Powers Winery in the Richland WA, has been producing wines for longer than most other wineries in the state – its legacy extends back to 1982, which for WA is a decently long time. Started by brothers Greg and Bill Powers, they also produce wine under another label called Badger Mountain. It was also one of the first wineries in our state to transition to 100% organic grapes back in 1992 – long before it was the savvy thing to do.

2006 Reserve Meritage: W.E.P. Rating: 90%

Technical Data:

• Vineyard Sources and Grape Varities: 31% Cabernet Sauvignon from Coyote Vineyard (Wahluke), 22% Merlot from Katharine Leone (Wahluke Slope, Milbrant), 21% Malbec from Goose Ridge (Columbia Valley), 18% Petite Verdot from Alice Vineyard (Wahluke), and 8% Cabernet Franc from the Estate (Columbia Valley)
• Copperage:  The Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec both were in new wood (French), the rest in 3-4 yr old. 
• Bottled in August of 2008
• ph: N/A
• Alcohol: 14.2% 
•  240 cases made
• Price: $35

Nose: Blackberries, tar, pie crust and some herbaceousness.

Taste: Black plum, blackberry and black cherries combined with some leather, sweaty sock, firm tannins and a finish that lingers quite well. This wine should easily lay down for the next 5-10 years. 

2006 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon: W.E.P. Rating: 90%

Technical Data: 

• Vineyard Source: Champoux Vineyard
• AVA:  Horse Heaven Hills
• Release Date: 04-01-09
• Alcohol:14.5%
• Residual Sugar:0.0
• Acidity:0.62 
• pH 3.74
• Price: $30

Nose: Obvious cherries, blackberries and big league chew, pomagrante, brussel sprouts on the nose along with some vanilla-laced tobacco. 

Taste: I get dried cherry, shoe-leather, dark chocolate, tobacco, anise, not a bad mouth-feel, hints of smoothness and a good finish. This wine would be a natural pairing with prime rib or grilled steaks topped with blue-cheese; however, at it’s price of $30, there are some better values out there – to me this wine is currently bringing about a $20 experience.

Winery website:  www.powerswinery.com

XYZin is an arm of Ascentia wine estates in California and as its name implies, it aims to be the final word in Zinfandel. Its  winemaker, Ondine Chattan, grew-up in Marin country so she’s been around the wine regions of that area most of her life. As one can tell from the way XYZin names its Zinfandels, one of the things it does is to showcase a span of history of what young-to-old vines can do in the bottle and ultimately, your glass. 

In this review, we take a look at their 2007 “10″ and 2006 “50″ – made with 10yr old vines and 50yr old vines respectively. 

2007 10 – W.E.P. Rating: 60%

Technical Data:

• Wine Type: Red Wine
• Varietal: Zinfandel
• Appellation: California
• Harvest Date: September 4th – October 15th, 2007
• Acid: 5.8g/L
• PH: 3.70
• Alcohol %: 14.2
• Price: $16

Nose: bright cherries like cherry-flavored kool-aid action as well on the nose – a little fake-smelling. I also get subtlties of rose petal.

Taste: Tightly-woven, young tannins give way to a fruit-bomb with some bits of cherry/raspberry jam and white pepper. A finish that’s too short with tannins that are completely out of control and fruit that tastes too fake. Quite frankly, at $16, there are far better zins out there but I do appreciate the relatively low alcohol for a Zin as it helps to create a more balanced finish.

2006 50 - W.E.P. Rating: 70%

Technical Data:

• Wine Type: Red Wine
• Varietal: Zinfandel
• Appellation: Russian River Valley
• Acid: 5.9 g/L
• PH: 3.7
• Aging: Aged 15 months in French Oak
• Residual Sugar: Dry
• Alcohol %: 14.3%
• Price: $35

Nose: Bigtime raspberry/blackberry jam with nice hints of plum-sauce,  white pepper and euchaliptus and rhubarb.

Taste: Bright raspberries topped over rhubarb pie - add in hints of pepper and you have the front-end palate of this wine. I’m also getting some fruity-pebbles action along with red vines licorice. A decently long finish resounds with a lace of leather, vanilla, and white pepper, however, it’s doesn’t have near the overall mouthfeel and pizzaz a wine of its price range should have in my opinion. To me, this is a Zin that should be more appropraitely priced at $20-$25 to make it more competitive to what else is out there. 

Winey Website: www.xyzinwines.com

Texas wineries have been doing quite well with both spanish and rhone grape varieties for awhile now and have vastly been under-the-radar for most of the greater wine-drinking community at large. While there are cleary some wines in Texas that show the immaturity of that region, yet others which provide a glimpse of promise and hope to how great it can be as well.

