Weekend in Woodinville - Part 2 of 3

Words and Photos by Liam Carrier
Edited by Sheila MacCallum

Chateau Ste-Michelle

The first winery on the tour was the iconic Chateau Ste-Michelle, Washington State’s oldest winery. We visited their appealing Chateau and took the free tour of the on-site facility that produces the winery’s white wines. (The red wines are made closer to where the grapes are grown in Eastern Washington, at their Canoe Ridge Estate.)

Navigating the selection of brands that Chateau Ste-Michelle produces can be a bit daunting. They make everything from entry-level whites and reds to single-vineyard terroir-driven wines. They also have a couple of interesting partnerships with two formidable European houses: Germany’s Dr. Loosen (the “Eroica” Riesling) and Italy’s Familia Antinori (the “Col Solera” super-Tuscan).

We tasted three wines as part of the tour. Sadly, they were not pouring the two partnership wines; Col Solera and Eroica.

Sadly, they were not pouring the Col Solera or the Eroica, but we did taste three wines as part of our tour:

2007 Indian Wells Chardonnay – Oak-aged Chard with tropical fruit flavours.
2003 Columbia Valley Syrah – Muted fruit flavours with Viognier and Cincault added to the final blend.
2007 Columbia Valley Muscat Canelli. Semi-sweet sipper with nectarine/apricot flavors.

I didn’t have enough time to fully score and review these wines, but I will say that the Muscat and Chardonnay impressed us (as did the friendly guide who took us on the tour, despite his excessive use of the word “especially”). However, the Syrah was bland and disappointing, an example of a unfortunate trend at some wineries to refer to their muted-palate Shiraz as “in the French style” and label it a “Syrah”, ignoring the fact that with a syrah, you still need to deliver a complexity of flavours.

Chateau Ste-Michelle has a great patio area near the entrance to the wine shop which gets lots of sun on a good day. They also have lovely picnic spots around the property, should you plan ahead and bring your own food. Looking at the hot, sunny patio we decided to buy a bottle of the 2007 Viognier and sit down to enjoy it in the sunshine.

The Chateau Ste-Michelle 2007 Viognier ($17) is a happy little wine out to please. It has crisp tropical flavours with just a touch of spice and residual acid. 25% is barrel fermented, adding a bit of gold to the colour and melon to the palate. An enjoyable summer sipper. Pair with seafood or a hot patio. 85pts.

Columbia Winery

We re-corked the Viognier from Chateau Ste-Michelle after consuming half of the bottle, to save our senses for the rest of the wines we would taste that day. We didn’t have far to go. Across the street from the Chateau Ste-Michelle gate is the entrance to Columbia Winery, which is currently undergoing renovations to revamp its tasting room and event facilities.
Columbia Winery sources their grapes from numerous vineyards east of the Cascade Mountains and like, Chateau Ste-Michelle, produces an array of brands ranging from their entry-level “Core Series” to their “Vineyard-Designate” wines from the Red Willow, Otis and Wyckoff vineyards.

At Columbia we tasted:

Yakima Valley 2007 Viognier - $26.00
Slight oaky and tropical fruit flavours with some spice and mineral notes. Tasty, but over-priced. 86pts.

Wyckoff Vineyard 2005 Chardonnay - $20.00
Lightly oaked Chard with apple, citrus and mineral flavours. 84pts.

Otis Vineyard 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon - $28.00
95% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot blend. Medium garnet colour. Cassis and cherry notes with good tannins and acidity. Restrained flavours and subtle layers. Still developing. 88pts.

Red Willow Vineyard 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon - $30.00
95% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Malbec blend. Dark garnet core with vanilla, berry and pencil shaving notes. Full tannins and acidity. Shows good promise with more time to mellow. 90pts.

Red Willow Vineyard 2002 Syrah - $30.00
3% Viognier. Nicely matured Syrah ready to drink now. Pepper and smoke flavours with a lengthy finish. 88pts.

Tasting the Red Willow Cabernet Sauvignon side-by-side with the Otis Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon is an exercise in the difference terroir makes on any grape variety. Both vineyards have old plantings of Cabernet Sauvignon, both have steep southern slopes and sandy soils; however, the Otis vineyards yield wines that are more challenging and best enjoyed with food, whereas the Red Willow product is more accessible, with bold flavours that can be enjoyed solo. Discover for yourself which single-vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon you love best and experiment freely. There are many examples in Washington to choose from. - LC

In Part 3 we visit:

Novelty Hill/Januik

Brian Carter Cellars

Weekend in Woodinville - Part 1 of 3

Written by Liam Carrier
Edited by Sheila MacCallum

A Weekend Away

To celebrate the only-important-to-newlyweds milestone of six-months of marriage, my wife and I went on a weekend trip in June 09’. We weren’t celebrating six months because we thought it unlikely that we would make it that far, but rather because the date landed on a Friday and it gave us a nice excuse to plan a weekend away, something we rarely do. Also, due to a fantastic engagement party that my mother had organized to which everyone had brought a bottle of wine for us to consume when special conditions have been met, we had a nice bottle of champagne to be opened on the occasion of our six-month anniversary. Why not plan a trip around that?

