The Far, Far Away Kingdom – Pangaea 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon – Horse Heaven Hills

In addition to just attending and helping host a pretty big wedding party (no matter how small and simple someone else may claim) halfway across the country, Barb and I moved last week. Nothing like getting all of life’s huge stressful events out of the way in one action packed two week period. Obviously we’d known about both events for a while, and could have timed the move part a little differently, but sometimes circumstances and banks and inertia kind of take over, and you end up renting a U-Haul on the hottest day (so far) of the year.

The town we moved to, as now listed in my profile, is Cowiche. This is pronounced

Cow - like mooo
i – short i like itch
Chee – like cheddar

Cowiche is an orchard and farming town just north of Yakima and Barb and I found great humor in a recent conversation on the radio between the morning dee-jays describing “the far, far away kingdom of Cowiche”. So far we haven’t met the king or any other royalty, and compared to many other places we’ve both lived, including our recent stint far north of Sunnyside in “no man’s land”, Cowiche doesn’t really seem that far away. It doesn’t have a stop light (yet), but there IS a grocery store AND a gas station. Plus like anywhere else, once you’re there, it’s not far away at all. And we like being there.

There are, so far, only a few vineyards and wineries in this area known collectively as the Upper Valley, which is part of the Yakima Valley geographically, but not the Yakima Valley AVA. Anything north of Union Gap in this part of the world is Columbia Valley AVA even through the Yakima, Naches, and Tieton Rivers go through and the Columbia River is about 100 miles away. There is also some talk of a new AVA in this area to be called Naches Heights, which would be the world's first all biodynamic AVA. Confused yet? Me too, but we just have to find the neighbor’s house with the red roof and we can find our house from there and that's all that matters to us.

As far as I know, the only commercial winery that actually uses Cowiche as an address (so far) is Pangaea. Pangaea is one of probably dozens, maybe hundreds, of Washington wineries whose owner is fully employed doing something else. Many of these wineries are home winemakers and as you can tell by my previous post, I’ve dabbled some too and might fall into that group. Some, like Pangaea, have taken the steps to be fully licensed and bonded. Owner Doug Webster has worked previously at Hogue Cellars but currently works for an apple products company and Pangaea is more or less a side hobby.

Pangaea concentrates on one wine, a Cabernet Sauvignon, and buys fruit from Alder Ridge Vineyard on Horse Heaven Hills. The way Doug describes it, one row of fruit makes enough wine each year for about one barrel, and Pangaea ends up bottling about 60-65 cases of wine each year. What Doug doesn’t drink, he sells. Though Doug doesn’t live in Cowiche, he does lease a small space in another fruit processor’s plant there, and in this leased space, Doug crushes, ferments, ages, and bottles the Pangaea wine.   Pangaea is the name for the single land mass that may have existed prior the current continents splitting and shifting; Doug chose Pangaea to represent that all wines come from one earth in the form of terroir.

To christen our new Cowiche home the other day, we opened a bottle of Doug’s Cab with filet mignon and baked potato that were purchased at the Harvest Food store in downtown Cowiche. The wine is a deep purple black, with a nice cassis nose. Excellent balance and full flavors of cherry, blackberry, and a hint of spice. This wine would do well to make it out of Doug’s garage and I’m glad I have an inside track for future releases and if Doug needs any help come fall, I’m just across the hay field.

In addition to our new house in Cowiche, we acquired a few acres of fairly steep, rocky hillside with irrigation rights and a wind machine. There used to be an apple orchard here, but it’s been gone a while. Barb saw the far away look in my eyes when I walked the property.

One day there might be another estate vineyard and winery in Cowiche, but for now that dream really is…

Far, far away.

Today is the Day July 17, 2010 - Ernest and Jennifer 2009 Riesling - Yakima Valley

When our daughter Jennifer learned that I had started a wine blog last November she naturally assumed it was going to be all about her. At first this surprised me, until I realized that just a few weeks had passed since she, her fiancé E.J. and her sister Kristen had helped Barb and I pick the grapes and start the wedding wine that she and E.J. would serve at their wedding.

