In the process of cleaning up my desk and purging my files over the holidays, I found notes from four Walla Walla, Washington, wineries that we visited in October on the same weekend we took our vineyard tour with Rich Funk of Saviah Cellars. These four were wineries that we had not had a chance to visit on our previous trip in July. Waters Winery, Gramercy Cellars, Basel Cellars, and L’Ecole No. 41 are all great wineries to visit so I decided to go back through my notes and do a recap now.

Waters Winery was founded in 2005 by Jason Huntley. Winemaker Jamie Brown came on board and their first vintage was released in 2006. Waters boasts a beautiful state-of-the-art winery facility and tasting room that opened in 2007. They currently produce about 3,800 cases per year and plan to stay at that level. Of the wines we tasted on this visit, our favorite was their 2005 Waters Cabernet Sauvignon. In a previous tasting, we rated their 2005 Waters Pepper Bridge Syrah very highly (Quality: 4.5, QPR: 5).

Gramercy Cellars shares winery facilities and a tasting room with Waters Winery. Winemaker Greg Harrington and his wife Pam founded Gramercy Cellars in 2005. Greg became the youngest American to pass the Master Sommelier Exam at the age of 26. While working as a sommelier, he knew that he wanted to make his own wine someday, and now he is realizing that dream through Gramercy Cellars. Their current production level is 750 cases per year.

Basel Cellars is located on a picturesque 87-acre wine country resort. Their estate houses the winery, tasting room, vineyards, gardens, and luxurious overnight accommodations. From the tasting room and adjacent patio, guests are treated to breathtaking views of the Blue Mountains. Founded in 2002, Basel Cellars is currently owned by the Basel and Hansen families and produces 6,500 cases per year. We really enjoyed both their 2005 Basel Cellars Syrah and their 2005 Basel Cellars Estate Merriment Red Wine.

L’Ecole No. 41, founded in 1983, is the Walla Walla Valley’s third-oldest winery. It remains a family-owned operation with current owners Megan and Martin Clubb, the daughter and son-in-law of founders Jean and Baker Ferguson. Located in the historic Frenchtown schoolhouse (L’Ecole is French for “the school”) just west of Walla Walla, L’Ecole No. 41 is a unique wine country destination. They currently produce about 30,000 cases annually. Our favorite of the wines we tasted was their 2005 L’Ecole Seven Hills Vineyard Estate Perigee (Red Blend).

Here’s a breakdown of the wines that we tasted. Under each Quality heading, the wine name and region will be listed along with price and QPR rating.

Quality: 4 stars (out of 5)
2005 Basel Cellars Syrah, Walla Walla Valley, $28, QPR: 4
2005 Basel Cellars Estate Merriment Red Wine, Walla Walla Valley, $48, QPR: 2
2005 L’Ecole Seven Hills Vineyard Estate Perigee (Red Blend), Walla Walla Valley, $49, QPR: 2

Quality: 3.5 stars (out of 5)
2006 L’Ecole recess red, Columbia Valley, $17, QPR: 4
2005 L’Ecole Columbia Valley Merlot, Columbia Valley, $29, QPR: 4
2005 Basel Cellars Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, Walla Walla Valley, $36, QPR: 4
2005 L’Ecole Walla Walla Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, Walla Walla Valley, $36, QPR: 4
2007 L’Ecole “Walla Voila” Chenin Blanc, Columbia Valley, $14, QPR: 3
2005 Gramercy Cellars Lagniappe Syrah, Columbia Valley, $32, QPR: 3
2006 L’Ecole Seven Hills Vineyard Estate Merlot, Walla Walla Valley, $36, QPR: 3
2006 L’Ecole Seven Hills Vineyard Estate Syrah, Walla Walla Valley, $36, QPR: 3
2005 Waters Cabernet Sauvignon, Walla Walla Valley, $45, QPR: 3
2006 Gramercy Cellars Inigo Montoya Tempranillo, Walla Walla Valley, $30, QPR: 2
2005 L’Ecole Pepper Bridge Vineyard Apogee (Red Blend), Walla Walla Valley, $49, QPR: 1

Quality: 3 stars (out of 5)
2006 Basel Cellars Claret, Walla Walla Valley, $20, QPR: 4
2005 Basel Cellars Estate Merlot, Walla Walla Valley, $28, QPR: 2
2007 L’Ecole Seven Hills Vineyard Estate Luminesce (White Blend), Walla Walla Valley, $19, QPR: 1
2005 Basel Cellars Inspired (Red Blend), Columbia Valley, $40, QPR: 1

Quality: 2.5 stars (out of 5)
2007 Basel Cellars Forget-Me-Not White Wine, Columbia Valley, $18, QPR: NR
2007 Waters Viognier, Columbia Valley, $20, QPR: NR
2006 Waters Interlude Red Wine, Walla Walla Valley, $30, QPR: NR
2006 Waters Syrah, Columbia Valley, $30, QPR: NR