And so we found ourselves at Tulalip Casino & Resort, in Washington State, about two hours south down the I-5 from Vancouver, BC or roughly thirty minutes north from Seattle. This resort caters to gamblers and shoppers with a 200,000 sq. ft. casino floor and adjacent outlet mall. Not big gamblers, I was eager to use the hotel primarily as a staging area for my assault on Washington State wineries, and my wife was eager to shop.

My goal for the trip was to visit two large wineries (Chateau Ste-Michelle and Columbia Winery) and two smaller boutique wineries (Novelty Hill/Januik and Brian Carter Cellars). (I would have loved to visit more wineries, but I had made a compromise with my wife: equal time for shopping and wineries.)

However, every trip to the US demands a visit to Costco, the world’s single largest wine buyer. Driving down from Vancouver on the Friday afternoon we had made said obligatory stop to the Costco near Burlington, WA. Prior to the trip I had done my research to choose which WA wineries we would visit on the Saturday, and I wanted to see if Costco carried any of their wines. I wasn’t disappointed.

The Burlington Costco carries two of these wineries including three of their signature wines:

Chateau Ste-Michelle 2005 Col Solare - $54.99 US
Chateau Ste-Michelle 2007 Eroica Riesling - $19.99 US
Brian Carter Cellars 2005 Byzance - $24.99 US.

Instead of purchasing the above wines on reputation alone, we decided to purchase a couple bottles that we were more familiar with for our evening consumption. These were:

Francis Ford Coppola 2006 Black Label Claret – $14.99 US. This claret is a beautiful Bordeaux blend, rich in colour and aroma. Strong tannins do not distract from the taste but do shorten the finish slightly. 89pts.

Edge 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon - $15.99 US. Edge is Signorello Vineyard’s entry-level Cabernet Sauvignon and a big seller north of the border. This is a Napa Valley Cab Sauvignon charmer. 89pts.

Both of these wines retail around the $30 mark in Canada - how lucky the Americans are to drink such good wines at the $14-$17 price point!

When we arrived on the Friday night we also enjoyed our bottle of champagne, Charles Heidsieck Brut Reserve, to celebrate our “anniversary”. This was fabulous champagne, full of citrus and melon aromas with comforting yeast notes. Crisp lemon zest and mineral flavours with a pleasing long finish. 91pts. -LC

In Part 2 we visit:

Chateau Ste-Michelle

Columbia Winery

2006 Bordeaux Tasting, Vancouver, BC

On September 13th, 2009 IconWines principles LC & HC participated in a tasting of select 2006 Bordeaux wines. The event was held at Marquis Wine Cellars in downtown Vancouver and timed to coincide with the store's first release of this above-average vintage to the public; a full three weeks prior to the government liquor board's release scheduled for Saturday, October 3rd.

Purchasing Bordeaux wines from a private store like Marquis helps to ensure the consumer can get a hold of the wines they most want as many of the top labels will sell-out quickly. However, this convenience does come at a cost as the prices are 15%-20% higher than the posted prices for the government liquor store's Bordeaux release.

The 2006 vintage is certainly above-average, but as it follows the much lauded 2005 juggernaut, it arrives with much less fanfare and lower expectations. This is reflected in the prices to a degree, however, will it be enough to get us all to buy? Reports and reviews from experts help us form an opinion and our own expectations but getting a chance to taste for yourself is invaluable.

We tasted (in order of lightest to heaviest):

Chateau La Tour Carnet, Haut-Medoc
Chateau Cantemerle, Haut-Medoc
Clos de l'Oratoire, St. Emilion
Clos du Marquis, St. Julien
Chateau Clinet, Pomerol
Chateau Lascombes, Margaux
Chateau Clerc Milon, Pauillac
Chateau Pichon-Baron, Pauillac
Chateau Montrose, St. Estephe
Chateau Pape Clement, Pessac
Chateau Coutet, Barsac
Chateau Rieussec, Sauternes

Overall the vintage shows good promise with good acidity and tannin structure which will age well. (Full tasting notes will be available on Icon Scores shortly.) One of the wines that we had great expectations for but were a bit underwhelmed with upon tasting was Chateau Montrose. This wine had been highly scored by the Wine Advocate at 95 points. Both HC and myself found the flavours a little too subtle. A quality wine nevertheless, but perhaps not the star of the vintage that we had hoped. A valuable lesson that the advice of others (including ours) must be considered for what it is, an opinion.


Let us know what you think of the 2006 Bordeaux vintage by contacting us at iconwines@shaw.ca. We hope to hear your opinions on the subject.


Happy tasting,

LC