Kim McPherson, winemaker and owner, of McPherson Cellars in Lubbock Texas has been making wine in Texas for 20 years and learned his chops in Napa and from UC Davis. He’s no stranger to what it takes to make great wines and seems to be doing a good job of producing quality wines at price points which should do well – even in today’s economy.

2006 Rose of Syrah-Grenache – W.E.P. Rating: 90%

Technical Data: 

• Grape Variety: 77% Syrah, 23% Grenache
• Appellation: Texas
• Production: 1000 Cases
• pH: 3.51
• Total Acid: 6.4 gm/L
• Alcohol: 13.1%
• Residual Sugar: 4.0 gm/L
• Aging: Stainless Steel
• Price: $12

Nose: Dirty strawberries with some rosepedal, socks, laundry-detergent and some cherry pop-rocks.

Taste: Rubarb, cherries and strawberries for days – it has an insanely long finish which I find very pleasing.  A little bit on the hot side for me but chilling the wine would help take some of that out. Also get some red-clay action.

2005 Grenache Mourvedre – W.E.P. Rating: 92%

Technical Data:

• Grape Variety: 51% Grenache, 49% Mourvédre
• Appellation: Texas
• Production: 357 Cases
• pH: 3.67
• Total Acid: 6.4 gm/L
• Alcohol: 13.1%
• Residual Sugar: 5.2 gm/L
• Aging: 100% in 2 year old American and French barrels for 14 months.
• Price: $18

Taste:  Good berry component going down the hatch which does an admirable job of coating the mouth with some smooth velvet action. If you took some spicey, cherry jam and coated it with dirt shoe-laces and fresh flowers – that’s what you’d have with this wine. 

It’s very pinot-esk in its approach and it’s not going to be geared towards the lovers of Cabs and Merlot’s. The finish lingers quite nicely and overall I’d easily hit this with a bowl of taco soup, spicey italian sausage-pasta or other heavily seasoned foods.

2006 Tre Colore – W.E.P. Rating: 50%

• Grape Variety: 56% Carignan, 35 % Mourvédre, 9 % Viognier
• Appellation: Texas
• Production: 477 Cases
• pH: 3.67
• Total Acid: 6.8 gm/L
• Alcohol: 13.5%
• Residual Sugar: 7.0 gm/L
• Aging: Stainless Steel
• $14

Nose: Bright cherries, raspberries, hints of straw and sandstone – smells like vegas air. I’m also picking up some cherry-cola action as well on the nose.

Taste: Very kool-aid-like in its fruit-forward approach – the finish is rather weak and doesn’t leave much on the palate very long. This wine seems rather disjointed to me as if it doesn’t know who or what it’s trying to be. 

Winery website: http://mcphersoncellars.com

Efeste’s winemaker, Brennon Leighton, is one spoild dude – he’s able to source from some of the best vineyards in Washington state and then act like a kid in a candy store with a “go-pass”. What a dream it is for winemakers to have access to the sort of fruits he does – old-vine, concentrated and full of tons of character.

If you ever meet Brennon then you’ll immediately know why he calls this wine “Big Papa” – it’s a huge cab that takes no prisoners and quite frankly has the backbone to stare-down any of the best of the likes of Napa-cabs.

Technical Data:

• Barrel program: 20 months in 100% new french oak it
• Fruit Sources: 100% cab from 45% kiona old block planted 1972, 40% sagemoor 208 planted in 1972,  and 15 %  Ceil du Cheval
• Alcohol: 14.8%
• Price: $45

Nose: Tons of cherry, rose petal, bright raspberry, hints of charred asparagus, cedar, cocoa. Some medicince cabinent action as well as hints of bits of leather round things out.

Taste: A massive fruit-attack on the front-end that assaults your palate with killer fruit. Excellent layering of raspberry, cherry with some nice hints of veggie action hit across the back-side of the mid palate. The purity of fruit comes shinging through like a rock-star and has a great supporting case of firm, yet balanced tannins. Massively focused fruits that linger for months on-end. This is easily the best cab I’ve had in the past few years and showcases how serious Washington cabs can be when done properly. This wine tastes really good now but should have room to improve over the next 3-12+ years.

W.E.P. Rating: 100%
Winery website: www.efeste.com

Winery Website: www.meyerfamilycellars.com

I’m sure many of you have heard of the Meyer’s family out of California – if not, you’re almost certain to have heard about their work on making the Silver Oak brand synonymous with best-of-class California Cab. This family has a tradion steeped in wine making and has been involved with producing high quality wines for several decades. 