We had told them we’d keep them updated on the wine’s progress, so the blog might have just tracked the day by day, week by week progression of their wine.  Add to that the obvious fact that Jo was the bride to be, and until just a few hours from now will still be the bride to be, and it was silly of me to think anything besides Jo and this wedding would be more than a fleeting thought over the past fourteen months. But as you may have seen, I have sometimes strayed.

What I have done here is document some of the significant milestones for Jo and E.J. as it related to the wine aspects of the wedding. That is the most important part afterall. Last January, in my review of 2009's top Yak wine moment, I documented the whole weekend the kids spent with us picking the grapes, stomping the grapes, etc… Along the way after that we sent periodic updates to the kids, and documented here the vast relief when the final product, their Riesling, went into the bottles.

Barb and I (sometimes) regretted not being closer to Jo and E.J. as they picked out colors and attire for the wedding party, planned the reception, and otherwise drove each other crazy over the past several months. But the daily/hourly phone calls kept us involved and quite often Barb would get texted pictures of shoes, cakes, or other critical decision points.

We were happy then we were able to visit with them and some friends in February to help pick some other wines for the reception.  Stories here and here.  See Jo, those first dozen or so blogs WERE about you.  I doubt Jo will read this today, so I think it’s safe to share a story that she doesn’t yet know. When we gathered in Illinois for the tasting party, we toasted the engagement along with Jo and E.J’s friends with a bottle of the wedding wine. Since her sister couldn’t make it, we sent a bottle to New Mexico so that Kristen and her partner Isaac could participate long distance. On the day of the party, however, Kris and Isaac were working, hiking or otherwise indisposed so they missed that tasting, no biggie.

A few weeks ago, Barb, during her weekly chat with Kris, asked if they had ever opened the wine and what did they think. I can see Kristen turning red now. “Mom, it's gone and we didn’t drink it.” Huunnhhh? Sometime between February and now, Kris and Isaac had gone away for a trip and had left their home and dogs in care of a housesitter with instructions, use our panty. Well, on their return they found the bottle of wedding wine had been included in that use. No word whether they liked it or not, but the bottle was empty.

Finally, this past April, it was very special for both Barb and I to share in Jo’s bachelorette weekend visit to Washington wine country with several of her friends. Those girls all became surrogate daughters for us that weekend and we’d invite them all, together or individually, to come back. Actually that invitation extends to any and all of E.J. and Jennifer’s friends. Even last night we met some more of the young people that E.J and Jo have chosen as friends and visa versa, and they are all really neat people. Head West young man/woman; there is wine on the horizon.

After all of that hoopla, finally, at long last, the wedding day is here. Barb and I are happy to be joining Jo’s father John and his wife Joanne, and E.J’s parents Ernie and Arlene in hosting the wedding festivities on a gorgeous day in the middle of downstate Illinois. I had forgotten what real corn looked like, but the waving tassels for miles in every direction over the flat prairie, while not the Wow factor of Washington, do indeed have an awesome beauty and is a testament to man’s basic need to feed himself.

But man also has to drink.  So E.J. and Jennifer picked the grapes, stomped, crushed, pressed, and added the yeast. Nature and a little time did most of the rest. They also designed the label for their wine and it includes this statement:

“Sharp, refreshing, and delightful: characterisitics that make this couple a favorite. It all started with a little crush and developed into a long lasting love. Our lives have grown stronger from the support of our family and friends. Let this love blossom into a sweet nectar from which we can toast our future.”

Congratulations E.J. and Jennifer, we love you, and may God bless your marriage and your life the way you have blessed all of ours.

Now go make us some grandbabies.

The World According to Dick - Boushey Vineyards - Yakima Valley

As I mentioned before one of the highlights for me of the entire WBC’10 weekend was our Thursday visit to DuBrul Vineyard north of Sunnyside where the Wine Yakima Valley folks had arranged a picnic for the bloggers, along with a chance to meet and talk with some of the Yakima Valley’s leading growers and winemakers.