Today marks one year since our very first Wine Peeps post. What an amazing year it has been! We have written 197 posts, tasted over 1200 wines, traveled to wineries, vineyards, and tasting rooms all over the country, attended the first ever North American Wine Bloggers Conference, and met wonderful people in the wine industry as well as fellow wine enthusiasts. (Photo by iandeth)

Thank you so much to all of our readers! We could not do this without you. We love wine and love sharing that passion with others through this blog. When we first started, we had no idea if anyone would care to read what we had to write. It is humbling to know how many of you do. You have helped our readership grow at a rate of over 30 percent per month since we started a year ago. It truly has been a pleasure to get to know many of you through comments and email. And we hope our relationship continues to grow in the year ahead.

We will strive to provide you with even more compelling wine-related content in our second year. In order to evaluate what we are doing well, what needs improvement, and to learn a little more about you as readers of this blog, we hope that as a birthday present to us, you will take a few minutes of your time and answer our short reader survey:

Click here to take the Wine Peeps Blog Survey

As an added incentive, if you answer the survey and provide us with your email address in the last question, we will enter you into a drawing for a chance to win a Vinturi Essential Wine Aerator.

We hope that you will continue to support us by reading Wine Peeps and telling your friends about it.

Cheers from your Wine Peeps,
Kori, John, Colby, and LaGayle

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is punt.

Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine:
Punt is the optional indentation in the bottom of wine bottles, particularly common in bottles of sparkling wine.

Layman’s terms from Kori:
If you are a sports fan, I’m sure you think of punt in terms of football (especially with the National Championship Game tonight). But punt has another meaning in the world of wine. Punt is the indentation in the bottom of wine bottles. Sparkling wines tend to have deeper punts. On standard bottles of still wine, deeper punts are sometimes used to make the bottles look bigger. And some people use the punt as a place to put their thumb, while their other four fingers are on the outside of the bottle, as they serve the wine.

The stock market just completed its worst year since the Great Depression years. Housing prices have taken their biggest dive since records have been kept. Manufacturing activity is the lowest in almost 30 years. And, according to industry figures, restaurants are facing the slowest time since the 9/11 attacks.

Yet you would think times are still rosy if you study the wine lists of major restaurants, at least here in the Seattle area. With rare exception, I see few deals and an industry still in denial. Two to 2.5 times retail price up to 4+ times retail pricing is still prevalent. This means 4 to 8+ times the restaurant’s cost on a bottle of wine. I studied the online wine lists of a representative list of the primo restaurants in the area and here’s what I found, listed in the order of relative attractiveness of its wine list pricing:

1. Salty’s on Alki – They had the best relative prices on our comparison test, understanding that the “best” is still more than 4 times their cost on average. They have a decent but not great wine list but a good mixture of reasonable value along with some high price wines.
2. Waterfront Seafood Grill – Not a huge list, but some good wines. A distant second to Salty’s on the price comparison test.
3. El Gaucho – Fairly small wine list, but again some good wines.
4. Metropolitan Grill – Good wine list with emphasis on West Coast wines. They also had a list of closeout and hot deal wines, but their regular pricing was fourth in our comparison test.
5. Canlis – The biggest wine list by far, but also the highest prices. Great restaurant with a great view, but no deals on either food or wine from what I’ve seen.

To find a combination of a decent wine list and reasonable pricing (for a restaurant, at least), here are a couple of good choices in my opinion:

1. Purple Café & Wine Bar – They offer wine by the flight, by the glass, by the half bottle, bottle, or case. They also have no corkage fee on the first bottle that you bring.
2. Stumbling Goat Bistro – They have an attractive wine list with both a local and international flavor.

Finally, there are some restaurants, such as Piatti and Lombardi’s, which have half-price specials on bottles on certain nights.

If you know of other Seattle restaurants with good wine list pricing, please let us know. I’ve heard that 94 Stewart Restaurant falls into this category, but I haven’t been there myself.

As part of our visits to some of the major vineyards in Washington State, Dad (John) and I took a day trip to Stillwater Creek Vineyard and Cold Creek Vineyard.

Planted in 2000 at the urging of Mike Januik and owned by the Alberg Family, Stillwater Creek Vineyard covers 245 acres north of Royal City, Washington, on the Royal Slope of the Frenchman Hills in the Columbia Valley AVA. Due to its higher elevation (>1500 feet) and slightly northern location within the state, Stillwater Creek is one of Washington’s cooler vineyard sites. It is south-facing with steep slopes and the terrain is a mixture of rocks and sand. Stillwater Creek boasts an impressive tasting pavilion and viewing area. The vineyard is recognized for its unique collection of premium varietal clones. The primary varieties grown at Stillwater Creek are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, and Cabernet Franc. A number of wineries source grapes from Stillwater Creek including Arbor Crest, Betz, Columbia, Januik, JM Cellars, Novelty Hill, Three Rivers, Saviah, and others. While still a relatively young vineyard, I am particularly excited about the potential of Stillwater Creek Vineyard to be one of the best vineyards in the state.

