The Best Washington Wines of 2008
Wine Adviser/Paul Gregutt The Seattle Times
Syncline Number 25 out of 100
With each passing year, my list of the year’s Top 100 Washington wines gets more competitive. We now have nearly 600 wineries in the state, so even limiting it to one listing per winery means that five out of six wineries won’t even appear on the list.
Washington wines do well on other Top 100 lists, and though these are not inexpensive wines, they are far less expensive than most of the wines that show up elsewhere. This list is the only one that focuses exclusively on wines made with Washington grapes — and the only one compiled by a single individual living and working here.
Whether or not you always agree with my choices, I hope they will encourage you to explore many of the wineries (listed from 1 to 100 on page 10), and not just for the specific wine on the list, but for all of their wines. Quality is rarely an accident; if the winery made one great wine, they probably made quite a few really good ones.
Every wine on this list has been scored 90 points or higher by me on the standard 100-point wine-rating system. Within each scoring category, I have listed the wines from least to most expensive, awarding a higher slot to the cheaper wines, because they offer the most value. They have all been released within the 2008 calendar year, but be advised — some are already sold out. Your wine seller can guide you to what is still available, and in some instances he or she may have a newer vintage in stock. (See a list of wine shops on page 10.)
I wish you all a holiday season filled with good friends and family, good health and, of course, good wine!
Toasting the Holidays on a Tighter Budget
Wine Adviser/Paul Gregutt The Seattle Times
It’s no secret that consumers are trimming their wine budgets. Many smaller Washington wineries are offering blended red wines that have benefited from the same vineyard care, fermentation practices and even barrel aging as the superpremium wines, but at the time of blending did not make the cut. Most are priced at or under $20 and in general give you far more depth of flavor at this price point than comparable wines coming from California.This wine is highly recommended:
Syncline 2007 Subduction Red ($18):A great bottle of wine, 35 percent syrah, 21 percent mourvèdre, 16 percent grenache, 15 percent cinsault and 13 percent counoise. Bursting with gorgeous fruit mixing every kind of red and blue berry, with a vibrant and juicy mouthfeel that speaks volumes about the quality and clarity of the fruit.
In Rainy Washington, We Like Our Rosés Dry
Wine Adviser/Paul Gregutt The Seattle Times
Blink and you’ll miss them. The spring release of Northwest rosé wines has become a much- anticipated event; I’d wager that nowhere else in the country are the new, local rosés so eagerly awaited and given such attention by sommeliers and consumers.
I am putting the focus on dry rosé, which was almost unknown in this country a few years ago, when sweet pink wines (white zinfandel and the like) were the fashion. Times have changed, and now we like our rosés dry, at least here in Washington. Winemakers are no fools. They can sell these wines barely six months after harvest — that’s what we call Chateau cash-flow! They have embraced the dry style with a dazzling variety of offerings.
There are no regulations governing the production and labeling of rosé other than the usual — if they are to carry a varietal designation (grape name) they must be at least 75 percent of the named varietal.
In fact, most local rosés are 100 percent varietal from a single grape (there are exceptions, of course), because they are often made simply by bleeding off juice from a fermenter before it spends more than a day or so on the skins. This concentrates the remaining wine, destined to be a bold, brawny red in most instances, and gives the rosé its characteristic pretty pink or salmon or cherry candy color.
So rosé can be anything — pinot noir, sangiovese, syrah, cab franc, grenache, lemberger, merlot — you name it. Rarely do these wines show any particular varietal character. What you should be most curious about is the vintage (stick with the brand-new 2005s) and the level of sweetness.
Rosés from the new world are meant to be enjoyed when very young; even an extra year will rob them of freshness. And 2005 was an especially fine vintage in Washington. These being the first red-grape wines to be released, they offer the chance to do a quick assessment on the brawnier wines to come.
It’s important that you taste before you buy whenever possible because rosés come in an unpredictable array of styles. Many shops do free tastings, and many restaurants offer rosé by the glass. You want to discover how sweet the wine tastes, an important question if you are trying to match it with food.
Syncline 2005 Rosé ($14)I have been an avid fan of Syncline’s rosés in every single vintage, but this new release is the best yet. A blend of four varietals — grenache, cinsault, mourvèdre and syrah — it has more detail and complexity than its peers. It’s a sophisticated wine with a distinct beginning, middle and finish. Scents of rosewater, layers of fruits and dabs of herbs and spices all contribute to this smartly executed and compelling effort.