Barb and I got there a little while before the main group and were immediately greeted by a number of people, one of whom was Dick Boushey. Dick was as cordial as could be and we chatted for a while about the weather and a few other things.  We told him we lived nearby and had always wanted to visit his vineyards. Once the bigger crowd arrived, I noticed someone putting namecards of the wine people at some of the place settings. I found Dick’s card and claimed the seats to his left for myself and Barb. In the photo, taken by our new friend Ed Thralls of Wine Tonite!, Dick is obviously thrilled that I've been bending his ear for 2 straight hours.  I think I was looking for the dessert in the photo. 

After the main WBC events in Walla Walla, we again ran into Dick on Sunday on Red Mountain. As that larger group was counted off for the walk down the hill from Col Solare to Hedges, again we sought out Dick Boushey and followed him most of the way on a trip through the vineyards.

Thoughout both of these encounters I asked Dick questions, as did others, along with the natural flow of conversation.  Dick is funny, self-effacing, generous with his knowledge, and sometimes a little sly.  He'd make a perfect politician if he weren't the best grape grower in the State of Washington.

I could try to make a story of what I learned from Dick but the best thing probably is just to share the tidbits I remembered.  So here goes in no particular order...

• 
  
  On the guys who pioneered Red Mountain, Jim Holmes and John Williams, "They were crazy!"  Of course, Dick was pioneering his own vineyards up the Valley a ways at the same time in the mid 1970's.
• 
  
  "Winemakers make me look good".  I offered that it was the other way around, but Dick says no.  In this case, I think we're both correct.  Dick's grapes are used by some of the best winemakers in the state who seek him out because he grows some of the best grapes in the state.
• 
  
  Dick makes wine himself for personal use, would he ever start his own winery? "Too much capital needed to build all that stuff."  I would guess that's not the real issue, but time constraints and the love of being in the vineyards are what keeps Dick out of the wine production side.  That and the fact the winemakers who work with Dick have established a long record of success using Dick's fruit, so why would he want to mess with that.
• 
  
  What do you think of Charles Smith?  Dick first responce (to Andrew), "What do you think?"  Then he offered, "Charles is a great marketer".  Enough said.
• 
  
  Black Rock Dam project?  Dick's answer, "Boondoggle!  There are other ways to get water."  Of course, Dick knew the other ways were already happening because two days later a press release went out that a large water project to deliver more water to Red Mountain was approved.
• 
  
  "Wine grapes use a third of the water of tree fruit".  I don't know how accurate this is, but it certainly sounded convincing and since the nation doesn't depend on Washington for apples or cherries or any other tree fruits, it makes sense to divert the scarce water resource to a more valuable and important crop, wine grapes.  I'm being a little sarcastic here, but Dick's argument does make some sense and I'm sure he and others wine growers became good politicians to support the project mentioned just above. 
• 
  
  When looking up at Ryan Johnson's Grand Reve vineyard high above everything else on Red Mountain.  "He's crazy.  It takes mountain goats to work in that vineyard.  No equipment can make it up there, all hand digging in rock.  He's crazy!"  I later met Ryan and would agree with Dick's assessment.
• 
  
  As we walked down Red Mountain, Dick seemed to know every acre of every vineyard, who owned what, and when each block was planted.  Do you study this?  His answer, "I've worked this hill forever."  I imagine Dick has consulted to a vast number of vineyards in the rest of the Yakima Valley as well and knows that patchwork just as well.  When I say consult here, I doubt Dick is paid by most people to consult, but he's probably just a neighbor helping out his neighbors in the farming business.
• 
  
  On vine spacing, "I don't know whether it helps or hurts the grapes, but I do know it costs an extra $1,000 more per acre for every foot closer together you plant the vines."  Dick's preferred spacing is minimum 6 1/2 feet.  He also makes a convincing argument that once a vine is mature, cordon and canopy management means more than how many trunks are in the ground.  And winemakers want low crop loads anyway, so more vines means more pruning, more cost to the vineyard with no more return per acre.  "Nah, six feet is close enough."
• 
  
