When you need to give a gift during the holidays, most especially when heading out to a gathering or party, wine is a great go-to.
Sometimes you pick the bottle because you heard it was good, sometimes it has a label that just seems right for the occasion, sometimes it comes with a memory that you want to share, a bottle with a memory, or a place with a memory.
We spent this past year working with L’Ecole No. 41. Each month tasting and pairing a wine from their portfolio. You can revisit those posts below! Click thru to the articles on each wine and pairing!
*These wines were all received as media samples. No other compensation was received and all opinions remain our own.
(this month we didn’t do a pairing, but traveling through the Northwest on our annual Scenic Route trip, we visited Walla Walla and L’Ecole No. 41 in person!)
Across the board, the wines are delicious. They are available in multiple styles and price ranges.
I am lucky in that I have personal memories now of this winery and many of their vineyards, not only from visiting this past August but also from each month having an opportunity to speak with people from the winery each month via Zoom to dig deeper into each of the wines, to discuss the vintage and the winemaking.
I got to feel like a part of the L’Ecole extended family. (Honestly, I Zoomed with them more than relatives this past year!)
Gifts from L’Ecole No. 41
So with that, I give you a personal recommendation on these wines, you really can’t go wrong with them. They have a variety of holiday gift packs available that you can find here!
We received (as a sample) one of their Wine & Merchandise sets. The Walla Walla Rise, Shine & Wine set includes a bottle of 2020 Luminesce Estate wine, 2018 Estate Merlot, a L’Ecole corkscrew (really high quality!), a 12 oz package of Walla Walla Roastery “Old School” whole bean coffee (how appropriate is that for the Old Schoolhouse tasting room!?). and a L’Ecole/Washington Wine Country Tumbler. I love that this is such a great bit of Walla Walla!
The tumbler is great with a map of the Walla Walla Valley sketched in with a map of Washington State from the Puget Sound to Walla Walla with mountains and wine regions major highways and L’Ecole No. 41.
The coffee Ben told us comes from the Walla Walla Roastery out by the airport in Walla Walla. The “Old School” Blend is a Vienna Roast (in the med to dark range, but lighter than a French Roast).
More wine gifts from L’Ecole No. 41
They do have another merchandise set that some of the other writers received. The Wine and Chocolate Lovers Collection includes the 2018 Estate Seven Hills Syrah and the 2020 Chenin Blanc “Old Vines” from the Yakima Valley, with a corkscrew and Petits Noirs Red and White Chocolate Sets.
The Red Wine collection includes chocolates in Dark Cherry & Star Anise, Rosemary & Pink Peppercorn, Fig Pistachio & Fennel, & Blueberry Cardamom.
The White Wine Collection includes Almond Sea Salt, Coconut Coriander, Pear Bergamot Biscuit, and Apricot Lavender.
All the chocolates are made in the traditional French technique with ingredients sourced from the North West.
Of course, they have other gifts available also! Their Cellar Explorers Gift Set has a bottle of each of their Perigee and Apogee wines (these are their highest-end wines that are age-worthy and so delicious), with flannel wine gift bags to protect your wine and a rugged tote to carry them in. Oh, and a corkscrew!
There are gift boxes of wines beginning at $85, large format bottles that you can have etched, half bottle stocking stuffers, and even memberships you can gift! (check out all the links here)
Time to order your holiday wine gifts from L’Ecole No. 41!
As I said, you can’t go wrong with these wines. You might want to gift some to yourself too!
If you want these delivered before the holidays, you might want to order quickly! They include ground shipping on many of their gift sets, but deadlines for delivery by December 25th are quickly approaching.
For Delivery within the Northwest, you need to place your order by December 20th, outside the Northwest is December 13th! But never fear, 2-day air shipping outside the Northwest is available for an extra charge with a deadline of December 20th to have it arrive by Christmas!
Maybe one of the pairings we dove into this past year will inspire you for your holiday giving!
Visit Walla Walla
Walla Walla is not really on the way to much of anywhere. It is a destination in itself. The town is charming, the wines spectacular and the people friendly. Maybe you might want to plan a trip! I’ll leave you with some photos to inspire you!
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 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.
Not too long ago, it was Uruguay Wine Week which included Tannat Day. We shared with you a lovely Tannat we enjoyed from Establecimiento Juanico in Uruguay. It was delicious and it is the National Wine, but there is more to the wines of Uruguay.
We enjoyed two wines from the Coastal region of Uruguay from Establecimiento Juanico that is owned by the Familia Deicas. Santiago Deicas is the winemaker. There was a great IG Live interview that he did with Amanda Barnes of the South American Wine Guide that we watched where he spoke about the recent vintage. He has amazing energy and is passionate about what he does.
In case you missed our earlier posting, here is a quick rundown on the region.
Uruguay sits in South American between Argentina to the West and Brazil to the Northeast. The Southern portion of the country sits on the Atlantic Ocean and the Rio de La Plata. The regions of Canelones and Maldonado get a lot of coastal influence and that impacts the wines.
Establecimiento Juanicó is located in the Canelones District, but the winery has invested in vineyards in the Maldonado region also.
You can learn more about the history of Uruguay and Establecimiento Juanico in our piece Tannat – at home in Uruguay.
*We received these wines as media samples, but all opinions are our own.
Don Pascual Red Blend 2018
This wine is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Tannat, Merlot and Marselan. If you have not heard of Marselan, you are not alone. This grape is a cross of Cabernet Sauvignon and Grenache and the largest plantings of it can be found in China. In the 90’s they began planting this grape in Uruguay.
Marselan ripens earlier than Cabernet Sauvignon so this variety is suited to this region that often struggles with rain at the end of harvest. With deep color and low tannins, this is a great tool for blending, especially with the highly tannic Tannat. Santiago told us that by itself it is sweet and soft in the mouth.
The wine is generous and juicy, a wine to be enjoyed with friends and laughter. It bursts with fresh berries, strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, and cherry with notes of violet. It is a joyful wine.
We paired it with Pork Barbeque sandwiches, purple cabbage slaw, and sweet potato fries and it was delicious.
Don Pascual 2020 Coastal White
This wine is a blend of Albariño and Chardonnay from Moldonado on the coast with a touch of Pinot Grigio and Verdejo from Canelones.
This is a new experimentation as they have very little of the Albarino. Santiago traveled to Galicia and spoke with winemakers. The Chardonnay blends in to give the wine backbone but the Albarino is definitely dominant. This wine is aged on the fines lees for 2 to 4 months in tank to provide roundness.
This wine is fresh with citrus notes as well as nectarine, lemon peel, a floral note, and a bit of wet stone. It is tart and fresh and just a little salty, with high acid and a beautiful roundness.
