What a Long Strange Trip It’s Been – 2007 Adams Bench Red Willow Cabernet Sauvignon – Yakima Valley

This past year, 2010, has been the first for this blog. Yes, technically I started writing in 2009, but the rhythm, pace, and in-the-present-tense nature of the blog has truly only happened for us Yaksters in 2010. As this year ends, as a reflection, I’ve chosen one wine that has been tied in some way to a lot of what has made this blog what it is.

I’m not suggesting that Yak Yak Wine is anything too significant. After all, my audience of readers usually includes a few friends and family (when they’re not too busy), other wine bloggers who I’ve compared wine stories with over the year, and our cat, Frank, who really only acts like he’s reading the blog so I will feed him. If he likes a story, he gets a green can; if he doesn’t, he gets orange. He hates the orange cans, so he always acts like he enjoys this blog.

Anyway. Adams Bench Red Willow.

Before this year, I had never heard of Adams Bench Winery and I only vaguely knew where Red Willow Vineyard was located. I’m not 100% certain, but I believe I first read about Adams Bench in a blog by WAwineman on the website WineChatr (now WineCOW) where many wine blogs are compiled. WineCOW is an easy resource to scan looking for wine topics of interest.

WAwineman is an interesting writer, at least to me, because of his quirky humor, his breadth of coverage of wines that I happen to like or be familiar with, and the fact that he was one of the first people to comment when I started posting my blogs on WineCOW. His admiration of my scribbling was obviously flattering. As the year went rolling along, WAwineman and I traded barbs (small case “b” only) and got to “know” one another as sometimes happens through the magical machine called the interweb. We became, and are still, on-line buds who share a passion, namely Washington State wines.

Through the year, Barb and I met several other wine bloggers and folks in the wine community throughout Washington. For the most part, the blogging folks we met were first internet personalities in that we only knew them through their blogs or e-mail exchanges. That changed a bit when I ran into a few folks at tasting rooms (Sean Sullivan looks exactly like he does on the internet, BTW), and in a big way when we attended the Wine Bloggers Conference in Walla Walla in June.

Don’t worry, I’ll get to the Adams Bench.

WAwineman chose then, and still does, to remain anonymous. It certainly has its advantages (and tribulations) and while I’m not here to write about that, it’s hard to write about Ed, err WAwineman, without acknowledging that Barb and I have never met him in person. There were times when we even wondered if WAwineman was even a real person, or was a pseudonym for someone we did know, or who was recognizable by name in the Washington wine industry.

This first question was solved for me when I swapped some wine with WAwineman. We had chatted off-line and I don’t even remember all the reasons, but I dropped a bottle of the wedding wine we made and another bottle or two, at Full Pull Wines in Seattle. Paul Zitarelli, in addition being a fantastic wine seller and all around good guy, is also a mule. I drop wine at his place, WAwineman picks it up. WAwineman drops wine for me, I pick it up. One of the first wines WAwineman dropped for me happened to be 2007 Adams Bench Red Willow Cabernet Sauvignon.

See, I told you I’d get there.

About that same time we attended the WBC in W2 where I finagled an advance copy of the second edition of Paul Gregutt’s Washington Wines and Wineries: The Essential Guide among the festivities. Barb and I also shared a taco truck lunch at a table with Rand Sealey, another preeminent wine writer in Washington. My own wine blogging was energized by the conference pep talks, the vineyard walks, meeting some new (to us) superstars of the Washington and Yakima Valley wine industry, and generous doses of good wines from all over the state and the world.

I kept on keeping on for a while and after reading Mr. Gregutt’s second edition, wrote a review of same. As I was looking for an example of a winery I thought might have been overlooked to support one of the points of my review, I chose Adams Bench. Somewhat because of WAwineman’s gift and recommendation, but also because everything else I could find about Adams Bench told me this was a good winery making supreme wine. This was particularly true for the 2007 vintage of single vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon from Red Willow. A review of this wine by Mr. Sealey, where he gave it a perfect 20 out of 20 score, his first ever for a Washington wine, was the clincher. The added benefit, at least in my mind, is that it wasn’t me tasting the wine and suggesting the winery had been overlooked, it was other wine drinkers and reviewers in the state.