  I also learned that vine cuttings from Red Mountain, as well as Dick's own vineyards near Grandview and I'm assuming many other vineyards in the Yakima Valley and elsewhere, are used by Inland Desert Nursery in Benton City to develope roots in creating the baby vines that are resold to vineyards across the state for new planting.  I knew about Inland and have driven past there; it's a remarkable place to see the thousands of tiny grape vines growing on about 6 inch spacing.   As an aside, I've been told by other vineyard owners, if you want good planting stock, go to Inland.  I've heard this in Zillah, Naches, Mattawa, Alderdale, and Walla Walla, so it's possible a case could be made that just about every grape in the state has some Benton City terroir in its history.   
• 
  
  And the most interesting thing to me, Barb asked Dick where his vineyards are located?  "Over there somewhere."  No, where exactly?  We know the roads above Grandview and Prosser, County Line, Snipes, Factory, Gap Rd, etc...  where are your vines?  Dick just smiled.  

I respect Dick's privacy and would never think of sneaking onto his land between 2 and 3 A.M. on a moonless night in mid to late October with 3 or 4 buckets, a small hand wagon, some grape snips, dressed entirely in black or camoflage and a can of pepper spray in case the dogs come.  I'd need to take some water, a thick pair of cotton gloves, a flashlight and a brix refractometer, and a blanket to hide the light for the brix test.  Quiet but comfortable clothes, layers because it can be cold at nighttime in October, shoes with good tread, but the kind that can't be traced, an extra pair of snips in case I drop the first ones, some way to keep Barb from talking the whole time (hardest one yet), some Snickers bars in case I need an energy boost.  And a hiding place for the getaway  black truck.

No, I've never thought about doing any of that.

But I think Dick probably has.

Yak Yak Gets a Makeover

Due to the fact I'm pretty much incompetent with HTML code, I've relied on the good (and free) people at blogger.com to host and provide the platform and backbone for this blog since I started it last November.  Recently I noticed a NEW "Template Customization" feature, and after great angst and multiple attempts have, for today at least, settled on the new look you're seeing.

I've also figured out the "page" function where I've created tabs for some background and other relevant info about this blog.  I'll also be trying to clean up some of the various lists, links, and other functions that I have no clue about, as I continue to tinker and learn.

As always, any and all feedback is welcome.  And as I've starting saying just recently...

Cheers from the Yak!

Slightly Off Kilter - Hightower 2008 Out of Line Red Wine - Red Mountain

Vineyard rows have a symmetry and a precision that is unmistakable. Even in the winter months, the dormant vines create soldier rows across the landscape and if you drive by perpendicular to the rows, it’s a rhythmic pulse that can be mesmerizing. How these rows are spaced, oriented, and trellised is a matter of great variability and is a subject of great debate and study in the field of viticulture.  But like many things in the world of wine making often things are done initially by chance and then by trial and scientific method until there is a preferred method. This is true in making wine in sulfurized oak barrels (or not), in using cultivated yeasts (or not), and in deciding which direction to orient vineyard rows.

One thing I learned during the WBC’10 Post-Conference tour of Red Mountain is that the rows there are oriented mainly on a North-South axis. The early Red Mountain rows put in by Jim Holmes and John Williams were planted that way because that’s the direction the roads ran. I doubt there were many roads, paved or otherwise, here in the mid-1970’s, but the first path was probably what is now Sunset Road, and it runs due North-South.

Most of the vineyards are oriented this way. Except for those that aren’t. In recent years, within probably the past 7-10 years, there has been a trend to twist the angle of orientation slightly off North/South. This is done to account for the shape of Red Mountain. It slopes toward the Southwest from its peak (or knob is more appropriate since Red Mountain is hardly a mountain at all), and by slightly turning the rows off the N/S axis, the vineyard managers have found that they get more even ripening and easier canopy management.