We enjoyed this with a rooftop feast of steamed mussels, scallops, pea risotto, and a fresh salad. Again this is a food-friendly wine and was delicious with all the food.
These are the perfect wines to kick off summer, as we can begin gathering with a few friends. They are wines that are meant to be shared.
If you are intrigued by these wines and would like to learn more about South American Wines, Check out the South American Wine Guide. Amanda Barnes has wonderful information on the wine regions of South American and her new book on the wines of this part of the world is coming out soon. You can pre-order it on her site.
For more information on the Wines of Uruguay, visit Uruguay Wine.
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 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.
Cab Franc is a grape that for many years was overlooked as a blending grape, but it’s so much more than that. Yes, you find it in Bordeaux blending into the red blends there, but in the Loire? Well, that’s where it shines.
Cab Franc is suited to cool climates, which is why it thrives in the Loire. When made into wine it holds its acid well allowing it great aging capabilities.
Cabernet Franc is known by the name “Breton” in the Loire Valley and here is the most widely planted grape with over 44,000 acres.
We are traveling the world with Cabernet Franc this month with the #WinePW group, led by Wendy Klik of A Day in the Life on the Farm. Over a dozen of us will be writing pieces, tasting, and pairing Cab Franc from all sorts of places. There is a list of all of my colleagues’ pieces below.
If you are reading this early enough, join us on Saturday, December 12th at 8 am PST or a more reasonable 11 am if you are on the East coast, as we chat about all things Cab Franc! To join the conversation just follow and use the hashtag #WinePW on Twitter that morning!
The Cab Francs
We tasted 2 Cabernet Francs. One is from the Loire Valley and one from Leah Jørgensen our favorite Pirate Princess in Oregon.
Saumur Champigny
The Saumur Champigny AOC is a small appellation that is for red wine only. These red wines must be Cabernet Franc driven at a minimum of 85% with the remaining 15% from Cabernet Sauvignon or Pineau d’Aunis.
While we mentioned before that Cab Franc thrives in cool climates, this nook nestled between the Loire River and the Thouet tributary has a hot microclimate in the summer. “it is possible that the name Champigny may derive from the Latin ‘campus igni’ – field of fire.” Vins Val de Loire
Map of AOP Saumur Champigny in the Loire Valley – courtesy Vins du Val du Loire
Photo of Saumur Champigny – courtesty Vins du Val du Loire
Val de Loire Réserve des Vignerons 2017 Saumur Champigny
This wine is made by a co-operative called the Cave de Saumur. Cave de Saumur was founded by 40 growers in 1956.
Now with 160 growers around the town of Saumur that focus on sustainable viticulture with each grower signing an action plan to conserve water, and biodiversity.
They own 10 km of cellars and a modern winery built in 2000.
100% Cab Franc, 12.5% abv $19.99 SRP
Leah Jørgensen Cellars
Leah Jørgensen is a self-proclaimed “Pirate Princess”. You can read it on her business card. She charts new waters in winemaking. After settling in the Willamette Valley, did she make Pinot Noir? No, she decided to champion the grapes of the Loire.
Leah comes to wine with a great love for the wines of the Loire having worked with Joe Dressner who had an amazing portfolio of Loire Valley wines.
She has championed Cab Franc and bottled a Blanc de Cab Franc that was the first still white Cabernet Franc in the world and a wine which you should most definitely seek out. She believes that some of the best blocks of Cabernet Franc in the country are in Southern Oregon.
When I met her a few years ago, we spoke about how the Loire influenced her and the differences and similarities between the Loire and Southern Oregon soils.
Leah Jørgensen – Pirate Princess and Winemaker
Leah Jorgensen Pirate Princess
“…we are definitely inspired by the Loire Valley, but we are very fully aware that Southern Oregon is not the Loire Valley… We have points of reference, reasons why we can grow some of the same varietals. With Southern Oregon, looking at some of the vineyard sites that we have like Crater View Ranch which we work with, with our Malbec, our Sauvignon Blanc, and some of our Cab Franc, there’s ancient marine shellfish, shell imprints, shell fossils, and blueschist, ocean bottom rock and this is all present from a subduction that happened 250 million years ago…The stuff that we are seeing in those vineyards in the Rogue and Applegate, but especially in these particular vineyards in the Rogue, they even predate the Old World. When we think of the Loire Valley, my inspiration, Paris used to be under a tidal basin, so all of the waters that were in that tidal basin around Paris are now the vineyards for the Loire valley. So you find shellfish and ancient marine fossils in some of the vineyards of the Loire Valley. That episode, when the water was all in those vineyards in that area, that was about 100 million years ago, So our geological episode happened 150 million years before that, so Old World, right? I’m really proud of that, I love talking about these soil series and the ancient marine shellfish because I think it’s a new dawn for Oregon wine to talk about other regions that have really fascinating geological stories. So that’s really the inspiration for me, capturing the sense of place and the soils and then also the grapes that seem to make sense, Cab Franc Malbec, Sauvignon Blanc.”
Leah Jørgensen Cellars 2016 Cabernet Franc – Southern Oregon
Leah notes that this wine was made with a whimsical nod to the Loire Valley.
100% Cabernet Franc, 14% abs $29.99 SRP
While this wine is no longer available, you can find her 2018 vintage on her site.
Her whimsical labels will have you wanting a whole collection.
So should we compare?
I tasted the Saumur Champigny first. It was slightly lighter in color than the Leah Jørgensen wine and had notes of tobacco, black cherry, red plum, eucalyptus, and raspberry. Dry and medium in body, tannins, and flavor this had high acid and flavors of tart berries and red fruit.
The Leah Jørgensen Cabernet Franc is a 2016, so a year older. It was deeper in color with a nose of black currant, red cherry, grilled meats, eucalyptus, and smoke. Dry with again, medium body and tannins and high acidity In my mouth I got red fruit, mint, and tobacco. This was more lush and full than the Saumur Champigny, and dare I say, a little louder?
But wait! There’s more!
I will admit that my tasting was a tad underwhelming. I had not decanted and Cab Franc can take some time to open up. So the following evening, I poured the wines again.
On the Saumur Champigny the nose, while still restrained opened to pencil shavings then a burst of spicy pepper, like a hot pepper cut open. That faded and then it opened to garrigue and a smokiness, like burning a pile of brush.
The Leah Jørgensen hit me first on this day with bramble fruit and spice followed by a scent, like hay drying in the sun after a rain. There were savory spices, dried herbs, and dried rose petals. On the palate, there was more fruit, like blackberry juice.
Oh, what a difference a day makes.
Pairing with Cab Franc – a cheese plate counts for dinner right?