Our next stop took us to one of the oldest vineyards in the Columbia Valley, Cold Creek Vineyard. Located about 40 miles east of Yakima, Washington, south of the Columbia River and the Wahluke Slope, Cold Creek was discovered by Dr. Walter Clore, the father of Washington winemaking, and planted in 1973. Owned by Chateau Ste. Michelle, Cold Creek encompasses 660 acres. Despite its name, Cold Creek is one of the driest and warmest vineyard sites in Washington. It is south-facing with mostly deep sand and not much rock. Few outside wineries have the opportunity to work with this vineyard, but grapes from Cold Creek go into the finest Ste. Michelle wines including their Ethos label. Some grapes go to their sister wineries, Col Solare and Northstar, as well.

Once again, we had a wonderful time in Washington Wine Country. We look forward to visiting more Washington State vineyards when the weather warms up and the 2009 growing season is in full swing.

If you really like a particular wine, buy a case or more to get the best price, store it properly, and drink one bottle every six months to see how it develops over time.

With twelve bottles in a case of wine, a case purchase usually gives you a price discount of 10 to 15 percent and allows you to enjoy the wine and observe its changes as it develops to maturity and will most likely still give you a half dozen bottles or so when it has really hit its peak.

With the economy in recession, there are some great deals on wine right now. If you need help on what to buy or where to buy, refer back to our posts on Super Bargain Wines for Tough Times, Super Bargain Wines in the $10 to $25 Range, Buy online if you know what you want, Searching for a wine online, and Best Wine Shops for Washington Wine.

Two of my favorite Super Bargains under $10 that make great case purchases are the Penfolds Koonunga Hill label from Australia and the Columbia Crest Grand Estates label from Washington State.

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is dosage.

Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine:
Dosage is the final addition to a sparkling wine which may top up a bottle in the case of traditional method wines, and also determines sweetness, or residual sugar, of the finished wine. …. Champagne is naturally so high in acidity that even wines with relatively high residual sugar can taste bone dry. Bottle age or extended autolysis are excellent substitutes for dosage, however, and, in general, the older the wine, the lower the necessary dosage to produce a balanced wine, and vice versa. Some champagnes are made with no, or zero, dosage.

Layman’s terms from Kori:
Dosage is the addition of the same or a similar sparkling wine mixed with a specified amount of sugar to replace the small amount of sparkling wine lost during the disgorging process. The amount of sugar added at this point determines the sweetness of the finished sparkling wine. For a refresher on the sweetness levels of sparkling wine, please refer back to Sparkling Wine: Where Extra Dry is not really extra dry.

Wishing you all the best in 2009!

South Seattle Artisan Wineries is a group of eight boutique wineries located just south of downtown Seattle, including Cadence, Elsom Cellars, Fall Line, Falling Rain, Nota Bene, O*S, Sodovino, and Stomani. Since these are small, boutique wineries, they are not open for regular tasting room hours. However, they host joint open houses on special Saturdays throughout the year and are also open for special holiday tastings during the month of December. Earlier this month, we attended one of their holiday tastings and visited seven of the eight wineries. We did not visit Cadence as we had recently tasted their wines at another event.

Our first stop was Nota Bene Cellars. Owned by winemaker Tim Narby and his wife Carol Bryant, Nota Bene produces exclusively red wines from Washington State fruit. Their first vintage was 2001, and current annual production is 1,200 cases.

O*S Winery was our most exciting discovery of the day. Not only do they produce some excellent wines, but there was very positive, fun vibe to the tasting. Winemaker and co-owner Bill Owen was on hand helping pour wines as well as offering barrel samples. You’ll note from the breakdown below that we rated four O*S wines as 4-star quality. The 2006 O*S Cabernet Franc was my favorite, and historically, I haven’t been a huge fan of Cabernet Franc as a stand-alone varietal. O*S has been in business for eleven years and produces 3,000 cases per year.

Next, we visited Fall Line Winery. Winemaker Tim Sorenson and his wife Nancy Rivenburgh founded Fall Line in 2003. They currently produce about 2,000 cases per year, specializing in blends of Bordeaux varietals. My favorite of their wines and the only wine in these tastings to receive a QPR rating of 5 was the 2005 Fall Line Cabernet Sauvignon.

Our final stop of the day took us to a building in the SODO District just one block west of Safeco Field which houses the remaining four wineries, Stomani Cellars, Falling Rain Cellars, Elsom Cellars, and Sodovino. The people were all very friendly but the overall quality of the wines did not stack up against our previous three stops.

