

Charcuterie platter with Duck Rillettes, morello cherry preserves, black walnuts, cornichons, parmesan, manchego, Iberico ham, blackberries, and raspberries

Roasted beet and shallot salad with black walnuts, mixed baby greens, and beet greens

Balsamic Marinated Skirt Steak with Bok Choy and Leeks on Couscous

The #WinePW Crew on the Yakima Valley!

Ingredients

Instructions

Notes

Did you make this recipe?

Ingredients

Balsamic Marinade

Seared Bok Choy and Leeks

Vinaigrette for cous cous

Couscous Quinoa blend

Instructions

Notes

Nutrition Information

Yield

Serving Size

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Sources, Resources and further reading

More on the Yakima Valley from Crushed Grape Chronicles (this is just the tip of the iceberg!)

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Exploring Wines of the Yakima Valley AVA with #WinePW

#WinePW explores the Yakima Valley

The Yakima Valley AVA

Nested AVAs of the Yakima Valley

Volcanos, Floods, and soils

The modern history of wine in the Yakima Valley

Yakima Valley’s Impact on Washington Wine

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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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