Yesterday afternoon we headed to Woodinville to try a few local wines. One strip of wineries was promoting a “crush” event. Sounds like a good reason to check things out.
We made four stops — and loved them all!
Stop 1: Woodhouse Wine Estates. Five solid labels in one family. My favorites:
- La Vie en Rouge, 2006 Reserve, Rattlesnake Hills, Kennedy Shaw
- Syrah, 2008, Rattlesnake Hills, Dussek
Stop 2: Smasne Cellars (share the space with Gard). It was release day. Plus they had several varieties of freshly picked grapes to try. And although you get to pick six to taste, plan to taste more.
- Farm Girl, 2010, Columbia Valley
- Cabernet Sauvignon, 2007, Columbia Valley, Smasne Cellars
- 1/2 Ass Limited Release #1, 2007 – We did taste this one, but the name alone sold the bottle. A combination of Petit Verdot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Carmenere. The names comes from the winemakers father telling him never to do anything half ass.
Stop 3: Sparkman. Maybe my overall favorite. Maybe because it was three stops in. We came home with:
- Lumiere, 2010 Chardonnay, Columbia Valley, Sparkman
- Wilderness, 2008 Red Wine, Columbia Valley, Sparkman
Sopt 4: Pondera. Toured the back room and got to see the Merlot grapes starting to simmer in a big vat. My favorite comment of the day is from the winemaker Shane: “Never trust a winery with clean barrels”.
- Consensio, 2008 Red Wine, Columbia Valley, Pondera. A blend of Cab, Merlot, Cab Franc and Malbec
- Malbec, 2008 Reserve, Columbia Valley, Pondera
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