So I wrote anonymously (in a way) about Adams Bench, a wine I had received from an anonymous friend.

Not long after that book review was published, I received an e-mail out of the blue [sic], from the owner and winemaker of Adams Bench, Tim Blue. Tim thanked me, on behalf of himself and his wife Erica, for the recognition I’d given their winery and offered to send me a gift of wine. He was clear, and so was I in accepting, that the wine he was sending wasn’t a sample for review but rather a token of gratitude for the things I had written about Adams Bench. He wouldn’t ship until fall though because wine doesn’t particularly like 120 degrees in the back of a Big Brown truck in summertime Yakima.

About that time, in July by now I think, Adams Bench announced on their web site a winemakers dinner in the vineyard at Red Willow. I tried to sign up, because by that time our curiosity about Adams Bench, the Blues, Red Willow vineyard and its owners, the Sauers, was stoked. There was even the possibility the elusive WAwineman would be there; by this time we had enough clues we were sure to be able to pick him out of a crowd. Barb and I were house hunting at the time and had even driven out to Red Willow to make sure we could find it. Red Willow and its chapel are undoubtedly the most photographed symbol of the Washington Wine industry. Before the event though, it was cancelled/postponed for some reason, so we kept on keeping on. Keep on truckin’ was the term I think in the ‘70’s.

In late September, after I had almost forgotten about the offer from the Blues, a package arrived, adult signature required. Inside was a very nice, personal handwritten note from Erica Blue, again thanking me and telling me more about their winery. Also included was a bottle of “The V”, another of Adams Bench’s wines, and a bottle of 2007 Red Willow, a wine they believed to be particularly special. Into the cellar it went with its brother.

By now, our curiosity about the Blues, Adams Bench, and this wine was feverous. Patience, Grasshopper. I had signed up for the Adams Bench e-mail list just to get updates on the winery and in late November they announced a Holiday Open House for December 5. Anyone following the weather in the PacNW over the past month, and for those of us here with windows, knows that we’ve been hammered with lots of snow this late fall/early winter. Making it over the passes to Woodinville, where Adams Bench is located, would be doubtful, but as that weekend approached we decided we’d give it a try.

Then, by some Festivus miracle, the passes were clear that day and Barb and I drove over; specifically to meet the Blues and to finally taste their wines, but most hopefully, a chance to taste the 2007 Red Willow without having to open one of our gifted bottles. When we entered their winery/garage/tasting room next to the Blue home in Woodinville, Erica welcomed us by name, and we proceeded to have very nice conversations with both Erica, Tim, and Hannah, their daughter. Over the next hour we learned about their winery, their wines, and even some of their family history.

The story of Adams Bench or rather Adams bench, the actual wooden bench that gives its name to the winery, is tied to Tim’s family and his upbringing in North Central Indiana. Tim’s father was a school principal for a time at the Adams School in the small, rural, farming community whose name I forget. The bench was the last place students sat before going to see the principal. Tim described the carvings the kids had made in the bench.  Most are on the left hand side because the students waiting would have to be turned that direction, away from his father’s door, to still do their mischief as they awaited their fate.  I haven’t confirmed this, but I think “The V” is based on the split wood in the back panel of the bench. Tim and Erica, or some of Tim’s family, saved this bench when the Adams School was razed and it now sits in the foyer of their home in Woodinville.

I truly love the personal stories that many Washington winemakers have shared with Barb and me over our time here, and the story of the Adams School bench was a particularly neat one for us. For me, because it’s a neat story, and also because I recently visited my childhood home where I reclaimed some memories, in my case a milk box from our back stoop. For Barb, because she is also a school teacher who learned her trade on the flat prairie in Illinois a couple hundred miles west of Adams School and she now has a sister who teaches school in Valparaiso, Indiana. Tim knew Valparaiso well.

But we still didn’t get to taste the 2007 Red Willow, or any other Red Willow wine. The winery is sold out of the 07 and the next vintage is waiting in barrel. We did sample 07 and 08 versions of two other Adams Bench wines, The V, their Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon blended from several vineyard sources, and Reckoning, their Bordeaux style blend, whose name again ties back to sitting on a bench and waiting. I was rarely caught in trouble in school, but even I can remember that agony. We left Woodinville that day with 07 versions of the wines we tasted, finally having paid for some Adams Bench wines, and added those to our cellar next to their cousins.