Matt and Karen Meyer met while working together at an Oregon vineyard, got married and not too long ago launched their own winery. Matt’s experience of growing up in the then-great Silver Oak days proved to be essential to his passion for making the best of what he can – year in and year out.

Karen is from the land down-under and has a similar background in the wine-making business there – both her and Matt share an unadultered passion and zeal for wine making – they both work on the wines they now make.

For those who might be new to Winefoot.com – let me get this off my chest – I LOVE ZINFANDEL. There, it’s out in the open – it truely is a grape that America owns – we do it better than anyone else and having it made into a port wine like this one shows how great it is – even in a variety of ways.

Meyer Family Port Facts:
Appellation: California
Grape Varieties: A solera-style blend, primarily old-vine California Zinfandel
Spirit: Pot-Still Alembic Zinfandel Brandy
Residual Sugar: 8%
Alcohol by Volume: 18%
Age at Release: 8 Years
Bottle Size: 500 ml
Price: $35 

Smell: black plums and black cherries coupled with some home-made fruit-cake action and spice. 

Taste: massive blackberry and plums coming thru across the plate which ends very nicely with some sweetened holiday spice action. If you took some black cherries and shoved them inside of a piece of fruit-cake, added in hints of pepper – you’d pretty much have this wine. Excellent finish that simply begs you to take another sip – I’d recommend putting on a seatbelt as this wine will certainly take your tastebuds on a killer journey.

Would pair great with:
- dark chocolate
- stinky cheeses
- BBQ Ribs

W.E.P. Score: 100%

Winery Website: www.noveltyhillwines.com

For the past few years now, lots of washingtonians have been super excited about what’s been going on at Woodinville-based Novelty Hill Winery – it’s winemaker, Mike Januik is one of the state’s superstars and rightly so. His wines have a stellar track-record of kicking ass and taking names – he is held in high regard by both industry professionals and by the many fans of his work.

It was for good reason that the family-owned Novelty Hill Winery hired this guy to make its wine – and they’ve provided him a world-class vineyard in Eastern Washington called Stillwater Creek.

2006 Chardonnay – Stillwater Creek:

Technical Data:
Case Production: 1,375
Alcohol: 13.5%
pH: 3.35
Total Acidity: 0.50 grams/100 ml
Barrel fermented in new and one-year-old French oak
Malolactic fermentation
Sur lie aging for nine months
Price: $22

Nose: Creamy pineapple chunks covered in vanilla – a touch of honeysuckle, minerality, and toastiness.

Taste: Toasted marshmallows with hints of kiwi, pineapple, green apple peel and vanilla bean. Extremely luscious mouth-feel in a wine that does a great job of balancing the fruit and acidity. The finish lasts for days on end – easily one of the better-structured chardonnay’s I’ve had in a long time.

W.E.P. Rating: 110%

2006 Viognier – Stillwater Creek:

Technical Data:
Barrel fermented in 100% French oak
Sur lie aged for nine months
Blend: 100% Viognier
Case Production 192 cases
Alcohol 13.5%
pH 3.51
Total acidity 0.59 grams/100 ml
Price: $22

Nose: Here we go – the nose on this wine is serious business – we’re talking HUGE amounts of pineapple, granny-smith apples, fresh carnations, a hint of flintiness and sour patch candy.

Taste: Take a fresh pineapple, top it with some kiwi, pear peel, some watermelon rine and shove it into your mouth – the explosive fruit of this wine cannot be underscored well enough in text. I get some hints of petrol, sandstone as well.

One of the best balances of fruit to acidity I’ve had in a white wine this side of Europe. I would hit this wine like the fist of an angry god – bring it on. For all you red wine snobs out there, you NEED to try this wine – this is the quintessential gateway white. This viognier is perhaps the best I’ve had at anytime, from any producer anywhere. It’s so well balanced that I’m a bit verklempt.

W.E.P. Rating: 120%

2005 Syrah – Sillwater Creek:

Technical Data:
Aged in a combination of new and one-year-old French oak barrels for 18 months
Gravity racked every 3 – 4 months
Blend: 98% Syrah and 2% Cabernet Sauvignon
Case Production: 1,909 cases
Alcohol: 14.1%
pH: 3.72
Total acidity: 0.53 g/100 ml
Price: $22

Nose: Gooseberries mixed with wild, freshly-cut game – some white and black pepper corns mixed with a nice blueberry jam and pie crust overtone round things out.

Taste: Bring on the stinky-socks covered in venison and peppercorns – then shove some fresh blueberries in your mouth and that’s what you have going on in this wine. Subtle hints of cocoa round out this quality syrah.

