Fielding Hills Winery, a small, family-owned winery in Wenatchee, is one of the top wineries in Washington State. Owner/winemaker Mike Wade and his wife Karen are longtime apple and cherry growers who have turned a middle portion of their orchard near Mattawa into a vineyard. Their RiverBend Vineyard, planted in 1998, is in the Wahluke Slope AVA and is their sole source of grapes. Strictly red wine producers, Fielding Hills increased their production from 850 cases to about 1400 cases with the 2009 vintage. We have tasted their wines from their inaugural vintage in 2000 through their soon-to-be-released 2009 vintage and continue to be impressed. They are so consistent; it is not a question of whether their wines will be good but where they will fall on the quality spectrum between “very good” and “Wow!” In fact, we recognized Mike Wade as Best Winemaker in our Wine Peeps’ Best of 2009 in Washington Wine Country.

Recently, we had the opportunity to taste all five new releases from Fielding Hills, which will be released this Saturday, March 17th, in a blind samples tasting.  All five of these new releases are quite impressive. The 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon and 2009 Syrah received 4.5 stars (out of 5), and the 2009 Merlot, 2009 Tribute, and 2009 Cabernet Franc received 4 stars (out of 5).

If you are ever in the Wenatchee area, Fielding Hills is a stop you do not want to miss. I encourage you to give Mike and Karen a call to make an appointment to visit the winery. And regardless of whether you are able to visit or not, try to get your hands on a bottle or two of Fielding Hills wine and enjoy.

2009 Fielding Hills Cabernet Sauvignon (RiverBend Vineyard, Wahluke Slope, Washington): 92% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Syrah, 2% Cabernet Franc, and 2% Merlot. Dark purplish red. Gorgeous nose with aromas of black fruit, rainforest, and floral notes. More black fruits and rainforest as well as spice come through on the palate. Full-bodied with crisp acidity and high, dry tannins. Big, bold, and very complex. Well-balanced with a long, lingering finish.
Quality: 4.5 stars (out of 5)
QPR: 5 bangs for your buck (out of 5)
Where to buy: Received as sample, suggested retail $42

2009 Fielding Hills Syrah (RiverBend Vineyard, Wahluke Slope, Washington): 94% Syrah, 2% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% Merlot, and 2% Cabernet Franc. Dark purple. Beautiful aromas of black cherry, blackberry, fresh vegetables, and nasturtiums come through on the nose while black fruits, spice, and molasses dominate the palate. Medium to full-bodied with good acidity and medium to high tannins. Well-balanced with good complexity, and a long, lingering finish.
Quality: 4.5 stars (out of 5)
QPR: 5 bangs for your buck (out of 5)
Where to buy: Received as sample, suggested retail $38

2009 Fielding Hills Merlot (RiverBend Vineyard, Wahluke Slope, Washington): 94% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 2% Syrah. Deep, dark red. Aromatic with blackberry, black plum, nutmeg, and licorice on both the nose and palate. Medium to full-bodied with lively acidity and medium to high tannins. Well-balanced with a very long finish.
Quality: 4 stars (out of 5)
QPR: 4 bangs for your buck (out of 5)
Where to buy: Received as sample, suggested retail $36

2009 Fielding Hills Tribute Red Wine (RiverBend Vineyard, Wahluke Slope, Washington): 31% Cabernet Franc, 30% Syrah, 20% Merlot, and 19% Cabernet Sauvignon. Dark red. Nose is a bit tight at first and then cocoa and oak aromas come through. Luscious black cherry, plum, and blackberry coat the palate along with cocoa and a touch of smoke. Medium to full-bodied with lively acidity and medium to high tannins. Well-balanced with a very long finish.
Quality: 4 stars (out of 5)
QPR: 4 bangs for your buck (out of 5)
Where to buy: Received as sample, suggested retail $32