The next week, as has been his custom for the past few years, Sean Sullivan announced on his blog, Washington Wine Report, a reader survey to pick Washington Wine of the Year for 2010 and Wine to Watch for 2011. Since I’m a reader of Sean’s blog I nominated three of my favorites from 2010 and also chose two wines to watch for 2011. I nominated Adams Bench 08 Reckoning as a Wine to Watch. As the next weeks went by on-line voting narrowed Sean’s fields to 3-4 finalists and in the final voting, my nomination of 08 Reckoning won the prize as 2011 Wine to Watch.

The 2010 Washington Wine of the Year, as chosen by this highly non-scientific survey, was…2007 Adams Bench Red Willow Cabernet Sauvignon.

Accusations of impropriety flew in comments on Sean’s blog with some offended writers sure the ballots had been stuffed. Stuffed! Some proclaimed they wouldn’t buy these wines or were sure the whole reputation of Washington’s wine industry would be sullied by these plonk selections. Hunh? I’ll admit I voted for these wines, the Red Willow based on reputation alone, but I didn’t stuff the ballot box. I also understand internet polls aren’t certified by the Florida Voting Commission, so hanging chads or not, this was just a fun survey.

So, on this Christmas 2010, Barb and I decided to open a bottle of 2007 Adams Bench Red Willow. Which bottle, the one gifted to us by WAwineman or the one gifted to us by Tim and Erica Blue, I’m unsure, but open it we did.

Whether we enjoyed the aromas or colors or flavors or textures or mouthfeel or finish of this wine over three hours we savored and drank it is not too relevant. We did enjoy all of those things and more about this fabulous bottle of wine and it is, in my opinion too, worthy of the honors it has gained from others. 

But what mattered more to Barb and me were the connections this wine symbolized for us and the new friends we’ve made over the course of this year in part because of this wine.

Thank you Ed, Tim, Erica, Hannah, Sean, Paul Z, Paul G, Rand and all the rest of the Washington Wine community for all the fun of this journey this past year as we’ve all swirled, sipped, and enjoyed the fruits of this region's wonderful bounty.

As Mr. Gregutt wrote when he signed my advance copy of his second edition…

“Here’s to Great Washington Wine.”

And, of course…

Cheers from the Yak!

The Yak 2 Five - Our Top Wines from 2010

I am biased. I am biased by my new home region, by how people treat me that are selling me wine, and by the overall experience when drinking a wine, the atmosphere, the food, the event. Many times the actual quality of the wine is secondary to these other things; sometimes the quality of the wine overcomes some shortcoming in these other things.

With that said, here are Barb and my top Twenty Five wines for 2010 and a brief explanation of what made them memorable or special for us. We drank plenty of other wines this year but these are the best of the best from Yakima Valley and her neighbors. My definition of The Yak is any wine grown here or sold through a tasting room here...stretched a bit in a case or two.

Yak Yak Wine of the Year

Ernest & Jennifer 2009 Riesling - July 17, 2010 -

A lovely wine for a beautiful bride and groom. We were so glad to share your guys' special day. This wine was secondary that day but was a special memory all along the way as it matured getting ready for your big day. A nod too goes to Patricia and George at Vineheart for growing and tending these special grapes for us.

______________________

2. Steppe Cellars 2007 Tempranillo Grenache Mourvedre - Power and elegance and a long name from our favorite winery. They are slowly being discovered outside The Yak but we're confident the quonset hut on the knob north of Sunnyside will never lose its charm.

3. Cooper 2007 L'inizio - A beginning for a new friend who has persevered and succeeded yet remains a True Gentleman. Well done, Coop.

4. Maison Bleue 2008 Liberté Syrah Boushey Vineyard - Great wine maker, great grower, great story. Dr. Martinez barters dental services for wine and Dick Boushey is the real deal.

5. Hightower 2008 Out of Line - Murray was the most famous member of this wine family until we got to know Kelly and Tim. First class all the way and a pretty good cinematographer to boot.