Washington’s Columbia Gorge Viticultural Area Offers Great Grape Variety.
Wine Adviser/Paul Gregutt The Seattle Times
The Columbia Gorge AVA features some of the highest-elevation vineyards in the state, including Celilo, which sits on a bluff above the Columbia River. Washington’s Columbia Gorge AVA (viticultural area) was officially approved in 2004. This is not the same Gorge as the famous concert venue. This Gorge spans the Washington/Oregon border on the eastern edge of the Cascades. And like the Columbia Valley and Walla Walla Valley AVAs, it includes vineyards in both states. Apart from the striking beauty of the Gorge itself — a four-season, recreational wonderland — the AVA is notable, at least from a grape-growing/ winemaking standpoint, for its diversity of climates and growing conditions.
At its western edge on the Washington side, it includes some of the highest-elevation vineyards in the state, notably Celilo. The Cascade foothills get enough annual rainfall to make irrigation optional for some growers, and the principal grapes are cool-climate varieties such as chardonnay, gewürztraminer, pinot gris, riesling, albarino and grüner veltliner. Some rare Washington pinot noir is also planted, and showing excellent potential.
On the Oregon side, a cluster of vineyards and wineries around the town of Hood River also produces a fair amount of pinot noir, grown at lower elevations in a slightly warmer climate. Then, as you drive east, the landscape rather quickly changes. The evergreen forests and fruit orchards give way to dry-land desert on both sides of the river. The little town of Lyle roughly marks the eastern boundary of the appellation on the Washington side, but the region’s vineyards and wineries continue, occupying the southwest corner of the huge Columbia Valley AVA. Here the annual rainfall is less than a third of the vineyards just a few miles to the west. Hot-climate grapes such as barbera, syrah and zinfandel are the stars.
Most of the roughly two dozen wineries located in the Columbia Gorge region produce wines from other appellations as well. But it is the emerging profile of a specific local terroir that is particularly exciting to explore. Look for wines sourced from the Celilo, Underwood Mountain, Phelps Creek, Oak Ridge and Wy’East vineyards in particular. Wine touring in the region can easily be mixed with a dizzying range of outdoor activities — the Gorge is a sports lover’s paradise. There are plenty of restaurants, B&Bs, spas and museums, and an excellent guide is published by the Columbia River Gorge Visitors Association. For more winery-specific information, visit www.ColumbiaGorgewine.com; be sure to request their excellent brochure (866-413-9463).
On a recent swing through the region, I tasted Columbia Gorge wines from a number of producers, including Syncline, Phelps Creek, The Pines, Cor Cellars, McCormick Family Vineyards and Viento. Here are some of my favorites:
Syncline
At Syncline, James and Poppie Mantone are making a stellar lineup of (mostly) Rhone-inspired wines. But from the neighboring Celilo vineyard comes this astonishing Syncline 2006 Celilo Vineyard Pinot Noir ($25). For the moment, this is the textbook example of what Washington pinot noir should be: elegant, refined, aromatic, svelte and graceful.
Hurrah For Syrah!
Wine Adviser/Paul Gregutt The Seattle Times
Whether or not they sample our wonderful Washington merlots, the national wine press has finally begun to take notice of Washington syrah—cutting-edge stuff! But in spite of some positive reviews, they don’t really have a sense of just how good syrah is getting to be out here because they will never taste 90 percent of the syrahs that are being made in Washington.
Why? There are probably (my estimate) between 250 and 300 different syrah bottlings being made annually, and those numbers keep climbing. That’s a guess, but it’s based on the fact that most of the tiny boutiques make at least one, and usually more. If just a quarter of our 400-plus wineries produce syrah, and they average two or three different syrahs each, you can see how I arrived at that estimate. Since these wineries make just 100 or 200 cases of any given wine, very few people will ever taste them. But living here in the Northwest, we are among the fortunate few.
Washington syrahs have gone from being a curiosity to being solid and interesting reds to being world-class. Why? Because the vines are getting older, the vineyard management is improving and the winemakers are approaching their syrahs in particular with a youthful passion that is absolutely riveting.