We tasted these wines with an epic cheese platter. I know, it’s Wine Pairing Weekend and that might seem a little lame, but my pantry was thin on good pairing ideas and quite honestly, I was tired. Luckily, my fridge and pantry were up to the task on an epic cheese plate.
Cab Franc is known for pairing with Brie and camembert, goat cheese, and blue cheese. So some of those were included in our cheese platter dinner.
Bleu cheese stuffed green olives, white cheddar, summer sausage, brie, prosciutto, bleu cheese, pepper onion jelly, pistachios, comte, fresh strawberry, goat cheese, blackberry, mustard, cranberry sauce (yes, I still have some left and it’s great on a cheese board!), walnuts, and almonds.
Only a couple of things were “meh”. The pistachios and the prosciutto just didn’t do anything. Not bad, mind you, just well, “meh”. Everything else went fine. There were a couple of Yeps and Yep Yeps. The Bleu cheese, the strawberry, and the mustard got Yeps. I noted that the freshness of the strawberry brightened the wine. The goat cheese got a Yum and then a little mix of the brie with the pepper jelly got a Yep Yep when paired with Leah’s Cabernet Franc.
Cheese plate pairing for Cab Franc
Cheese plate to pair with Cab Franc
Dinner pairing ideas (if you want to cook)
The Saumur Champigny I would pair with pork or chicken dishes, or fish. More specifically, I think this would go great with that rainbow trout we had just a while back. It would also be good for Thanksgiving, pairing well with the cranberry and dark meat turkey and tomato-based dishes, I’m wondering about a cioppino?
I asked Leah (via IG) what she would pair with her Southern Oregon Cab Franc
“pizza, pasta with any red sauce (esp Arrabbiata), roast chicken with roast root vegetables, Nordic food (smørrebrod).”
Okay… smørrebrod. I had to refresh my memory on what this was, so I thought I would do the same for you. Smorrebrod is a traditional open-faced Scandinavian sandwich. Buttered bread in rye or a dark dense brown bread with cold cuts, meat or fish, cheese or spread and then garnishes, like capers, sprouts, pickled onions, radishes, hard-boiled egg…the list of possibilities is endless.
Great…now I’m really hungry. I suppose though what this really means, is that this wine can pair widely!
pizza
Roasted chicken on a bed of cous cous with rosemary, cranberries and arugula
Amatriciana sauce on rotini pasta (bacon & tomato sauce)
panoramic shot of fresh smorrebrod sandwiches
More on Cab Franc from the Crew at #WinePW
I am lucky enough to get to collaborate with these amazing writers in the #WinePW group each month. This month you will find us writing about Cab Franc from all over the world! Take a look below to see the varieties of places you can find Cab Franc is grown and an even wider selection of pairing ideas!
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 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.
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.
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
“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
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.
Here is one of those wonderful coincidences in the universe. This wine he was speaking of was Savage Grace Blanc Franc, which we actually tasted later that day, thanks to Jonathan and Mike Sauer of Red Willow Vineyard, we sipped this white cab franc at the Chapel with fresh Rainier cherries, watching sunset…
Seth
is looking to make in a Provenće style rosé.
To create that big luscious mouthfeel with fruit, but keeping it dry,
they do lots of lees aging in stainless.
Why is it called Rescue Rosé?
At Upsidedown Wines they work with a different non-profit with each wine through their Give Back program. For the Rescue Rosé they work with the Humane Society.
The
Syrah (artist series)
2016 Artist Series Syrah from Upsidedown Wine
Seth poured us a syrah, and warned us that it would need to open up. In fact, he swears that this syrah is best on day 3 after having been opened. That’s when it really comes into it’s own. This is from that east/west block of syrah in the back, closest to Candy Ridge. 100% syrah, they did 50% whole cluster in the 2016 vintage. Since then they have opted for 100% whole cluster. It’s neutral oak large format when possible, with lots of lees aging to create a style that feels like Northern Rhône to him.
He loves the sense of garrigue and crunchy red fruit of the Northern Rhône. Seth finds (similar to what we heard about cab sav from Justin Neufeld) that in Washington people are worried about picking early and getting too vegetal a flavor.) They pick this earlier and end up with a syrah that sits at 13.3%.
Oak, but not by choice
They
have been integrating some new oak, not really out of choice. He is trying to switch over to 500 liter
puncheons and you don’t find those available used. Those puncheons will just have to age and
become neutral in his cellar over time.
The syrah was really elegant. Seth says if you pick early you get this coffee/smoky side that is really interesting. He’s not sure what to attribute that too. The spot where this block is, used to be where the neighbors orchard was and nearby was a big gravel pit. The soil there almost looks like asphalt, like black gravel that has been conglomerated.
Cab franc & labels
2016 Kitzke Candy Ridge Vineyard Cab Franc
Back label of the Kitzke bottle.
The cab franc has a great back label with lots of details. They use it on all of their Kitzke wines now. It actually shows you what pH the fruit was picked at. This wine was 92% cabermet franc. Typically it’s close to 100%.
This cabernet franc also has the Candy Mountain label. With the AVA on it’s way, he wanted to showcase where this sense of place in a timeless way.
The labels at Upsidedown Wine are a bit more fun. The artist series switches each year and they even play with bottle shapes.
This cab franc is one of Seth’s favorite wines from this vineyard. It has good acid, a very cab franc feel, but a rich mouthfeel with the fruit. Seth finds it hard to get the balance in Washington. He finds some Red Mountain cab francs to be big, grainy and really rich, without the green bell pepper spice that he loves in a cab franc. He notes also that at the really cold sites the cab franc gets too thing and the green pepper then just dominates. Getting the balance between these two versions can be tough.
’13
Monte
He pours for us the 2013 Monte Caramelle, which had been opened the day before. It is 66% sangiovese, 18% cabernet sauvignon and 16% syrah. It’s not a blend they do every year. This is their Super Tuscan style wine. Monte Caramelle, is Candy Mountain in Italian. This vintage was made by Charlie Hoppes from Fidelitas Winery. Seth worked with him to make the Kitzke wines in 2013 & 14 and then in 2015, Seth started to take the reins and adjust the wines more to his own style. The 2013 is inoculated and has a shorter fermentation period. With all of Seth’s wines now they are native yeast and 6-7 days to start fermenting with a slower cooler fermentation.
Hood
River
We get
talking about other things. Seth has a
busy week scheduled and is sad he couldn’t meet us in the Upsidedown tasting
room in Hood River. I ask him how they
ended up there.
“I love Hood River. I lived on Mt. Hood for a while 3 or 4 summers teaching snowboarding after highschool. I used to do the…I was a semi-professional snowboarder. I’d teach and work at the summer camp there in the summers and then winters I’d take off from college and go film videos. So Mt. Hood and Hood Rivers always been a spot for me.”