6. Alexandria Nicole 2008 Member's Only - Great parties (including the blending party where this wine was born), great tasting room experiences, very nice cork outlined chalkboard at the Behind the Bookcase Room in Prosser.

7. Upland Estates 2007 Old Vine Cabernet - Old is grand, and so is our mom. (Honorable mention here to Geppetto's in Yakima for great meals that happened to go with this wine.)

8. Cote Bonneville 2005 Carriage House - I only drank a sip of this wine, but gifted it a couple of times, in a fun way once, and in a very meaningful way another.

9. Olsen Estates 2007 Merlot - Twitter events are still a bit of a mystery to me, but this wine reminds us why you should never skip the Merlot.

10. Owen Roe 2008 Ex Umbrus Syrah - The girls made scrunchy faces when sipping this wine in April, but the whole bachelorette weekend could not have been more wonderful.

11. Gilbert Cellars 2006 Allobroges - Downtown Yakima's most stylish tasting room with an elegant Rhone blend made for drinking.

12. Milbrandt 2007 Chenin Blanc - White wine has its place. And this wine disappeared fastest on a hot, humid day in Central Illinois.

13. Pontin del Roza 2007 Angelo Pontin Sangiovese - Pizza wine that I saw develop over the year into more than that and also my first confirmed corked wine experience. All ends of the spectrum with this guy. I love the bottle and label too.

14. Two Mountain 2009 Chalk Art Rosé - Label art by the head Yak. Nice refreshing wine in the bottle. I'll be back on the concrete in 2011 to try to retake the title.

15. Severino 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon - A cool cellar on a scorching summer day in July I met Severino the person (finally), and learned some tips on barrel management and wine evolution as we went through his Cab vertical.

16. Bunchgrass 2006 Lewis Syrah - The wine that sparked my label investigation (and diatribes), and a fantastic wine deserving of a Yak label.

17. Masset 2006 Petite Sirah - An old friend gave me this old favorite, reminding us of our first loop around the Yak and first taste of this varietal.

18. BonAir 2006 Reserve Merlot - Grumpy or not, Gail makes good wine and serves as a definite touchstone for thousands of tourists hitting the Rattlesnake Trail where he hangs his (funky) cap.

19. Whisper Ridge 2004 A Voix Basse - A garagiste winery with no tasting room flying below the radar. Good wine and good music that reminds that 2004 wasn't such a bad year after all.

20. Fielding Hills 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon - Densest wine I've ever tasted but full of vibrant fruit and balance. Slightly outside the Yak boundary, but a conversation with Karen Wade found that she has roots in the Upper Valley. That's Naches for the uninitiated.

21. Sineann and Chateau St. Michelle 2006 Cold Creek Cabernet Sauvignon - A study in contrast of two wines from the same grapes. Winemakers can make different styles from the same grapes, but the grapes must be good to make good wine. Cold Creek grows good grapes. [Technically outside The Yak, but a magpie or a wildfire can carry the seeds into the Yak in about 10 minutes.]

22. Columbia Winery 2004 David Lake Otis Cabernet Sauvignon and 2002 Red Willow Syrah. History lessons in a bottle and I'm happy to have shared in these legacies.

23. McCrea 2004 Grenache - My tasting note on this one recalls licking the rim of the bottle to get the last drop. Great wine from Washington's original Rhone ranger who stalks the Yak for most of his fruit.

24. Knight Hill 2008 Mourvedre - Fruit from Wahluke, winemaker from Germany, owner from New York via San Francisco. A melting pot wine sold at the Yakima Visitor's Center (as well as the tasting room on the Lombardy Fruit Loop outside Zillah).

25. Mark Ross Ryan Andrew 2008 Lost Boushey Soul Syrah - This is really two wines from two winemakers in Woodinville that might be joined at the hip. We celebrated Festivus instead of St. Nick's there and again the best wines we sampled were from the Yak. Not that we're biased or anything.

Big Grandma Goes to Boot Camp

Wine Boot Camp, that is.