2009 Fielding Hills Cabernet Franc (RiverBend Vineyard, Wahluke Slope, Washington): 90% Cabernet Franc, 5% Syrah, 3% Merlot, and 2% Cabernet Sauvignon. Deep, dark red. Aromatic with black cherry, raspberry, and cinnamon on the nose. Black cherry, cherry cola, and spice come through on the palate. Medium to full-bodied with crisp acidity, and medium to high, drying tannins. Well-balanced with good complexity and a long finish.
Quality: 4 stars (out of 5)
QPR: 3 bangs for your buck (out of 5)
Where to buy: Received as sample, suggested retail $30

Would you like a quick suggestion for a good wine to drink tonight (or this weekend) that won’t break your budget and is widely available? Many of our readers have said this is something they would like, so here is this week’s selection, the 2008 Plantagenet Hazard Hill Shiraz from Western Australia.

Our selection criteria include:

• A very good Quality rating of >=3.5 stars (out of 5)
• A price tag of <=$15
• Must be widely available

Plantagenet Wines was the first winery established in Western Australia’s Great Southern region. The Great Southern region is characterized by a cool, continental climate and granite-laden soils. Founded in 1968 by English immigrant Tony Smith, Plantagenet is named after the local Shire of Plantagenet. Smith’s initial plantings included Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon. Later, Pinot Noir, Riesling, and Chardonnay were planted as well.

“A savory dusty aroma of liquorice and cocoa powder with ripe prune/plumy fruit aromas reflecting the very warm vintage. A lush, plump, soft and supple wine that seeps across the palate, with fleshy fruit notes of prunes and stewed cherries, and a dash of spice finishing with structured silky fine tannins and a soft warm finish.” –Plantagenet Wines

2008 Plantagenet Hazard Hill Shiraz (Western Australia, Australia): Medium deep red. Nose is a bit tight at first, then oak and black fruit comes through. Black pepper, spice, black fruit, and a hint of leather on the palate. Medium to full-bodied and lively with medium to high tannins. Well-balanced with a long finish.
Quality: 4 stars (out of 5)
QPR: 5 bangs for your buck (out of 5)
Where to buy: Received as sample, suggested retail $13; Available elsewhere, $8 to $16

Over the past several years, I have shared with you my bucket list of wines and then an update of it, as I have tasted several of the wines. In coming months and years, I’ll update it again as I add to my bucket list and enjoy tasting more of the wines on the list.

Today, I’m going to expand my wine bucket list to include special wine regions around the world that we’ve not yet visited but want very much to visit. We’ve been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to not only visit all of the major U.S. wine regions multiple times, but also take trips to the Bordeaux region of France, all of the major wine regions of Australia, the Marlborough region of New Zealand, all of the major wine areas of South Africa, and both the British Columbia and Niagara-on-the-Lake regions of Canada.

Now, our goal is to visit the following wine regions that have a special interest for us:

• Northern and Southern Rhône in France
• Champagne region of France
• Tuscany and Piedmont areas of Italy
• Douro Valley and the Port lodges of Portugal
• Argentina and Chile in South America
• Rioja region of Spain
• Mosel region of Germany

Hopefully, we can work our way through this wine travel bucket list over the next ten years, and then start working on our next list. If you believe that there’s a wine region that we should definitely add to our current list, please let me know (and if you’d like to sponsor a trip to your favorite area we just might be able to move it up the list). As we make some of these bucket list trips, we’ll report on our travels and recommend to you the ones that meet or exceed our expectations.

Cheers!

(Photo by Megan Mallen)

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

Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine:
Terroir is a much-discussed term for the total natural environment of any viticultural site. No precise English equivalent exists for this quintessentially French term and concept. …. Major components of terroir are soil (as the word suggests) and local topography, together with their interactions with each other and with macroclimate to determine mesoclimate and vine microclimate. The holistic combination of all these is held to give each site its own unique terroir, which is reflected in its wines more or less consistently from year to year, to some degree regardless of variations in methods of viticulture and wine-making. Thus every plot, and in generic terms every larger area, and ultimately region, may have distinctive wine-style characteristics which cannot be precisely replicated elsewhere. The extent to which terroir effects are unique is, however, debatable, and of course commercially important, which makes the subject controversial.