Seth Kitzke, July 2019
Seth
looks at Hood River as a gateway to Washington Wine. Yes….it’s on the Oregon side, but people fly
to Portland and head out to the gorge and that’s where the vineyards
start. The Columbia Gorge AVA straddles
the state line including both Washington and Oregon.
The
Kitzke Tasting Room
For
the Kitzke tasting room they wanted to be on the vineyard.
“we want to be able to walk you through the vineyard, we want you to come in the fall, you can taste a sangiovese grape you can taste the grapes and taste the wines and see the similarities side by side. That’s more of our style, cause we’re growers at heart.”
Seth Kitzke, July 2019
The
benefits to making your wine near the vineyard
Seth
lived in Seattle and didn’t want to do the Woodinville thing. He had grown up around the grapes and wanted
to be close. He did his 2016 vintage in
Seattle “everyday that the truck would bring the grapes was my favorite
part. Unloading the trucks you smelled
all the fresh cut vines, the dirt…everything.
So you kind of felt like you were in the vineyard for a second.”
The
downfalls to being so far from the vineyard…you schedule picks 6-7 days in
advance and you don’t get to taste the grapes as often as you would like. Picking from the numbers doesn’t always
work.
“if you would have picked off of just pH and sugars, in ’15, your wines would have been harsh and astringent and vegetal, because stuff would be 25 or 26 brix, but it would taste bad, the berries were not developed yet. It was so hot, a lot of people were picking at the end of August. If you are not there, tasting that, you don’t know that.”
Seth Kitzke, July 2019
On
growing in the Gorge and natural vegetation
In the
Gorge, it’s a cooler area, consistently windy and of course rainier. He notes that it is so much easier for people
to be biodynamic and organic there because with the wind they have less mildew
pressure. This year at Kitzke they had
to do sulfur sprays every 10 days. They
don’t use herbicides, as they are trying to get the natural vegetation to
return.
“In our other vineyard you are really seeing it. We are starting to see a lot of sage and yarrow and stuff starting to grow back in the vineyard. I feel like even last year you could get a little more of that in the wine versus clean under rows and vineyard, planted by vineyard, planted by vineyard without any of that natural vegetation carrying through the vineyards.”
Seth Kitzke, July 2019
He
notes people finding more aromatics in the wines depending on the local
vegetation. Like the garrigue you get in
wines from southern France.
More
to Come…
We did speak to Seth more about a grenache he is making from the WeatherEye vineyard on Red Mountain. This is a fascinating project, more on that soon.
As always be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to keep up to date on all of our posts.
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.
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 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
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.
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 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.
This month the French Winophiles are diving into a French Wine 101. It’s timely as we all enter our comments to the government in opposition to proposed 100% European wine tariffs. (If you have not heard about this, I’ll post some links at the bottom for more information.) We have done a bit of writing on French wines and you will find links to those pieces. Many of these pieces were written in conjunction with the French #Winophiles, which means there is the extra bonus, of each of those pieces having links to other articles written by the rest of the #Winophiles! If you are interested in French wine, you will have plenty of reading available!
French Wine 101
I’m here to rally for French wine. If you are new to wine, French wine can be a bit overwhelming so let’s start at the beginning.
Old
World vs New World
To be
sure, when we say “Old World” in reference to wines, we think first of French
wines. But what does “Old World”
mean? From a scholastic point of view: Old
world wines are dominated by terroir, they are defined by place. Typically these wines are more restrained and
elegant. New World wines, on the other
hand tend to be reflective of the winemaker’s style and are often more fruit
forward and bold.
That
is a really broad definition of the differences, and doesn’t always hold true,
but when people say “Old World” and “New World” this is what they are thinking.
French
wine names
In
France, wines are named for the region they come from, not by the variety of
grape as we do in the new world. This
takes us back to that idea of “terroir” which is a sense of place, with soil,
and climate. So rather than speaking
about Chardonnay in France, you would speak of Chablis or White Burgundy. Both of those wines are made with Chardonnay,
but the wine is named for the region.
When
we think of Bordeaux, we think of age worthy reds. These are typically Cabernet or Merlot based,
depending on which bank of the river the region sits. And you will notice that I said “based”.
These wines are blends of the different varieties of grapes that grow best in
this region.
There is one exception to this. In Alsace, the white wine region on the German border in the North East of France, wines are often labeled with the variety. This comes from the German culture and this area throughout the ages, has bounced back and forth between French and German control.
Without going too deep into the wine labels (that’s a rabbit hole best saved for another day), let’s talk about some of the most well known French Wine Regions, and I’ll give you a translation for what varieties you will see from each.
French
Wine regions
Map of French Wine Regions
I love maps. It gives you a better sense of the geography and influences on a region. I could dive into the climates and soils in each of these regions (I do love to get geeky on these things), but this is French Wine 101! So let’s put together some dots for you, on what varieties you will find in each of these regions and what you might want to eat with each of these wines!
Loire Valley – Val de Loire
Map of the wine regions of the Loire Valley
This is white wine country! You will find a bit of red, but the white wines are likely to be the ones you have heard of.
Muscadet
On the West end of the Loire Valley closest to the Atlantic Ocean. Melon de Bourgogne, which you will hear called Muscadet, is most prevalent here. This is a dry white wine that pairs really well with seafood. You will get citrus, and green apple and pear along with a lovely note of salinity. Go for shellfish with this wine
Chenin Blanc
Moving east Chenin Blanc begins to shine. Vouvray and Saviennières are well known Chenin Blancs from the regions of Touraine and Anjou-Saumur respectively. The two can be very different. Vouvray can be made from dry to semi-sweet to sweet, and you will find you need to do a bit of research to determine which sweetness level you are getting. Saviennières has been called the “most cerebral wine in the world”. These wines have depth of flavor, great acidity and minerality.
Sauvignon Blanc
Sauvignon Blanc, is mainly found in the Upper Loire, the area furthest east and inland. Here you hear of Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé. These wines are crisp and high acid. Pair them with fish or poultry. With cheeses these are wonderful with goat cheese or other creamy cheeses (think brie).
Cabernet Franc
Not to be overlooked is Cabernet Franc which in this region is the primary red wine. Chinon or Bourgueil in the Touraine region produce elegant Cab Francs. These wines can be slightly spicy with raspberry and violet notes and are a favorite at Parisian Bistros.
Well you know what Champagne is! This region and it’s soil and climate produce some of the world’s finest sparkling wines primarily from Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier.
These wines, while often looked at a just for celebrations or just with the hors d’oeuvres at the top of the meal actually are perfect during a meal. The bubbles and acidity clean your palate making every bite taste as amazing as the first.