Big Grandma is my mother-in-law, Beth, and though I wasn't around when she acquired the title "Big", it's quite a testament to this woman that she would allow her grandchildren to bestow her this name when she's not particularly big, only a little taller than the other "Little Grandma".  She even took it in stride when her grandchildren began having babies and she became Great Big Grandma.

We had the pleasure recently of a nice visit from Big Grandma, and even though it was two weeks, it seemed much shorter, and we look forward to her coming back, maybe eventually on a more full time basis.  We have plans for a basement apartment, and have even designated an area to be called a Great Room, a Great Great Big Grandma Room as it were.

Big Grandma had known of Barb and my wine habits and adventures in wine country, and though it wasn't her primary purpose for visiting, it wasn't long after the plane touched down that BG wanted to know where the tasting rooms were.  "Everywhere, Mom."  She visited her very first wine tasting room at Cascade Cliffs in the Columbia Gorge and immediately understood why Barb and I state, quite often in fact, that we're never going "back east".  We picked up our Cliff Club shipment that day too, and after getting home, began in earnest the daily lessons that Big Grandma would have to endure if she were to survive life in the Yak.

"Temprannnnillo; Roll the N, Big Grandma".   "Let it Breath, Big Grandma".  "Swirl, Swirl,  look at the Color, take in the aromas, Big Grandma"  "Small sip, Big Grandma"  "Mouth Closed, Big Grandma!"

Big Grandma is an excellent student.  Though, ironically, a bit of a lightweight.  I guess maybe Barb and I  had to build up our wine stamina too at first, but I had kinda been looking forward to two-bottle nights with BG around.  It was hard to justify though when she usually stopped after one small glass.

But as the days went by, each night with dinner we introduced Big Grandma to a different type of wine.  Sometimes based on the menu, pasta with red sauce meant Sangiovese, chicken meant Semillon; sometimes on a quasi-logical progression from previous nights.  The first week, we spent a lot of time exploring Rhone style wines.  A Rousanne, then a Grenache driven blend, then Syrah, then single variety Grenache.

We kinda knew this was Big Grandma's wheelhouse anyway since we had shared with her a 2008 Owen Roe Sinister Hand during a trip to Chicago earlier this year.  Big Grandma inquired about finding more of the 2008 Sinister Hand in Washington, and though we had a bottle or two in our cellar, we might need more and BG said the stores in Chi-town were out of the '08.   Despite Barb and my self-imposed wine buying moratorium, this was obviously a legitimate excuse; who wants to disappoint their mother?   I was sent on a mission to find Sinister Hand with strict instructions to only buy two bottles.  I hit pay dirt at Wray's on 56th in Yakima who still had some '08 Sinister Hand.  They were expecting the '09 any day, but BG knew she liked the '08.  The problem, or bonus depending on your point of view, Wray's only had magnums left.  So I did what any sensible son-in-law would do, I bought two Big bottles and lied about the price.

One of those magnums disappeared quickly over the weekend with a visit from the part of BG's family that had already escaped to the PacNW.

By Week Two of Yak Yak Boot Camp, Big Grandma was ready for more advanced topics, the finer points of Bordeaux style blends and the varietals from that part of the world, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Malbec.  We participated in Sean Sullivan's monthly Virtual Tasting where the wine of the night was Alexandria Nicole 2008 Quarry Butte, and since we had some on hand we went vertical with the virtual, opening both an '07 and '08 Quarry Butte.  In fact, for nostalgia purposes, the '07 Quarry Butte was the first wine reviewed on this blog.  Anyway, for the VVT, wine charms on glass stems helped the tasters in our house distinguish and the first few sips were blind to the vintage.

Big Grandma tweeted vicariously through Barb and myself her impressions of both wines.  She picked out the plum and depth of the one Butte, and noted bright red fruit in the other.  She preferred the '07, the deeper wine, and made a batch of heavenly brownies that almost made the wine irrelevent.  Almost.  