It has an insane amount of fruit that leaps onto your palate but it’s kept in check with a good sense of toasted leather notes. Excellent balance of fruit, oak and alcohol – this is a complete no-brainer wine for the money and one I’d highly recommend.

W.E.P. Score: 100%

Winery Website: www.snoqualmie.com

Joy Anderson of Snoqualmie Vineyards has done an outstanding job of producing well-priced wines which do an admirable job of bringing good quality to their respective price-ranges. The wines she and her team produce have consistantly garnered wide-spread acclaim from both industry reviews and customer satisfaction.

What started out as a small winery has blossemed into one that is a part of the Ste. Michelle Wine Estates wine group. This coporate infustructure allows Snoqualmie to gain better national attention and all the resources it needs to keep producing top-quality wine. 

You won’t see wines that cost anywhere north of $30 in anything Snoqualmie produces as its wines tend to be priced at no more than $25 per bottle for these reserve wines.

2005 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon:
Technical Data:

• Vineyard: Grapes are sourced from Rosebud Vineyards.
• First Harvest September 22, 2005
• Brix 27.1
• Length 7 days on skins
• Yeast type Premier Cuvée, BDX and D22
• Total acidity 0.65 g/100ml
• pH 3.65
• Alcohol 14.2%
• Blend 85% Cabernet Sauvignon
• 10.2% Merlot
• 4.8% Petit Verdot 
• Price: $25 

Nose: Black plums, black raspberry, blackberry, hints of leather and black pepper. Tons of dark fruit going on here in its smell..

Taste: Tobacco-laden plums and blackberries with hints of the elderberry coming through – this is definitely a wine that decants well and could easily sit out awhile. Firm tannins that do soften up with time. Good lingering finish but is a touch too hot with a heavy dose of road tar and tobacco.

This is a straight-forward cab which presents itself pretty good for the money – I don’t find it to be huge fruit-bomb which some folks may actually prefer but it does seem to be pretty well balanced if it weren’t for the hot finish.
W.E.P. Rating: 90%

2005 Reserve Merlot:
Technical Data: 

• Vineyards: A majority of the merlot grapes come from 25-year-old vines are grown on the Wahluke Slope. The remainder of the Merlot and Petit Verdot come from the Yakima Valley.
• First Harvest September 29, 2004
• Brix 27.2
• Length 6 days on skins
• Yeast type Premier Cuvée
• Total acidity 0.56 g/100ml
• pH 3.57
• Alcohol 13.57%
• Blend 89.5% Merlot,
• 10.5% Petit Verdot
• Price: $25

There’s little doubting that many in the Wine industry regard Charlie Hoppes as one of the State of Washington’s more premiere winemakers. His passion and know-how are about as good as you can find anywhere.

When he first kicked out his original “Optu”, it wasn’t called Optu it has the name of Meritage – and while the name has changed, it still consists of a blended wine which is made to be greater than the sum of its parts.

For the first time, Fidelitas has laucnhed an Optu white wine which I find really interesting as it sets to raise the bar for Charlie and Fidelitas in its efforts to help elevate the seriousness of white wine. All too many times, in many wine circles, white wine can sort of get a bad rap – red wine snobs; jeesh.

2007 Optu White Wine:
Technical Data:

- Vineyards: 54% Gamache Vineyards, 35% Stillwater Creek Vineyards, 11% Rosebud Vineyards
- Varietal Composition: 54% Sauvignon Blanc, 46% Semillon,
- Aging: 9 months: 40% new French oak
- Alcohol: 14.5%
- Release Date: Fall 2008
- Price: $32

Nose: Pineapple, kiwi, lemon, vanilla with hints of pea-gravel and limestone.

Taste: Flavors of vanilla-toasted pineapple rings right off the grill floods the front palate which is closely followed up with nice notes of grass, hay, lemon drops and lingers with hints of kiwi. I also get really green – raw – asparagus tips on the end as well. Excellent acid/fruit balance.

This is an exceptional white wine that really needs to be tried by those who “think” they dont’ like Semillon or even Sauvignon Blanc – the balance of fruit and toastiness from its oak aging is very well done.

W.E.P. Score: 90%

2005 Optu Red Wine:
Technical Data:
- Varietal Composition: 55% – Cabernet Sauvignon, 36% – Merlot, 6% – Cabernet Franc, 3% – Malbec
Vineyards: Weinbau Vineyard (40%), Conner-Lee Vineyard (20%), Kiona (18%), Stillwater Creek Vineyard (9%), Champoux Vineyard (9%), Boushey Vineyard (4%).
- Oak Aging:  21 months – 50% new French and American Oak
- Alcohol: 14.9%
- Release Date: Fall 2008
= Price: $40

Nose: Bell pepper, leather glove, blackberry, black cherry poprocks, euchaliptus, dry mud, clay and road-tar.