There are plenty of classic pairings, but try potato chips, buttered popcorn or fried chicken! The bubbles and acid with the fat and salt are heaven.
Famous wine route in the Vosges mountains Alsace France
This region sits on the German border and as I mentioned earlier has bounced back and forth between French and German control. The names and architecture here reflect that mixed heritage and the wines do as well.
These bright aromatic white wines are perfect to keep your nose in all day or dab behind your ears. But…if you must move on to drinking them, pair them with fish, aromatic cheeses, schnitzle, salads…there are so many great pairings. These are also wines known for pairing well with spicy foods like Thai! You will find riesling, pinot gris, muscadet and gewurztraminer lead the pack on varieties.
There are
a few other varieties including Pinot Noir, but you are less likely to run into
them.
Chablis
Chablis Premier Cru Mont de Milieu Simonnet-Febvre 2013 and Pôchouse
Chardonnay
This is Chardonnay land, but not those big buttery California Chardonnays that your Aunt might drink. These are sharp and bright with great mineral quality! Pair with fish or chicken, oysters or other shellfish, mushrooms or cheese (think goat cheese or Comté). The sharp acid makes this great with creme sauces.
Chablis, above, is in Burgundy sitting 80 miles northwest of the rest of Burgundy. Burgundy is known for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
Pinot Noir
The Côte de Nuits is the Northern part of the Côte d’Or and is the region that Pinot Noir calls home. It ventures further afield, but this is it’s homeland and you will find some of the most expensive Pinot Noirs on the planet, hail from here.
Pinot Noir is perfect for red wine with fish. It is the go to wine to pair with salmon. Many Pinot Noirs also have earthy notes and pair beautifully with mushrooms.
Chardonnay
The Côte de Beaune is dominated by Chardonnay. These are likely to be aged in oak. They will be richer and more buttery than those lean Chardonnays from Chablis, but they are still dry. Try this wine with pasta, chicken, risotto, shellfish or salt water fish and with cheeses like gruyere.
There is more to the region, the Côte Chalonnais and the Mâconnais, but we will leave those for another day.
Just south of Burgundy you find Beaujolais. This is a wine you will know better by the region name than by the grape, Gamay, that it is made from. Beaujolais Nouveau is the first wine released each year on the third Thursday in November. These early release wines are fresh and fruity, but the region does have other Gamay’s that are meant to be deeper and more age worthy.
Beaujolais Nouveau will be fruit forward and downright perky! Sometimes you will hear people say that they smell bubblegum or bananas in addition to raspberries and cranberry.
Aged Beaujolais might have notes of forest floor, mushroom, violet, tart cherry and smoke.
These are lighter wines and can pair across the spectrum from salmon to barbeque. Visit the Beaujolais site for a great graphic to assist with pairings for all the varied wines from this region.
The
Rhone Valley
M.Chapoutier Crozes Hermitage vineyards in Tainl’ Hermitage Rhone valley France
I am a lover of Rhônes. Guaranteed…many of mine come from the Rhône Rangers that you find in California, and many of which were brought from Chateauneuf-de-Pape in the Southern Rhône.
The region is broken into the Northern and Southern Rhône. The Northern Rhône is the land of Syrah and Viognier and typically very pure and expensive versions of these.
Syrah
The Côte Rotie is known for some of the most amazing Syrah on the planet. I’ve heard it described as bacon and violets. Which sounds pretty amazing to me.
Viognier
Condrieu is well known for 100% Viognier. This white wine is full bodied and round with notes of apricot, pear and almonds.
There are other appellations like Crozes Hermitage above and Cornas, there is more to explore here, if you have the budget.
The Southern Rhone is warmer as it heads down the Rhone river to the Mediterranean and you will find blends of multiple varieties. The famous Chateauneuf-du-Pape is here with blends of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre and more. Wines here lean toward blends.
Red Rhône Blends
These will have berry notes (think raspberry and black berry) baking spice, and maybe some garrigue (think underbrush), lavender, dried herbs. The more Mourvedre, the more likely you will have meaty notes to the wine.
These go well with mediterranean foods, like olives and red peppers, and herbs like rosemary or sage (or herbs de Provençe).
White Rhône Blends
Marsanne, Roussanne & Viognier make up the body of most white wines in this area. These blends are medium bodied and have notes of beeswax (I love that), as well as moderate citrus, like a meyer lemon, then stone fruits like peach and apricot.
Pair them with richer dishes with white meat (chicken or fish or even pork) and perhaps with fruits that are stewed or roasted. Dried apricots are a definite must on a cheese plate with these wines.
If you have heard of any region in France other than Champagne, it will be Bordeaux. This is the region that Napa Valley wants to be. It is the big daddy of French wine with bottles that can be very pricey and many that need considerable aging. When people pull out dusty bottles from their wine cellar, typically they are Bordeaux wines.
Left Bank Reds (Cabernet Sauvignon based)
Red wines here are classified by which bank of the river the vineyards sit on. Left bank wines are west of the river in Médoc and Graves. The reds here are Cabernet Sauvignon based.
Right Bank Reds (Merlot driven)
The Right bank wines are on the other side of the river in the Libournais. These wines are Merlot driven. The Entre-deux-mers, the area in the middle between the two, has much more fertile soil producing less concentrated (but more affordable) wines.
The bold reds of Bordeaux are perfect with rich meaty dishes, like a big steak.
Sweet wines of Sauternes
Down in Graves you find the region of Sauternes. These are my friend Corinne’s favorite wines. These are sweet wines made from grapes with “Noble rot”. The botrytis fungus takes hold of the grape and dries them out considerably. They are pressed into tiny amounts of wine that when fermented becomes sweet and delicious. These are wines to pair with bleu cheese or with desserts.
Emotion, Urban Provençe and Inspiration. Emotion and Inspiration come from Château de Berne and Urban Provençe is from Ultimate Provençe
Rosé
This is Rosê country, more than 1/2 the output of wine from this region is rosé. The mistral wind that whips down from the mountains keeping the vines in this Mediterannean region dry and free from disease. The landscape is dotted with lavender fields. It’s pretty dreamy.
In addition to those delicate ballet slipper pink rosés you will find Bandol, which is a rich red wine from Mourvedre.
Pair pink with pink. It’s delicious and pretty. Smoked salmon, ham, prosciutto, crab, lobster….you get the picture.
Yes…these wines are great in the summer. Their high acid and bright flavors are perfect to help you cool down on a hot day. But don’t overlook them at other times.
Is there more to French Wine? Why yes…so much more, there is the island of Corsica, the black wines of Cahors, Picpoul de Pinet from Languedoc-Rousillon…and then there are the wines that I have yet to discover!
Oh and did I mention Crémant? That would be sparkling wine from any region outside of Champagne! You want bubbles and value? It’s your go to!