Here’s a breakdown of the wines that we tasted. Under each Quality heading, the wine name and region will be listed along with price and QPR rating. Wines in bold type received a QPR rating of 5 bangs for your buck (out of 5).

Quality: 4 stars (out of 5)
2005 Fall Line Cabernet Sauvignon, Columbia Valley, $30, QPR: 5
2007 O*S “S” (White Blend), Red Mountain, $20, QPR: 4
2005 Fall Line Red Mountain (Red Blend), Red Mountain, $30, QPR: 4
2005 O*S Syrah, Yakima Valley, $35, QPR: 4
2006 O*S Cabernet Franc, Horse Heaven Hills, $30, QPR: 3
2006 O*S Petit Verdot, Columbia Valley, $45, QPR: 2

Quality: 3.5 stars (out of 5)
2006 Fall Line Cabernet Sauvignon, Columbia Valley, $30, QPR: 4
2006 Elsom Red Wine, Columbia Valley, $28, QPR: 3
2005 Nota Bene Syrah, Washington State, $30, QPR: 3
2006 Fall Line Artz Vineyard (Red Blend), Red Mountain, $30, QPR: 3
2005 Fall Line Horse Heaven Hills (Red Blend), Horse Heaven Hills, $30, QPR: 3
2005 Nota Bene Ciel du Cheval Vineyard (Red Blend), Red Mountain, $35, QPR: 2
2005 O*S “BSH” (Red Blend), Columbia Valley, $35, QPR: 2
2005 O*S “R3” (Red Blend), Columbia Valley, $35, QPR: 2
2004 O*S Ulysses (Red Blend), Yakima Valley, $40, QPR: 1

Quality: 3 stars (out of 5)
2006 Falling Rain Mischief (Red Blend), Columbia Valley, $25, QPR: 3
2006 Falling Rain Cloudburst (Red Blend), Columbia Valley, $25, QPR: 3
2006 Stomani Sangiovese, Columbia Valley, $26, QPR: 3
2006 Stomani Insieme (Red Blend), Columbia Valley, $26, QPR: 3
2007 O*S Riesling, Horse Heaven Hills, $20, QPR: 2
2004 Nota Bene Kestrel View Estates Vineyard (Red Blend), Yakima Valley, $28, QPR: 2
2006 Fall Line Aldercreek Vineyard (Red Blend), Horse Heaven Hills, $30, QPR: 2
2005 Nota Bene Conner Lee Vineyard (Red Blend), Columbia Valley, $32, QPR: 2

Quality: 2.5 stars (out of 5)
2004 O*S “M” (Red Blend), Red Mountain, $15, QPR: NR
2007 Sodovino Sylvia James Rosebud Ranch Vineyard Viognier, Columbia Valley, $16, QPR: NR
2006 O*S Red, Columbia Valley, $17, QPR: NR
2006 Stomani Dolcetto, Yakima Valley, $18, QPR: NR
2007 Falling Rain Irise (White Blend), Columbia Valley, $22, QPR: NR
2006 Sodovino Sylvia James Lewis Vineyard Syrah, Rattlesnake Hills, $26, QPR: NR
2006 Stomani Cabernet Sauvignon, Columbia Valley, $26, QPR: NR
2004 Nota Bene Miscela (Red Blend), Washington State, $28, QPR: NR
2006 Nota Bene Una Notte (Red Blend), Columbia Valley, $32, QPR: NR

Quality: 2 stars (out of 5)
2006 Sodovino Red, Columbia Valley, $24, QPR: NR
2006 Nota Bene Malbec Verhey Vineyard (Red Blend), Yakima Valley, $30, QPR: NR

I’m pleased to announce that Wine Peeps is one of 12 wine blogs featured in the December/January issue of Mutineer Magazine as “Blogs You Should Be Reading.” Editor Alan Kropf interviewed Dad (John) and me at the Wine Bloggers Conference in October.

The Wine Peeps blog is very intuitive and well laid out, with additional pages beyond the blog explaining how the blog works.

Mutineer Magazine is a new wine, beer, and spirits magazine with a hip, trendy slant. Their tagline “fine beverage…redefined” is right on target. It’s like a blog on paper. Remove all the stuffiness and pretentiousness of the traditional glossy wine mags and you have Mutineer Magazine.

Recently, we came across Cork Pops for sale in a winery gift shop. Billed as “the fastest and easiest way to open a bottle of wine,” we wondered if it really worked or if it was just a gimmick. After trying it out ourselves, the answer is yes, it does work (at least, most of the time). And it’s kind of fun! I certainly wouldn’t classify it as a necessity but if you sometimes struggle with corkscrews or just want a new gadget to impress your friends, you might want to check it out.

Cork Pops is available online or at a retailer near you.

Here’s a short video to demonstrate Cork Pops in action:

Cheers!