In discussing this with Kelly Hightower of Hightower Cellars and Ryan Johnson, of Grand Reve and Ciel du Cheval, there was some disagreement on what the “correct” angle is. Or maybe it’s because their vineyards sit on slightly different slope angle. But Ryan says the best angle is for the new vines is 12 degrees off N/S. Kelly told me the answer is 11. I tried to sway her to 10 or 12, or even 11.5. No, the best angle for Hightower Cellars to grow their grapes is 11.000 Degrees off North and in fact they named their vineyard “Out of Line” to denote this off-centered approach.

This was our first discussion with Kelly Hightower last week during the tasting event inside Terra Blanca prior to dinner.  I don't think Barb and I had met Kelly previously and if we had it may have been just briefly in the Hightower tasting room.   But we were pleased when the random seating placed us next to Kelly during the meal.  I described the food for that meal in my last post, and in between bites and passing of platters Barb and I carried on a nice conversation with Kelly and the other folks at the table.

We told Kelly about carting their Murray Cuvee to Alaska because the picture of Murray the dog on the label reminded Barb of the dog our daughter Kristen had as a child.  Kris loved the bottle and the wine, though she called Murray "Denver" when she saw the bottle.  It was kind of embarassing since the word MURRAY is in large font just above the dog's face.  This picture of Kelly is with Murray's doppelganger and love child (I've heard anyway), Riley.  Hightower's is the first winery website I've ever seen with a page devoted to the winery dog.

Anyway at dinner we went on to discuss mother-in-laws.  Kelly loves hers as do I mine and Kelly's mother-in-law is the owner of the Syrah block of their vineyard (even though they still put the dog's picture on the Syrah made from those vines). We also talked about differences in tasting palates within a husband and wife winemaking team. That one so far has always worked by consensus at Hightower, but there may be some years in the future with a “Tim” release and a “Kelly” release.

Kelly was offering three wines for tasting that Sunday: their Murray Syrah, their top of the line blend “Red Mountain”, which for now is sourced from various vineyards in the AVA, and a not-yet-released estate wine called Out of Line. Barb and I had sampled and purchased the Murray Syrah not long ago, know Hightower’s powerful Cabs and blends, but had never seen Out of Line.  Kelly told us this would be their first release of this label, made with all estate grown Red Mountain fruit. After trying all of the superduper power wines being tossed about, I drank and thoroughly enjoyed the Out of Line with dinner. 

Afterwards, we looked to see when the Out of Line would be released and discovered Hightower was having a release party on July 17.  It was a tough decision, it's a really good wine, but Barb and I decided if we ever wanted to meet our grandchildren we should attend our daughter Jennifer's wedding that day in Illinois.   So instead we went back to Red Mountain this past weekend, met Tim and Pam, the tasting room lady, and talked the Hightowers into selling us some Out of Line for a PRE-RELEASE REVIEW on Yak Yak Wine dot Com.

We had this wine the other night with beefsteak and baked potatoes; not quite as fancy as ostrich, but I knew what I was eating.  So, for the first time ever here are my tasting notes from a wine not yet available to the general public...

Deep Ruby in color, nose is of caramel with bright cherry notes coming through after a one hour decant. Mouthfeel is full but not overpowering, flavors of cherry, black raspberry, and cocoa. Very fine tannins, there, but neat and well integrated. For a young wine off young vines, the future vintages of this wine, and the bigger wines that will be made from these vines should be very good. As is, it is a delicious entry of the estate blend from Tim and Kelly Hightower. $25 is a steal for this all Red Mountain bordeaux style blend.

Finally, as another first time ever treat, below is a video, filmed for our new friend, Jeff of Conscious Wine Blog, who convinced Barb and me that we would look good on video camera after four days of sun and wine and a huge meal.   The camerawoman for this shoot was none other than the winemaker, Kelly Hightower.  Look what happens when the smartass from Yakima gets a little...

Out of Line.