After the leisure dinners, visits to tasting rooms, and classroom lessons, finally we had Big Grandma endure a Hell Night of sorts as a final practicum.  I had picked up 150 pounds of Tempranillo, grapes not the wine, at our friends' vineyard, Patricia and George of Vineheart.  Grape harvest was late this year as has been reported everywhere, but for Big Grandma the timing was perfect.  BG lugged the totes, tested the Brix, turned the hand crank crusher, "Just like an old fashioned Ice Cream Machine, Grandma", and de-stemmed by hand the crushed grapes.  Good stuff in the fermenter tub, trash to the compost pile.  Measuring out the sulfites and inoculating the yeast remained the realm of the Head Yak, but Big Grandma survived her first late night of Crush and went to bed exhausted.  But with the satisfaction of knowing she had made her first wine and had the purple fingernails and sticky elbows to prove it.

Our last night in Yakima with Big Grandma we went to Geppetto's, one of our new favorite restaurants in town.  Spirits were high, though melancholy lurked.  A delicious meal of pastas, anti-pastas and gellato.  Our wine for the night was another favorite, Upland Estates 2007 Old Vine Cabernet Sauvignon.  Big Grandma breezed through the part about old vines and offered a sly smile when I had the waitress bring a few extra bottles to the table for us to take home.  Moratorium be damned.  

Tears flowed at the airport as freely as wine had flowed the nights before, but when Big Grandma deplaned in Chicago and went home to be greeted by Debbie, Danali, and her cats Boobs and Sarge, it was Sarge who was undoubtedly the happiest and the proudest.

Because Big Grandma had earned her stripes too.

How to Lose Clients and Influence People

So far I’ve written about our good experiences, good wines, and many friendly people we’ve met over the past couple of years touring wine country in Washington, into Oregon, California and even a junket north of the border to British Columbia (that’s in Canada). This post will be a little different than those.

I recounted this story to a friend this week in thinking about our winery club experiences and Barb and I discussed it again and I need to get it out of my system. It’s not all that tragic, this is wine after all, but it’s an example of how not to treat customers if you’re in the hospitality business. I’m not going to call out the winery by name and I’ve changed the names of the people that we dealt with.

On one of our first trips through this area we tasted wines at this place and instantly loved them and signed up for their wine club. We went back periodically for tastings and club shipments and enjoyed the experiences each time chatting with the tasting room staff, who were all very professional and friendly. The wines were all very good and we bought quite a few bottles.

We’d seen the owner and winemaker, who I’ll call Jack, a couple of times; he’s always busy so had never met him. No biggie. But it’s easy to figure out who he is if he’s in the room.

Last spring we got an e-mail from the winery “signed” by Jack, inviting club members to bring a picnic and have some wine with other club members. It ended up being a beautiful evening so we decided to drive over, about 45 minutes for us, and check it out. We arrive, buy a bottle of wine from Trish, a nice lady we’ve met before, and find a picnic table. We’re about the second couple to arrive. Jack is scurrying about talking on his phone.

Over the next little while a grand total of about 12 people, including us, Trish, and Jack show up, have picnics and drink wine. We drank our whole bottle and chilled out since it was lovely place to be and chatted with a few other people. We were there for at least 90 minutes.

After getting off the phone, Jack joins two couples at the table immediately next to us and they enjoy a bottle of wine (not yet released!) that Jack brings to their table and they chat for the next hour. The main topic we overhear are Jack’s plans for finding the right Ivy League school for his son. Little Jack has potential and the Pac-10 pretty much sucks. After carousing with his friends, Jack gets up, looks at his watch, says his goodbyes (to his friends), then leaves without speaking a word to any of the other few of us there.

We don’t care to know Jack particularly, but didn’t he invite us to his business for an event? Wasn’t his smiling face on the e-mail invitation? We were one of 2-3 other couples who bothered to show up and buy his wine that day, and but since we don’t know Jack he never deigned to acknowledge our existence. We were mainly shocked that anyone in this business would be so rude and we’d never seen that before or since at the other 200+ tasting rooms we’ve visited in the Pac NW. We never count on meeting the owner or winemaker at a winery but it’s not uncommon, particularly at the smaller places, and whenever we have met someone they’ve been universally cordial. They are normal people running a business and they appreciate their customers. Jack is the lone exception.

It didn’t really matter to us then and doesn’t matter now. In fact, we stayed in the club for a while until discovering that their wines are available cheaper elsewhere. If we ever want to buy again we can. But there are plenty of other wineries here that make very good wines, and even some that make not so great wines, who we’d much rather spend our time at and reward with our financial support.