Dive deep into the links and the links in the links and take a little vacay to France sans airfare!
There are so many ways to dive into French Wine, I have only scratched the surface. Why not check out the other #Winophiles and their approaches to the subject! You can join us for the conversation on Twitter on Saturday Morning January 18th (8 am PST, 11 am EST) by following the hashtag #Winophiles!
As always be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to keep up to date on all of our posts.
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.
Where in Washington is this winery you ask? Nope, we finally stepped out of Washington. Quady North can be found in Oregon’s Applegate Valley. The Applegate Valley AVA is a nested AVA within the Rogue Valley AVA. This region is way south in Oregon, just above the California state line. In the State of Jefferson…well that’s a story for another day.
We discovered Quady North when we were speaking with Leah Jörgensen a couple of years ago. She pulls Cabernet Franc from his Mae’s Vineyard and spoke highly of Herb Quady. So when we were visiting the Applegate Valley this past summer, we stopped in and met Herb at the vineyard. You can see a bit of our visit in The Scenic Route Part 8 – Johan and Quady North .
Herb Quady
Herb comes from a wine family. Quady is known in Central California for their sweet wines. Then he fell in love with Rhônes and headed North to Southern Oregon, convinced this was the perfect place to grow those varieties.
Cabernet Franc is not a Rhône variety, but Leah had spoken so highly of his Cab Franc…so…
Quady North 2014 Cabernet Franc
Panorama of the view from Mae’s Vineyard
Most of the Cab Franc for this wine comes from Mae’s Vineyard, named for his daughter which they planted in 2006. We walked the vineyard with him when we visited. The views from the vineyard are pretty spectacular.
2014 is one of our best vintages to date. It was warm and even with good set in the vineyard. In the winery, we took advantage of our new facility to improve our winemaking with gentler handling and reduced exposure to oxygen. The result is a vibrant, balanced Franc with notes of loam and red pepper.
QuadyNorth.com
He goes on to give lots of wonderful geeky notes about fruit handling, aging, lees stirring etc…you should visit his site if you are into those. The wine sits at 14.3% abv and runs $35.00 per bottle.
The Tasting
Quady North 2014 Cabernet Franc
I found this wine to be medium intensity with notes of earth, coffee, black cherry and red pepper, plus there was a bit of spice on the nose. I am a Cab Franc lover and this wine has found it’s way into my heart. (much like that corkscrew on the label).
The Pairing
While it was suggested that we pair with coffee and ancho chili rubbed skirt steak (which I think would be awesome with this)…that was not in the cards for this evening. We paired with bleu cheese and gouda and with some strips of red pepper (just wanted to see…) and all worked really well. We paired with bbq and some creamy gnocchi and it made for a great dinner.
A little more…
Herb is also exploring other ways to get his wine to the people, other than bottles that is. We did a piece on his canned rosé a while back, and talked with him about cans, bags and kegs when it comes to wine. You can check out that piece here Cans and kegs – packaging sustainability with Quady North
Quady North Rose blend of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre is bright and fresh and packaged in a can which is great for sustainability.
The Quady North Tasting room in Jacksonville Oregon
Herb showing me around the Mae’s Vineyard at Quady North in Southern Oregon’s Applegate Valley AVA
Happy vines at Quady North’s Mae’s Vineyard
Vines and a view at Quady North’s Mae’s Vineyard
Tomorrow is Day 8!
Can you believe it? We are sailing toward the holiday at high speed! Come back as we pop yet another bottle!
As always be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to keep up to date on all of our posts.
It’s Cabernet Franc Day! So we are celebrating by pulling a bottle out of the cellar. Our Cabernet Franc today comes from the Yakima Valley in Washington and is made by Owen Roe.
Sunset at Owen Roe Winery in Yakima Valley
Who is Owen Roe? Well….
Owen Roe O’Neill was a seventeenth century Irish Patriot, who dedicated his life to upholding the highest principles of political equality and freedom. His commitment to great things makes him an ideal model for us at Owen Roe, for we share his dedication to principle in our work to produce the wines of Owen Roe.
Owen Roe Winery
David O’Reilly co-owner Owen Roe Winery
Jackie Evans, Owen Roe Winery, Winemaker
Owen Roe Winery, in Yakima Valley Washington
Owen Roe Winery, Grapes in Fermentation Bins
Owen Roe Winery, in Washington State
Yakima Valley Flavor Camp Wine Dinner
Dinner in Yakima Valley at Owen Roe Vineyards
We visited Owen Roe in October of 2018 when we attended the Wine Media Conference in Washington. It was harvest and Wine Yakima Valley had provided a pre-conference tour that included a dinner with a sunset view in front of the Owen Roe winery. Before dinner we had the opportunity to do a vineyard tour with then owner David O’Reilly and I even managed to tour the winery, filled with fermentation bins with David and meet winemaker _____.
We visited the Yakima Valley again this summer and did a wonderful tasting with Brandon. Owen Roe sources grapes from both Oregon and Washington, so you will find Oregon Pinot, Washington Reds and white wines from Chardonnay to Gewurztraminer to Oregon Pinot Gris.
Wine news (a bit of wine politics)
There is a bit of news since our visit. Vintage Estates of Santa Rosa California, purchased Owen Roe in September 2019. These are the same peeps that purchased Qupé in Santa Barbara a while back. I’m always a bit of a skeptic when a large company purchases a winery and adds them to their “portfolio”. David O’Reilly stays on directing operations at Owen Roe. He also gets a new title as regional winemaking director for Vintage Wine Estate. So….we shall see.
So… on to the wine we are drinking today!
Owen Roe 2017 Rosa Mystica Cabernet Franc
This Cabernet Franc is from the Yakima Valley and sells at $28. is at 14.1% abv. The fact that it says Yakima Valley and does not have a vineyard designate, tells us that this fruit source from multiple locations in the Yakima Valley, blended together. It aged 16 months in French Oak.
The first thing that catches your eye is the label. This black and white photography by David K. Brunn, is haunting…I guess a little mystical (hence the name). Here’s what the winery has to say about it:
The image on the front label was captured by photographer David K. Brunn. The ancient Drumlane Abbey in County Cavan, Ireland served as a place of refuge for almost one thousand years until it was destroyed by the forces of Oliver Cromwell. Here the great patriot Owen Roe O’Neill sought solace until he too breathed his last, also at the hands of Cromwell in 1649.
Owen Roe Winery http://www.owenroe.com
This Cabernet Franc – In the Glass
The color of this Cabernet Franc leans toward Ruby. Deep enough in the glass that while I can see light through it, it is not transparent enough to read through. The nose first hits you with cocoa powder. Another breath finds wet tobacco and brambles. Then you find cooked strawberries, stewed on the stove with maybe a bit of herbs. Finally comes the spice, baking spice and a bit of vanilla.