Layman’s terms from Kori:
Terroir is a French term used to describe the soil composition, topography, and climate/weather for a particular viticultural site that some believe imparts unique characteristics on the grapes and, thus, the wines from that site.

Ryan and Renee Crane own Kerloo Cellars, located in Walla Walla, Washington. Ryan and Renee relocated from Seattle to Walla Walla to pursue their winemaking dream. Shortly after moving to Walla Walla, Ryan earned an AAAS in Enology and Viticulture. He gained experience working crush under Marie-Eve Gilla at Forgeron Cellars and then served as assistant winemaker at Va Piano for three years before focusing his efforts solely on building Kerloo. His experience and contacts in the industry have helped him secure some prized vineyard sources and to hit the ground running with his own winery. Incidentally, Kerloo is the call of the crane.

Recently, we had the opportunity to taste Kerloo’s current releases from the 2009 vintage, the 2009 Walla Walla Valley Syrah, the 2009 Les Collines Syrah, and the 2009 Tempranillo, in a blind samples tasting. All three wines are very good, but the Walla Walla Valley Syrah really stood out. It is an outstanding wine.

Kerloo Cellars is definitely a winery to watch. If you are in the Walla Walla area, you should definitely visit the Kerloo tasting room. And even if you aren’t able to visit, be sure to try some Kerloo wines.

2009 Kerloo Cellars Walla Walla Valley Syrah (Walla Walla Valley, Washington): 98% Syrah and 2% Viognier. Dark purple in color. Gorgeous nose with black fruit, black pepper, and a hint of bell pepper aromas. Blackberry, black cherry, black pepper, spice, and cocoa come through on the palate. Full-bodied with lively acidity and medium to high tannins. Well-balanced with a long, smooth finish.
Quality: 4.5 stars (out of 5)
QPR: 5 bangs for your buck (out of 5)
Where to buy: Received as sample, suggested retail $34

2009 Kerloo Cellars Tempranillo (Columbia Valley, Washington): Deep purplish red. Aromatic with black fruit and barnyard notes on the nose. More black fruit, caramel, and earth come through on the palate. Medium to full-bodied with medium to high, drying tannins. Well-balanced with a long, smooth finish.
Quality: 4 stars (out of 5)
QPR: 3 bangs for your buck (out of 5)
Where to buy: Received as sample, suggested retail $34; Available elsewhere, $34

2009 Kerloo Cellars Les Collines Syrah (Walla Walla Valley, Washington): Dark purple in color. Aromatic with plum, blackberry, black pepper, and spice on both the nose and palate. Medium to full-bodied with lively acidity, medium to high tannins, and a medium to long finish.
Quality: 3.5 stars (out of 5)
QPR: 2 bangs for your buck (out of 5)
Where to buy: Received as sample, suggested retail $34; Available elsewhere, $34

Would you like a quick suggestion for a good wine to drink tonight (or this weekend) that won’t break your budget and is widely available? Many of our readers have said this is something they would like, so here is this week’s selection, the 2009 Buried Cane Single Leaf Riesling from the Columbia Valley of Washington State.

Our selection criteria include:

• A very good Quality rating of >=3.5 stars (out of 5)
• A price tag of <=$15
• Must be widely available

Buried Cane is a value brand for Middleton Family Wines. The Middletons, a multi-generation Washington timber family, also own Cadaretta Winery in Walla Walla. Buried Cane wines are named after a time-honored practice used to protect grape vines from frigid winter temperatures in which low-growing vine canes are buried and then unearthed after winter freezes pass.