Jack’s place isn’t one of them.

Innocent Until Proven Guilty - Syncline 2007 Cuvee Elena - Columbia Valley

It may seem like I've been laying low lately, but in reality things have just been a little hectic around the Yak Yak household. Why just this past weekend we became so distracted with the various house projects, unpacking, and running back and forth to Wally World, that we didn't even drink any wine. FOR TWO WHOLE DAYS. But we solved that Monday night with a nice bottle of Malbec from Mibrandt Vineyards and the earth again resumed spinning on its axis.

The other reason you might suspect I have been laying low is the recent reports of thefts from vineyards, both near and far, where vineyard terrorists have descended under cover of night to steal the fruits of someone else’s labor.

The one in particular that hit closest to home was the September theft from the Grand Reve vineyard on Red Mountain. That vineyard was mentioned in a blog I wrote about Dick Boushey this past summer that also included reference to Grand Reve vineyard and its owner and manager, Ryan Johnson. BY SHEER COINCEDENCE, that same blog also described a COMPLETELY FICTIONAL simulation of what a nighttime vineyard jaunt might include. This is my Jimmy Carter confessional, that, though I may have lusted after many vineyards in my heart, it was only a sin of the mind, not of the flesh.

Besides, the other victim of the Raid on Red Mountain was one of the touchstones of our Washington wine evolution, Syncline Wine Cellars. Syncline was originally recommended to us by wine trial mates Rob and Beth during a tour of the Gorge Area about this time a year ago. When we visited the tasting room, it had a distinct homey feel, combination wine production room, barrel room, and dog haven nestled among the tall pine trees at the edge of the rain shadow that characterizes this section of the Columbia Gorge. I don’t know the specific rainfall at the particular spot of Syncline in Lyle, but locals told us the area from Hood River to The Dalles has the a distinction of losing about an inch of rainfall per year for every mile or so, going west to east. Meaning at the west side of Hood River, it rains a bunch, by Maryhill, thirty miles to the east you are in desert.

Syncline also had the distinction of being the first place we’d ever seen concrete storage tanks used in wine production, and one of the first we’d seen using glass stoppers on some of its wine bottles. We’ve had several wines by now with the glass stopper, but every time I still have our bunny-eared corkscrew almost in place before I realize that’s not going to work. I don’t mind the glass corks necessarily, but I’m not a huge fan either.

The touchstone part of Syncline for us was our first introduction (in my rather foggy memory) to Rhone style blends, and the one wine in particular that stood apart during our first tasting at Syncline was their flagship Rhone blend, Cuvee Elena. That was 2007 vintage. Forget the Gruner Veltliner, Pinot Noir, and Syrahs, all good wines made at Syncline by James and Poppy Mantone, the Elena was my St. Pauli’s Girl of this style of wine.

At the time we bought couple of bottles, brought them home and squirrelled them away. Since then, Elena was the first wine I bought from Full Pull wines and I’ve also been able to find it locally at Cascade Wine Company and at Wray’s on 56th. Wray’s even had a few bottles of 2006, that I added to begin a mini-vertical of Elena’s (Eleni?).

My first tasting note on the 2007 Elena went like this. Very elegant, well balanced wine. Color is bright bing cherry. Nose is red raspberry and cherry blossoms with other florals. Midpalate is more red fruit with nice acidity. Finish is chalky dry. Not a huge wine, but very good. Would stand up well to pork, seafood or pasta.

That note repeated itself with a bottle of Cuvee Elena we opened last week in memory of the stolen Mourvedre.  I even looked on the bottle, 17% Mourvedre.  When we read that the Mourvedre stolen from Grand Reve was destined for Syncline, I wondered if it would have been a stand alone single varietal wine, or might have been meant to be blended into a 2010 vintage of Cuvee Elena. I may never know, but I’ll hope to be around to continue buying every future release of this scrumptious wine.

If you find out someone has stolen some Grenache, Syrah, Counoise, and Cinsault from other vineyards in eastern Washington, France, or Timbuktu...

That wasn’t me either.