A sip finds the wine dry. While it smelled hot on the nose right after it was opened, indicating high alcohol, on the palate it is smoother, lighter, feeling medium on tannins, alcohol and body. The acid while not high, it high enough to pair beautifully with food. This feels old world, in it’s lightness. While bigger on the nose, than on the palate, I did get more in the way of black fruit on the palate. We paired this with grilled sausage today, which went nicely.
Other Great Cabernet Francs
Cabernet Franc is so underrated! It’s more than just a blending grape..the 3rd in the line of Bordeaux grapes. It is being grown in Virginia, where it is making some luscious juice. We had a terrific one a while ago from Veritas. You find it in California and Oregon (it’s doing great in Southern Oregon…check out the Cab Francs from Leah Jorgensen Cellars, or Quady North. And of course Washington is growing some great Cab Franc in the Yakima Valley! Where ever you find it, it’s worth picking up. I suggest pairing it with a big juicy burger like we did.
As always be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to keep up to date on all of our posts.
Day 8 of our 12 Days of Wine found us doing a late night pairing. We met Leah Jørgensen of Leah Jørgensen Cellars this summer and had a wonderful conversation with her about her wines, cabernet franc and so many other things. You can find all that info here.
Leah Jørgensen Cellars, Blanc de Cabernet Franc,
One of the unique wines that she makes is a Blanc de Cabernet Franc. She had run into one of these in the Loire Valley and decided to make one from Oregon.
Tasting notes: A most unusual white wine that first comes across as quirky, but then mellows into a truly distinctive beauty. Offers aromas of lemon, rosemary,beeswax and gradually gives way to deeper fruit aromas as it is exposed to air— ripe nectarine, blood orange and honey. There is even a note that recalls lilacs. Ultra-smooth texture and medium body, with some minerality on the finish. A wine with a lot of grace. Drink young. Recommended for: Summer sipping on the back patio. With food, I’d aim for roasted chicken or cedar-planked salmon.
Opening a bottle – What is Blanc de Cabernet Franc Like? May 11, 2016
While it wasn’t summer, we wanted to enjoy this bottle young.
I had to work, but when I returned at almost midnight, Michael had a feast set with a cedar-planked salmon in maple and spices, rosemary bread with goat cheese, and a fruit and cheese plate complete with two goat cheeses, one honeyed, the other herbed, gouda, grapes, prosciutto, blood orange slices and some of that lovely gooey haymarket goat cheese.
Leah Jørgensen Cellars, Blanc de Cabernet Franc, with Cedar planked Salmon
The wine
This wine is really fascinating. You put your nose in the glass and you get tart citrus and pith. It was blood orangey, but after tasting my blood oranges, it was a little more tart, drifting toward pink grapefruit. And then you get peppers, green, but not bell. It really is that a roasted pickled poblano pepper. On the back there was a bit of salinity, and there is that touch of tannins.
This is a wine that starts like a white and ends like a red with a lingering finish.
The pairings
Leah Jørgensen Cellars, Blanc de Cabernet Franc, with goat cheese and blood oranges
Maybe it’s just channeling the Loire Valley traditions, but I found that this wine went spectacularly with all the goat cheeses most especially the honeyed goat cheese. With the gouda? Not so much. With the salmon it was great, holding it’s own against the heavy spices on the salmon, the wood, with the maple helping to round and soften each bite.
We’ve been talking with Leah Jørgensen of Leah Jørgensen Cellars about her wines. Today’s discussion is about her 2017 Rosé of Cab Franc. If you know Leah Jørgensen, it will not surprise you that her rosé is made of Cab Franc.
She is kind of putting Cab Franc on the map in Oregon. As they poured us a glass of this beautiful light pink/copper wine…I’ll let her tell.
Asa pouring the 2017 Rosé of Cabernet Franc
Leah Jørgensen Cellars 2017 Rosé of Cabernet Franc
This is our Rosé of Cab Franc and you notice it’s very very light pink. Ballet slipper pink is what I call it. If you do a saignee, you’re going to get a darker color. I don’t. In the Loire Valley they do more whole cluster and that’s what we’ve done here and so when you just dump it right into the press, you’re gonna get a very very fine pale pink. When you have Loire rosés from Cab Franc, they are always going to be this sort of onion peel skin, just a very light ballet slipper.
I love it, it’s coppery, it’s pretty and it’s very savory, it’s very dry and it’s….pink grapefruit and then savory, like herbal. Sometimes I get a little tarragon on it or elder flower, lime blossomy, orange blossom I guess, marmalade? I don’t know, it depends on my mood, what I’m tasting.
So you say that this is full cluster?
Yes, whole cluster, just dump it right in the press.
So with that, is it a really gentle press.
Yes, we do a white wine press.
So you are really not getting off of the whole clusters that way. Not a lot off the stem inclusion.
No and the truth is, red wine gets it’s color from the skins and that’s really from fermenting and getting deep extraction and doing cold soaks. So the berry is getting macerated slowly and naturally and you are getting more extraction. We’re not doing any of that, so we’re not fermenting on any of that. So we are literally pressing it to get this salmon color pink juice and then we basically rack into a tank that we chill for about 24 to 48 hours and then we rack back into, with the rosé, another tank, a stainless steel, this is all stainless steel and then it ferments in that tank. So you’re letting things just settle out but you’re still retaining a little color and it tends to get just lighter and lighter when fermentation completes.
Buxton Vineyard in the Rogue Valley
So what is special about that vineyard for you?
While the other vineyards that we work with in the Rogue have inter-marine shellfish this particular place is on a different part of the Rogue Valley it’s closer to Del Rio Vineyards, it’s on the other side of I-5 basically. It used to be under the Rogue River, so there’s River stone everywhere. It looks like Bordeaux basically, there’s just smooth river stones throughout the vineyard, but it’s still that clay, silty loam, river bottom soils.
Buxton Ranch and Vineyard sits just Northwest of the Rogue River near White City and Eagle Point. In addition to the 25 acre vineyard, they are a ranch and raise grass fed Angus/Wagu beef.
The winemaker’s description from her site
What is this lovely ballet slipper colored pink wine like? My first Rosé of Cabernet Franc! Coppery, Renaissance pink, Degas dancer, Cape Hatteras sunset, Valencia heirloom rose petals… smells like pink grapefruit meets cotton candy, marshmallow, marzipan, and ripe apricots, tastes that way, too, plus orange marmelade, green strawberries, summer fruit salad. Deeelightful! Pairs with anything, really.
More than just delicious
The 2017 Rosé of Cabernet Franc runs $22 and this is a wine with a mission. Leah donates a portion of the retail sales of this wine to women’s academic scholarships.