Taste: Floods of black fruit – I’m talkin, blackberry, black plum, black cherry and black raspberry – if it’s black, it’s in here. An insane amount of fruit with a smooth transition across the mid-palate into a finish that lingers for months.

This wine is has an excellent layering effect of black-fruit flavors – HUGE, BOLD black flavors in fact, I’m sure there will be folks who try this wine who won’t “get it”. Also, you’ll want to decant this wine for several hours to enjoy it at its fullest. It could easily lay down for 10 years or more but who wants to wait that long to drink good wine?

W.E.P. Score: 95%

Winery Website: Andeluna Cellars
MSRP: $12.00 

It’s very exciting for me to watch other, newer, wine regions cropping up with such promise and one of the more recent ones has been that of the country of Argentina. Already known for its great Malbecs, this region is also producing some other interesting grape varieties such as Torrontes – a noble white grape that doesn’t get a whole lot of play here in North America.

Torrontes is distinctly an Argentinan grape which has some very interesting and food-friendly characteristics going for it which I hope will help it gain more popularity here in the states and throughout the rest of the world.

The Torrontes grape is usually round and medium-sized with a yellowish-green color which can appear to closer to that of a golden-delicious apple. It primarily grows in the following regions of Argentina:

Catamarc
La Rioja
Mendoza
Salta
San Juan
Rio Negro

Any of the fruit sourced from these particular provinces of Argentina are considered to be the best of its kind, anywhere in the world. 

Andeluna Cellars is considered by many to be one of Argentina’s top wine producers and has quite a long pedigree of churning out award-winning, palete-pleasing wines since 2003 – it’s grapes founders have been growing grapes in that region of the world for 120 years.

Technical Information
Varietal Composition: 100% Torrontés
Harvest Date: 4/10/07
Alcohol: 13.6%
Residual Sugar: 1.80 g/l
Total Acidity: 6.30 g/l
PH: 3.38
Cases Produced: 2,000

Nose: Jasmine-laced pineapple rings combined with some crisp, green apples, apricots and great components of chalk-dust, vanilla and white peaches.

Taste: Excellent balance of fruit and acidity here – the green apples are ripping my face of and the excellent acids make it a very food-friendly wine which pairs great with tomoto-based pasta dishes or even some clam linguini. Great mouth-feel that rides the palate very well with a finish that lingers quite well. The complexity of flavors of peach, jasmine, grapefruit and vanilla are VERY well balanced.

Overall Summary: This wine has excellent balance – there’s the killer acidity I love and adore while all the fresh fruit I want to make it extremely palatable. In the end, I’d easily tap this wine as a daily drinker or one that would pair well with a variety of chicken and seafood dishes.

W.E.P. Scale Rating: 150%

Winery Link: www.maryhillwinery.com
MSRP: $20.00

Maryhill is one of the top wine producers of Washington State when you consider the amount of wine it produces at the quality to price points it charges. While there are going to be better quality wines from ultra-botique producers, few if any can match Maryhill’s quality-to-quantity ratio.

I’m usually more impressed with the Maryhill wines than I am not – namely its Zinfandel has really won me over in a lot. We recently got our hands on a bottle of its 2005 Syrah – this is my first time with a Maryhill Syrah so I was more than curious about tasting it.

Technical Data:
Alcohol: 14.5%
Vineyard Sources: 44% Tudor, 29% Gunkel, 19% Baily, 8% Milbrandt
Barrel Specs: 1-3yr mixed French and American Oak for 14-months
Acidity: 0.64
ph: 3.73
Residual Sugar: .13
Cases Made: 1333

Nose: Fresh game, blueberries, blackberries, black and white pepper, leather glove and some stinky sock are all here.

Taste: Good amounts of blueberry, vanilla and pepper – even pick up the leathery notes in it, however, its finish is too hot for my palate.

Overall Summary:
Not a bad effort on Maryhill’s behalf – in fact, I’m sure it’d smooth out some more if you lay it down for another year or two. It could be a food-friendly wine if you pair it with foods which would help mask the heat a bit – maybe a veal chop or marinated flank steak would be good with it.

The problem for Maryhill and this wine is that there are other Syrah’s in its same price range which I feel deliver a better experience.

W.E.P. Score: 80%