Want to taste for yourself? Here are six new syrahs from some of Washington’s most innovative wineries. These wines are absolutely dazzling. They light up the palate with a mix of highlighted flavors that California (and for that matter, Australia) can only dream of. These are wines that dance. They express all that is brilliant in Washington: the bright, fresh, tangy berry fruit; the nuances of citrus and spice; and the sharp acids that provide the nerve structure, the definition and the sheer vitality of this state’s wines.
These are very limited releases, but they are not impossible to find. You can obtain most of them from wine shops that specialize in Washington boutiques, or simply contact the wineries directly. For you number crunchers, these are all 92- to 95-point wines.
Syncline 2004 “Milbrandt Vineyards” Syrah Columbia Valley; $22. Another brilliant wine from Syncline’s James Mantone, featuring Wahluke Slope fruit. It’s jammy without being hot, dense but poised, and lovingly detailed with blackberry and black cherry the dominant flavors. A blockbuster, available at specialty shops.
Gregutt’s Top 100 state wines for 2007
Wine Adviser/Paul Gregutt The Seattle Times
Once again, in the retrospective spirit of the season, I offer a highly personal list of the year’s Top 100 Washington wines.
There are now more than 530 bonded wineries in the state. If they average just 10 wines annually (some less, some more) that’s more than 5,000 wines. Do I taste them all? In my dreams! But I do taste a significant percentage, and that, along with frequent visits to wineries and vineyards, numerous conversations and tastings with the winemakers themselves, and a depth of reference tastings reaching back a quarter-century, all enter into this ranking.
Many of the elite Washington wineries sell most of their wines to mailing-list customers, select restaurants and wine shops. It is important to recognize them — even if they are expensive and rare — because these are building a quality reputation for Washington state, which I believe to be the most important emerging wine region in the New World.
Included also are some widely available, inexpensive wines — those which offer exceptional flavor and value. These everyday bottles evangelize for the affordability of Washington wines. I try to list just one wine per winery, although many of these producers make a full lineup of outstanding wines. My aim is to be inclusive. Even so, barely 20 percent of the wineries in the state make the list. The competition, needless to say, gets tougher every year.
This ranking is not done strictly by the numbers, although these are all wines that score very well on the 100-point scale. I believe that consistency year-to-year, overall style and quality and relative value (to comparable wines) are equally important guidelines.
18. Syncline 2005 Cuvée Elena Red Wine ($35)
Year’s best Washington wine? Here’s my top 100
Wine Adviser/Paul Gregutt The Seattle Times
Two of the most eagerly-awaited “Best of” lists are the year’s top 100 wines as profiled in the Wine Spectator and the Wine Enthusiast. Thousands of wines from around the globe are reviewed by these publications each year, so to place any wines at all on these lists is a coup. Washington does quite well, especially considering how truly small our wine industry is. But it occurs to me, why not do a top 100 Washington wine list?
In 2006 I tasted more new releases than ever. I was intent on experiencing the full range of what this state has to offer, from the Olympic Peninsula to the Columbia Gorge, from Walla Walla to Spokane and all points within that vast circle. Many of the wines on this list may have been made in very limited quantities, and quite a few are now sold out. Some wineries sell only to mailing-list customers. However, the more widely-available, less expensive wines listed here are just as important, because these are the everyday, affordable wines that best promote the quality of Washington vineyards and vintners.
With one or two exceptions, I have elected to list just one wine per winery, although many producers named here have delivered a full lineup of outstanding wines. The wine listed is the one that I felt was the best.
This ranking is not done strictly by the numbers, although these are all wines that score very well on the 100-point scale. However, I firmly believe that both quality and cost are factors in overall excellence. If a winery charges $80 or $100 for a wine, it darn well better be good! But if the wine costs $8 or $10 and delivers quality flavor, it is every bit as valuable as the pricey juice.
Congratulations to everyone whose work is recognized below. I very much look forward to chronicling your continued success in 2007.
21. Syncline 2004 Milbrandt Vineyards Syrah
25. Syncline 2004 Cuvée Elena Grenache-Mourvèdre-Syrah
Syncline Cellars Breaks All The Right Rules
Wine Adviser/Paul Gregutt The Seattle Times
In my years of sniffing, swirling, slurping and sleuthing around the subject of wine, I have learned that the accepted wisdom is often wrong. Red wine does go with fish. Washington can grow pinot noir. Bigger is not always better. The most expensive wines are not always the most complex.
The wines of Syncline Cellars, a new producer in the Columbia Gorge, embody the things I hold most dear. They express the purity of the grapes from which they are made. They point to a number of promising new directions for Washington winemakers. They offer exceptional value at reasonable prices. They break the rules in all the right ways.
