Wine Peeps

While Paul Gregutt named Red Willow Vineyard one of the Top Ten vineyards in Washington State in his book, Washington Wines & Wineries, I got the distinct impression that his ranking was based more on longevity than anything else. As I pointed out in my Red Willow Vineyard: The Mother of Washington Syrah post, Red Willow has one of the oldest Cabernet Sauvignon blocks in the state, planted in 1973, and the first Syrah block in the state, planted in 1986.

In my second Red Willow post on July 30, I mentioned the long and close working relationship between Red Willow Vineyard and Columbia Winery, dating back over 30 years. While Columbia has made some excellent wines with Red Willow grapes, I believe that the Old World-style of most of those wines was more a function of the winemaker than the grapes themselves. As a result, Red Willow has probably not received the attention that they deserve since that Old World-style has not been as popular with many New World consumers.

In the last few years, Red Willow has been able to diversify their grape production away from almost exclusive use by Columbia Winery and into the hands of a number of other notable Washington producers, such as Betz, DeLille, Long Shadows, Owen Roe, Fall Line, Masset, Wineglass, Adam’s Bench, Barrage, Cavatappi, Natalie’s Estate, ZanZibar, Kana, and Andrew Rich.

You will want to be on the lookout for some of these releases over the next few years. I believe that when you see and are able to taste some of the releases from these wineries and their talented winemakers using Red Willow grapes, the true potential and value of this vineyard to the Washington wine industry will be realized. While Ciel du Cheval, Boushey, and Champoux vineyards get most of the hype today, they may be looking up at Red Willow five years from now.

At the conclusion of our recent visit to Red Willow Vineyard, our hosts Mike and Jonathan Sauer treated us to a sample tasting of four Syrahs made with grapes from Red Willow Vineyard: a 1991 Columbia Winery Red Willow Vineyard Syrah, a 2003 Columbia Winery Red Willow Vineyard Syrah, a 2005 Columbia Winery Red Willow Vineyard South Chapel Syrah which is co-fermented with Viognier (92.5% Syrah, 7.5% Viognier), and a 2006 Owen Roe Ex Umbris Syrah.

While all four wines gave us a good sampling of Red Willow’s Syrah grapes, we thought the two best wines were the 1991 Library Wine which was great for a 17 year-old Washington Syrah and the 2005 South Chapel Syrah which we believe will be even better with a little more age.

Here are our ratings for each of the four wines, in the order we tasted them:

1991 Columbia Winery Red Willow Vineyard Syrah
Vineyard: 100% Red Willow Vineyard
Quality: 4 stars (out of 5)
QPR: Not Available
Price: Not Available

2003 Columbia Winery Red Willow Vineyard Syrah
Vineyard: 100% Red Willow Vineyard
Quality: 3 stars (out of 5)
QPR: 2 bangs for your buck (out of 5)
Price: $30

2005 Columbia Winery Red Willow Vineyard South Chapel Syrah
Vineyard: 100% Red Willow Vineyard
Quality: 4 stars (out of 5)
QPR: 4 bangs for your buck (out of 5)
Price: $30

2006 Owen Roe Ex Umbris Syrah
Vineyards: Erickson Road Vineyard, Red Willow Vineyard, Elephant Mountain Vineyard, Lewis Vineyard, Alder Ridge Vineyard
Quality: 3.5 stars (out of 5)
QPR: 4 bangs for your buck (out of 5)
Price: $22

As we will outline further in a subsequent post, Red Willow Vineyard has had a close working relationship with Columbia Winery for over 30 years. The Owen Roe offering we tasted is one of the first of many you will see in the next few years from different producers that use Red Willow grapes. It is an exciting time at Red Willow, and we are looking forward to sharing some of that excitement with you. Stay tuned!

“In farming there is no substitute for the soil, water, and hard work. Inherently, the nature of farming brings a spiritual dimension to our efforts. There is a connection of past, present, and future generations.

For us wine brings the soil, the site, the season, and the efforts of many people together into a single vintage. Later that vintage becomes a cherished memory of that year.” –Mike Sauer

This is the first in a series of posts on Washington Syrah. We thought it only fitting to begin this series with a report on our recent visit to Red Willow Vineyard which is where it all started for Syrah in the state of Washington.

Mike Sauer, owner of Red Willow Vineyard, and his son Jonathan, were our fabulous hosts for the afternoon. Red Willow is located in the northwest corner of the Yakima Valley AVA, 13 miles west of Wapato, Washington, on the fourth-generation Stephenson family farm established by Mike’s grandfather-in-law in the 1920’s. Mike shared with us the history of Red Willow and showed us the rocky hillsides where their grapes are grown including their still-producing first vineyard block of Cabernet Sauvignon that was planted in 1973.

Next on our tour was the 1986 Syrah vineyard, the mother Syrah block in Washington. In fact, it is estimated that 80 percent of all Syrah plantings in Washington have come from cuttings from this vineyard. While Mike has grown over 20 different varietals at Red Willow over the past 35 years, he was quoted in Paul Gregutt’s Washington Wines & Wineries as saying that he believes Syrah is what Washington can grow best.

Jonathan later shared a great story with us about how after this first Syrah block was planted there was a celebration on the hillside with bottles of Hermitage and Cote-Rotie from the northern Rhone Valley in France which is where Syrah originated. After enjoying the wine, they dug holes and buried the empty bottles to let the ground know what was expected of it. It was a symbolic gesture and the vineyard has lived up to those expectations quite well.

Then we drove up to the top of the hill to the iconic Monsignor Chapel which was built between 1992 and 1995 with stones from the farm. The chapel is surrounded by more Syrah plantings on three sides of the hill along with a Viognier block that is co-fermented with Syrah in some of the Syrah offerings originating from Red Willow. It is quite a reverent spot where you can feel the spirituality of the Sauer clan.

We capped off our afternoon with a tasting of four Syrahs made with Red Willow grapes before heading back home to Seattle. In subsequent posts, we will be discussing the wines we tasted, the long-standing relationship between Red Willow Vineyard and Columbia Winery, the recent diversification of Red Willow grapes into a number of other wineries, and the future of Red Willow from our perspective.

One thing is for sure, the Sauers are one of the finest families in wine country.