Want to find a bottle? Head to Leah Jørgensen Cellars squarespace or look for one of the smart establishments that carry her wine. There is a list here.
It’s a play on words and a bit of an inside joke on the label. Note the rain, the umbrella, the boots… Tour Rain speaks to the Touraine region of France as well as to Oregon Climate and Tourists. The ladies on Leah’s labels may look the same, each is really individual. It’s all about the details, just like her wines.
2016 Oregon “Tour Rain” Vin Rouge
2016 Oregon “Tour Rain” Vin Rouge
Leah was graciously pouring us through her entire lineup and sharing so much information on her wines and philosophies.
“This is actually the first red that I made it’s a blend of Gamay and Cab Franc. It’s based on, or inspired by wines from the Touraine region of the Loire Valley around the city of Tours. It’s a little play on words. You’re in Oregon, you know, you might encounter some rain and Oregonians, we know don’t use umbrellas, that identifies a tourist, so we are being a little tongue in cheek, a little whimsical.
But not tongue in cheek about what’s in the bottle. For me, the Touraine, especially Clos Roche Blanche were my wines that I would always take to a dinner party. Clos Roche Blanche particularly was 40% Gamay, 60% Cab Franc and anytime I would go to someone’s house I would either grab a Morgon Beaujolais or I would grab a Touraine Clos Roche Blanche, because, it goes with everything, roast chicken, pasta, you name it. It’s a crowd pleaser, it’s got great acidity, amazing fruit. I wanted to make Oregon’s first version of that kind of wine, that blend.
So this is 40% Gamay Noir from Haviland Vineyard which is in the proposed Van Duzer Corridor. And the Cab Franc is from the Mae’s Vineyard in the Applegate Valley. And that’s the same vineyard where the White Cab Franc is from and it’s farmed by Herb Quady of Quady North.
You get a lot of those bramble berries, I love that fruit character to it. Gamay always has that white pepper on the finish. Just the two together I think are just really so complimentary.”
The Vineyards
We spoke before of Herb Quady and Mae’s Vineyard with the Blanc de Cab Franc. That vineyard is in the Applegate Valley.
Havlin Vineyard sits in the Willamette Valley in what will soon be the Van Duzer Corridor AVA (this AVA is just waiting for final approval). The area is known for it’s marine soils, and the corridor’s diurnal shifts in the summer due to the marine breezes. On her site, Leah says “Planted in 2011 with cuttings from Seven Springs Vineyard, this site has a south-west aspect planted in Dupee soils, which is a down slope Willakenzie soil series. This vineyard is dry farmed and LIVE certified.”
From the Winemaker
Here are some extra notes on this vintage from the winemaker on her site. Leah’s descriptions are so lush and vivid they must be shared.
“Perhaps the prettiest profile of our red wines (and especially the gorgeous color!), this blend is always a lovely balance of floral, red fruit, and a hint of pepper and sweet wood – with aromatics of ripe cherry, raspberry, cassis, hibiscus, rose petals, cedar, cigar box, vanilla bean, black puerh tea, and pink peppercorn, and then flavors of bing cherry, pomegranate, cranberry, raspberry, cocoa powder, clove, and roasted bell pepper – this wine has bright acidity and is juicy with rich, soft tannins – it’s light, lithe, flirty and bright. Enjoy slightly chilled (cellar temperature/58-64° F). Serve with pasta; spicy, rich Asian dishes (noodles); smoked salmon; charcuterie and cheese boards; beet salad; brick oven thin, bubbly-chewy crusted pizza; and skewers/kabobs.”
Want to find a bottle? Head to Leah Jørgensen Cellars squarespace or look for one of the smart establishments that carry her wine. There is a list here.
Leah Jørgensen makes wines from grapes in southern Oregon, primarily from the Rogue and Applegate Valleys. In our previous post (link here) we discussed the soils of the region. Now we get into the grapes she is growing and why the climate in Southern Oregon is good for these grapes.
Oregon-Wine-Map-Southern-OR-AVA Courtesy of Oregon Wine Board
You’re making wines that are mostly from Rogue River Valley?
Rogue and Applegate, correct.
So much further south than this. How is the climate different there?
Well for one thing, there is this perception that it is so much hotter down there, but you just have longer days of heat, that’s the biggest difference than when I compare it to the Willamette Valley. And then the other thing is, the elevation, the valley floor starts at around 900 foot elevation, so by the time we get to some of our vineyards you get some decent elevation right? So that means in the evenings it cools off quite a bit in the vineyards. So when we think of things like acid and sugar ripening, you get the long days you want for ripening that is necessary for grapes like Malbec and Cab Franc, but then you also get these cooler evenings that give off this wonderful balance of acidity with the fruit. So when we pick we get…Cab franc just naturally has high acidity, so we’re just getting everything we want out of this particular fruit in Southern Oregon.
Are they growing a lot of Cab Franc in Southern Oregon?
There is not a lot of Cab Franc grown in Oregon in general, but it is still one of the most widely planted varietals in the world. I even have some statistics in here from a report, the first official Cab Franc report* I’ve seen that we’ve been mentioned in and she kinda gives every question you’ve ever wanted to know about Cab Franc, about the plantings, including the plantings that are, I think it was based on 2010, so I know there has been more planted since then. So when they do the next grape consensus I guess in 2020 they will see a bit of a jump. But there is not a lot of it to be honest. I have to search for what I want to grow, but the growers I work with are also onboard with what I’m doing so they will plant more for me. Which is great.
So you work really closely with your growers? So you are really in touch with what’s happening during the season.
Yes, exactly, so I’m in it.
For down there, when do you run into bud break and when do you end up doing harvest? Is the season longer there?
It actually usually starts earlier than up here for the whites and then for reds, just because these grapes require a little bit longer time on the vine, I make my wine at Raptor Ridge Winery so while they are bringing in their Pinot Noir, it’s great, we don’t butt heads on timing, my stuff’s coming in a little bit later. My Cab Franc and even my Gamay, up here in the Willamette Valley is a late ripener, so that comes a little bit later. Which is interesting, comparing the Willamette Valley to Southern Oregon, Gamay is one of our last picks, which is Willamette Valley. It comes in after our Malbec, which would technically be our last pick.
*We happen to be big fans of Pam Heiligenthal and Enobytes and if you like getting geeky about wine The Cabernet Franc Report is an in depth and thorough look at Cab Franc as it is grown around the globe.
And join us back here at Crushed Grape Chronicles as we continue sharing our conversation with Leah (Yes there is more. Next we talk about her Sauvignon Blanc and her use of Acacia barrels for white wine)! And don’t forget, you can also find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