Syncline’s James Mantone may just be the Billy Beane of Washington winemakers. Beane, the celebrated general manager of the Oakland Athletics, was famously profiled in “Moneyball” as a guy who found value in ballplayers who didn’t fit the mold. Ballplayers he could sign for little money and turn into champs.
Mantone does that with wine grapes. He’s 32, bookish and intense, with wide-set, open, inquisitive eyes. Not shy, but not demonstrative either. A native Midwesterner, he was studying organic chemistry at Purdue University when a professor gave him a bottle of Oregon pinot noir. The wine bug bit, hard.
In the summer of 1995 he backpacked through Oregon, living in a tent, working crush, and eventually hooking up with a custom crush facility making small batches of wine for a wide range of clients. “It was like working at 10 or 12 different wineries, all at the same time,” he recalls, “making everything from Walla Walla merlot and cab to bulk chardonnay sent out in tanker trucks.”
While there, he discovered Rhone wines and tasted some early Rhone Ranger efforts from McCrea and Glen Fiona; wines so good that he started driving up to visit Eastern Washington wine country and meet the growers.
“I started to see some great potential in the land,” he told me. “Everybody was still chasing merlot, which they picked in the first weeks of September, and they didn’t get a frost till November! So I asked myself ‘well what’s wrong with the rest of the growing season?’ And I started looking into some late-ripening varietals.”
A marriage and a move north brought him to the Gorge, to start Syncline Wine Cellars. Ironically, Syncline’s first wine was a 1999 pinot noir, from Celilo vineyard vines planted in 1972. That pinot is still made and arguably proves that the right sites can produce good pinot in Washington. But it is the Rhone varietals that really constitute the heart of Syncline’s portfolio: viognier, roussanne, grenache and syrah, with mourvèdre on the way.
“I’m trying to find unique sites,” Mantone explains. “There’s a bit of the underdog aspect in me; if I wanted to do the easy thing I would have just made the big three — chardonnay, cabernet and merlot — and gone to the big sites. But look, I’m making grenache rosé, viognier, roussanne! Underdog grapes.”
The rap on Washington these days is that the wines are too expensive. That is more false than true. Yes, some limited production, overly confident boutique wineries slap ridiculous prices on their first few releases. Yes, some wineries do the math backwards, expecting that their costs somehow justify prices out of whack with the rest of the market.
But over and over again, lists of the top 100 wines in the leading wine publications show that Washington wines, as a group, claim more places at lower average prices than any comparable wine region in the world. Syncline wines are emblematic of everything that is right, hopeful and promising about the Washington wine industry as it hands over the winemaking reins to a new generation of winemakers.
These wines prove that you can be a boutique startup, with big aspirations but not much cash, and hit the mark with stylish wines that have something important to say, while keeping your pricing realistic. The winery, in a converted beer warehouse in Bingen, is functional, but not a destination. Yet. A new facility, in the Gorge between Lyle and Bingen (“we’ve dubbed it Lyle-a-bama” says Mantone) will be constructed in the coming year.
I expect great things from Syncline in the future. And Syncline expects great things from Washington. “Washington is such a tremendously great climate,” Mantone enthuses. “It’s really quite forgiving. You can get away with a few sloppy things and still make good wines. I want to see what we can get if we cut out the sloppy things.”
Syncline’s wines are made in small lots and are not widely distributed. You may have to do some sleuthing, but you can find these wines at small specialty wine shops throughout the state, or contact the winery directly (509-493-4705). The tasting room is open Fridays through Sundays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Remember, even when the winery is sold out of a particular vintage, some shops may still have it in stock. You might also inquire about getting on the mailing list for early notification of future releases.
Current releases from Syncline Cellars
Syncline 2003 “Clifton Vineyard” Viognier ($20). On a visit to Condrieu to research viognier, Mantone was told that sand — lots of it — is the key for growing it. “At Clifton,” he notes, “Butch Milbrandt has three feet of windblown sand on top of hundreds of feet of fist-sized river rocks.” Bingo! This is a penetrating, ripe style, big but not blowsy, with nuances of orange peel, citrus, apricot and hints of peach, mango and honeysuckle.