“The Buried Cane Riesling is 100% Riesling. It’s a ripe, off-dry wine with bright, yellow/straw color, and effusive floral aromas of jasmine, lily and heather. Background notes are of starfruit and pineapple. On the palate the wine is expansive and rich, focused on intense mango and white peach flavors. The mouthwatering finish is long and finely-textured. It’s the ideal thirst quencher for Asian cuisines, chicken and cheeses.” –Buried Cane

2009 Buried Cane Single Leaf Riesling (Columbia Valley, Washington State): 100% Riesling. Pale, greenish straw yellow in color. Aromatic with citrus fruits, particularly tangerine and lime, on both the nose and palate. Off-dry and medium-bodied with crisp acidity and a long finish. Residual Sugar: 0.70%
Quality: 3.5 stars (out of 5)
QPR: 4 bangs for your buck (out of 5)
Where to buy: Received as sample, suggested retail $14; Available elsewhere, $9 to $13

Washington State ranks second nationally in wine production with over 740 wineries and 40,000 vineyard acres. As I’ve said numerous times before, Washington wines are perfectly positioned to thrive in our current economy. Washington State is producing outstanding wines that consistently deliver great bang for your buck.

If you love Washington wine or want to learn more about Washington wine, March is the month for you. Dubbed Washington Wine Month, this annual celebration of Washington State’s award-winning wine industry features promotions by restaurants, retailers, hotels, and wineries throughout the region including activities such as free tastings, discounts on Washington wine, and winemaker dinners pairing the state’s top winemakers and chefs. The Washington State Wine Commission has created a dedicated website, washingtonwinemonth.com, which features a comprehensive listing of these promotions. New promotions will be added on an ongoing basis throughout the month.

The month will be capped off with Taste Washington in Seattle, the nation’s largest single-region wine and food event on Saturday, March 31st and Sunday, April 1st at CenturyLink Field Event Center. The grand event has been expanded to two days for 2012. Hosted by Seattle’s Convention and Visitors Bureau in partnership with the Washington State Wine Commission, Taste Washington is the ultimate carnival for wine and food lovers. Of the 740+ wineries in the state, over 200 of them are expected to be on hand pouring their wines. In addition, many of the top Seattle-area restaurants will be serving small bites. It is a huge event and can be overwhelming if you are not prepared. You will be wise to plan a strategy ahead of time. Even though the event now runs for two days, you might find it helpful to refer back to a previous post that gives tips for making the most of Taste Washington.

If a smaller, more intimate gathering is more your speed or you want to further your knowledge of wine and Washington wine in particular, the seminars that will be offered each day prior to the tasting might be of interest to you. This year’s seminars will also be held at CenturyLink Field Event Center. Six seminars will be offered on a variety of topics and afford attendees the opportunity to taste, discuss, meet, and learn from some of the biggest names in the Washington wine industry as well as a few notable guests from outside of Washington State.

As always, we are looking forward to Taste Washington and hope that those of you who live in the greater Seattle area will plan to attend as well. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit the Taste Washington website.

Cheers!

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

Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine:
Closures for wine containers are necessary to avoid harmful contact with oxygen and have changed remarkably little until recent times. Corks are still the principal closures used for wine bottles, just as they were more than two centuries ago and probably long before that, although alternative stoppers are increasingly common, thanks primarily to the rise in the incidence of corked wine as a result of cork taint since the mid 1980s.

Layman’s terms from Kori:
Closures are whatever mechanism is used to close a bottle of wine. Corks continue to be the most commonly used closures; however, in recent years, more and more wineries are experimenting with alternative closures such as screwcaps and glass stoppers in an attempt to eliminate cork taint.

Saviah Cellars is a family-owned winery located south of downtown Walla Walla, Washington, near the Oregon state line in the Walla Walla Valley AVA. Owner/winemaker Richard Funk and his wife Anita, both natives of Montana, moved to Walla Walla in 1991. Rich became acquainted with a number of the area wineries while working as an Environmental Health Specialist with the Walla Walla County Health Department. Through his work at the Health Department on water quality and wastewater issues, he got a firsthand look at the vineyards in the area and developed a relationship with a number of local winemakers who helped him get his start in the industry. Saviah Cellars was founded in 2000 and currently produces about 9,500 cases per year. The name Saviah is a family name from Anita’s great-grandmother. Saviah Cellars consistently produces high-quality wines.