Syncline 2003 Late Harvest Chenin Blanc ($18/375). This is 100 percent barrel-fermented, dessert-style chenin, yet not cloying at all. Lively flavors mix stone fruits, new-mown hay, fermenting apples, butterscotch and candy.
Syncline 2002 Reserve Syrah ($30). Due to be released in about a month, this is a blend of different vineyards, unlike previous single vineyard reserves. Flavors are smooth and creamy, with roasted coffee, bitter chocolate and vanilla cream. As with all Syncline wines, the use of new oak is quite restrained.
Syncline 2002 “Milbrandt Vineyards” Syrah ($20). A sweet, spicy, pungent syrah, with meaty, bright berry scents of white pepper, blueberry and violets. One of the best in the state.
Syncline 2002 “Celilo Vineyard” Pinot Noir ($20). Sturdy and thick, tasting of ripe strawberry, pomegranate and cranberry. Stylistically it sits squarely between Oregon and Burgundy.
Syncline 2002 Subduction Red ($15). The winery’s mongrel red blend might as well be called Seduction Red, for its sensuous blend of cabernet, grenache and syrah. Pretty scents of earth, animal and plant, with layered, tart red fruits.
Syncline Winery
Wine Adviser/Paul Gregutt The Seattle Times
Syncline’s James Mantone is showing me some vineyard sites in this photo, taken about a year ago, in Washington’s Columbia Gorge AVA. Mantone and his wife Poppie began making wine in the area in 1999. During their first ten vintages, Syncline has rapidly become one of the most essential boutique wineries in this state.
With a determined focus on Rhone varietals (and occasional ventures into equally interesting, non-Rhone varietals), the Mantones have consistently produced well-structured, detailed and highly aromatic wines, priced affordably and crafted for both near-term enjoyment and cellaring. Their business approach, James explains, “has always been based on the European model – small, family-owned, with a little estate vineyard [theirs is biodynamic] – what one or two people could do. You make the best wines you can,” he modestly explains, “upgrade equipment when you can, pay as you go. If we had sunk millions into a winery building and were asking consumers to pay for the wine and the building I’d be a little more nervous. There are always new toys every winemaker would love to have, but I see some of these new offerings and I wonder if I’m paying for their wine or their winery.”
The first of Syncline’s spring releases are in the stores this week, and some will sell out very quickly. All of these wines are highly recommended.
Syncline 2008 Underwood Mountain Vineyard Grüner Veltliner ($20) – The first Gru-V for Syncline, and just the second harvest from this Columbia Gorge vineyard. Barely 12% alcohol, this is searingly tart, with sharp lime, pineapple and green apple fruit. Just a hint of white pepper in the nose. Could be a fine oyster wine.
Syncline 2008 Syncline Rosé ($16) – The blend is 44% Cinsault 30% Grenache, 17% Mourvedre and 9% Counoise. As in past vintages, it’s done with the saignée process, and fermented in stainless steel (no malo). Fresh and pretty, with bright and tangy flavors of strawberry and rhubarb, it has a spicy back kick that really pumps up the finish.
Syncline 2007 Celilo Vineyard Pinot Noir ($28) – For me, the most interesting wine of a fascinating flight, because old vine pinot noir is not something generally found in Washington. These vines were planted in 1972, and produce a delicate pinot noir, high in acid, pretty and relatively pale in the glass, with scents of tart cranberry, mineral and pomegranate. It is much like the pinots of Germany, or the Canadian Okanagan, rather than anything I’ve tasted from Oregon, California or New Zealand.
Syncline 2007 Coyote Canyon Vineyard Mourvedre ($30) – A 100% varietal mourvedre from the Horse Heaven Hills; it’s a sharp, edgy wine. It shows a different fruit profile than other reds, highlighting plum, with lots of spice; it’s soft and round, and the tannins are subtle but peppery.
Syncline 2007 Syrah ($24) – Almost every winemaker I talk to these days has a sad face when the subject of syrah sales is raised, but a wine this good should have no trouble finding buyers. From Destiny Ridge, Milbrandt and Coyote Canyon (65% HHH/35% Wahluke), it has simply wonderful aromatics, with carpaccio, olive, violets and more. There is great concentration here, both in the nose and in the mouth. Tannins are ripe and polished, underlying glorious purple fruits, a panoply of berries and plums. Still very young, but perfect texture and balance, with a little white chocolate in the finish.
Triage distributes Syncline in western Washington. See the sidebar link for ordering info from the winery.