Recently, we had the opportunity to taste their 2008 Petit Verdot and 2010 The Jack Cabernet Sauvignon in a blind samples tasting. Both wines were excellent. Often used as a blending grape with other Bordeaux varieties, Petit Verdot is not frequently made as a single varietal wine here in Washington. If you have not had one, this would be a good one to try. The Jack is a value line in the Saviah portfolio produced with declassified fruit. This Jack Cab has a lot going on and delivers serious bang for your buck.

Rich’s wines show balance, complexity, and elegance. Not only is Rich making some great wines, but he is an extremely nice guy to boot. If you are in the Walla Walla area, Saviah Cellars is a winery that you should definitely visit. And even if you aren’t able to visit, be sure to try some Saviah wines.

2008 Saviah Cellars Petit Verdot (Walla Walla Valley, Washington): Dark, dense purple in color. Very aromatic with dark, black fruits, blackberry, and cedar on the nose. More black fruits and smoked meat comes through on the palate. Full-bodied with good acidity and medium to high, drying tannins. Well-balanced with a long, smooth finish.
Quality: 4 stars (out of 5)
QPR: 3 bangs for your buck (out of 5)
Where to buy: Received as sample, suggested retail $30

2010 Saviah Cellars The Jack Cabernet Sauvignon (Columbia Valley, Washington): Deep, dark purplish red. Nice nose with caramel and black cherry aromas. Caramel, blackcurrant, and spice come through on the palate. Full-bodied with lively acidity and medium to high tannins. Well-balanced with a long finish.
Quality: 4 stars (out of 5)
QPR: 5 bangs for your buck (out of 5)
Where to buy: Received as sample, suggested retail $18; Available elsewhere, $14 to $18

Would you like a quick suggestion for a good wine to drink tonight (or this weekend) that won’t break your budget and is widely available? Many of our readers have said this is something they would like, so here is this week’s selection, the 2011 Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc from the famed Marlborough region of New Zealand.

Our selection criteria include:

• A very good Quality rating of >=3.5 stars (out of 5)
• A price tag of <=$15
• Must be widely available

Kim Crawford Wines, located in New Zealand, was founded in 1996 by owner/winemaker Kim Crawford and his wife Erica. In the beginning, Kim Crawford Wines was one of New Zealand’s first “virtual wineries.” They sourced their grapes from growers across New Zealand, made the wine at other wineries, and managed their sales and marketing from their home in Auckland. In 1998, they began exporting some of their wine to the United States, Canada, and Australia. The Crawfords opened a cellar door (tasting room) facility in Te Awanga in Hawke’s Bay in 1999. Then they opened a state of the art winery and purchased vineyard land in Marlborough in early 2000. Kim Crawford Wines is now part of Constellation Brands.

Regular readers know that we are big fans of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, the country’s flagship wine. And Kim Crawford Wines makes one of our favorite New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs. In fact, Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc has been Mom’s (LaGayle) favorite wine, period, since we visited New Zealand in 2005. The most amazing thing about Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc is its remarkable consistency from vintage to vintage. It’s crisp acidity and refreshing grapefruit flavors are especially pleasing to our palates.

“Pale green. A bouquet of citrus and tropical fruits backed by characteristic herbaceous notes that Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is famous for. An exuberant wine brimming with flavors of pineapple and stonefruit with a hint of herbaceousness. The finish is fresh and zesty.” –Winemaker Anthony Walkenhorst

2011 Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough, New Zealand): Pale, greenish straw yellow. Very aromatic with grapefruit, lime, and grass on the nose. More grapefruit, lime, and grass as well as lemon zest come through on the palate. Dry and medium-bodied with crisp, almost tart, acidity. Well-balanced and very refreshing with a long finish.
Quality: 4 stars (out of 5)
QPR: 5 bangs for your buck (out of 5)
Where to buy: Costco (Seattle, Washington), $13.49; Available elsewhere, $12 to $17