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Just about every wine-drinker in the state of Washington and well beyond its boarders – is Columbia Crest. There is few other wineries this side of Chateau St. Michelle which have done more to propigate and further the local industry. It’s reach is very pervasive and they’ve done a great deal to help promote the greater good of Washington wines.

For years now, it has had its 2-vine (cheap) series, a Grand Estates version and Reserve – earlier this year, however, it introduced its H3 brand. It’s called H3 because of its Horse Heaven Hills designated vineyards in which 100% of the fruit comes from. In contrast, Grand Estates could be sourced from other places within the greater Columbia Valley.

Starting at around the $10 mark, its Grand Estates is generally a pretty safe-bet as far as wine values go. It’s typically a fruit-bomb with layers of oak and some good complexity for its price.

The H3 label is a more premium one which fills the price-gap in its current line-up between the Grand Estates and Reserve lines. This was my first time with the H3 merlot, so it was fun for me to be able to check out what’s going on there.

2005 Grand Estates Merlot: W.E.P. Scale Rating: 80%
Technical Data
• Total acidity: 0.61 g/100ml
• pH: 3.73
• Alcohol: 13.9%
• Grapes were destemmed and crushed with 10% whole berries
remaining, then fermented on skins 7-10 days with a twice-daily
pumpover regime to gently extract color, aromas and flavors.
• The wine aged for 12-14 months in French (60%) and American
(40%) oak barrels. The blend includes Viognier (co-fermented)
to add complexity to the bouquet and also depth and nuance
to the finished wine.

Nose: Subtle blackberry and raw venison on the nose with dashes of pepper. The Vanilla isn’t near as strong here as it is on the H3 Merlot. I get some shoe leather, and the smell of carmalized carrots.

Taste: All fruit forward with little across the mid and zilch on the end of the palate. Dried blackberry and black cherry with components of leather and spice. This wine is a total fruit bomb made for those folks as a good alternative to other similarly-priced or cheaper merlots.

Summary: I didn’t like this one as much as the H3 and I was even poured them in a blind scenario (had my son bring both glasses out to me without telling me what they were). Its finish wasn’t near as long or smooth as the H3 and quite frankly there are other wines in its price-range which I find more interesting.

2005 H3 Merlot: W.E.P. Scale Rating: 100%
Technical Data
• Total acidity: 0.55 g/100ml
• pH: 3.69
• Alcohol: 14.3%
• Grapes were crushed at 30% whole-berry to retain the fruit quality.
• Fermentation lasted 7-14 days on the skins to extract optimum fruit and structural components.
• Various yeasts were used to maintain fruit flavors and complexity.
• Malolactic fermentation occurred in stainless steel tanks and oak barrels.
• Blending occurred shortly after malolactic fermentation.
• The wine was barrel aged in 40% new American and French oak, and 60% older oak for 14-18 months.

Nose: Jammy blackberry and blueberry with a hint of leather strip and white pepper. Some big league chew and twizzler action on the nose here. Also picking up the toasted vanilla component from the oak.

Taste: Vanilla-coated blackberries and cherries covered in a dash of pepper. Good fruit forward on the palate – smooth on the mid but gets a bit hot on the back-end of the palate. Picking up a hint of red clay as well on the end.

Summary: This is a well-priced Merlot which brings with it a good amount of worthiness. I like this Merlot and for $12 or so, I’d hit it. It’ll easily pair with any Lamb dish I can think of or a good, artisan-style pizza and red-sauced pasta dishes.

Named after the famous martyr, Staint Laurent is a relatively new winery on the Washington wine scene and has seemed to have done a good job of ramping up quickly when it comes to producting quality wines. He was the staint of the poor and in that tradition, Saint Laurent winery celebrates that tradition with good food and wine on August 8th.

Staint Laurent has an incredible story to its 80-acre vineyard which dates back to the mid 1800s – its originator had a passion for wine and even the original irrigation ditch is still in use today.

Its 2004 Merlot is priced around $18 and is aiming at hitting that $12-$20 sweet spot for wine sales as anything over the $20 mark is a tougher sell unless you have a mass cult-like following.

Color: Deep purple

Nose: Sweaty sock, some blueberry, leather glove, toasted nuts, tar, tobacco, blackberry, dark plums,

Taste: Black peppered, homemade strawberry jam mixed with dark chocolate, some asphalt and tobacco. It’s not as velvety as I’d hope for based on the nose and overall flavor profile but still does a decent job of lingering.

Finish: Pretty good, nice and medium-long….but a bit too hot for me.

Summary: There are other wines in this price category I think I’d rather spring the money for which do a better job of delivering a better finish and overall experience. This wine is clearly not a bad wine at all, however, just not my first pick given its price.

The winery with a name that sounds more like that of a law office is on deck today and they’re a pretty new winery out in Walla Walla but are one of the fortunate ones which own its own vineyards.

I got the chance to interview its winemaker, Michael Berghan, the other day at the Taste WA event and he’s a very likable individual. He’s full of passion, has a good pedigree of winemaking and vineyard management skills from his workings in the Napa-region so, naturally, I was looking forward to getting some quality time with his latest wines.

2005 Stateline Red – Retail $22
This table wine is a blend of 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon and weighs in at a 13.8% alcohol level which is about where I like to see them. This wine is barreled 100% neutral oak which consisted of a mix of American, Hungarian and French. This is a very young wine which really would do well to decant for at least an hour or two, if not longer.

Smell: Typical berry component – cherries, raspberries and slight hints of toasty vanilla, petrol.
Hints of perfume counter action – lavender and white pepper – a little dentist laughing gas mask action and bits of medicine cabinet – like of eucalyptus.

Taste: Floods the front palate with fresh berries – a bit hot on the mid palate with subtleties of vanilla…some blackberry on the finish. It doesn’t linger quite as long as I’d like to see – a bit too short for me, as I’m a huge fan of super-long finishes.

Overall Impressions of the 2005 Stateline Red:
It’s a decent table wine and pairs very well with a variety of foods. Mike does a good job here of keeping balance of fruit, oak but the finish is a bit shorter than other wines I’ve had for a similar pricepoint.

Food recommendations for the Stateline include:
- Steak
- Buffalo
- Duck
- Lamb
- Oven-roasted root vegetables with rosemary

2005 Merlot – Retail $26
A near identical blend as the Stateline Red, this Merlot is 86% and 14% Cabernet Sauvignon, however, Michael uses a different barrel program of mostly (60%) new oak (40% Hungarian and 60% French) whilst the Stateline is barreled in neutral oak.

Like the Stateline Red, this Merlot is very young and either needs to lie down for a few more years or needs a serious decant-job – I’d go four hours on it easy.

Smell: Huge dark cherry and blackberry and plum component on the nose – some big league chew. Black peppercorn – slight hint of carpet shampoo.

Taste:  Good mouth-feel, pretty good balance of fruit and oak – the fruit does a good job of keeping the oak tamed and the finish is nice and long. Good bits of chocolate coming thru as well.

Overall impressions of the 2005 Merlot:
The merlot would be my first pick as I feel it’s doing a better job of delivering a good experience for the price-point. Outside of the fact that it has more layers of flavors going on in, it should also have a really good cellaring potential. To me, this merlot is sort of like The Eagles band – after Hell Freezes Over – it keeps the goodness of their original sound, yet does a great job of appealing to a newer, younger audience.

Food recommendations for the Merlot:
- Lamb w/ a Rosemary-mint glaze
- Duck
- Slow-cooked pot-roast
- Oven-roasted root vegetables with rosemary

Overall Summary:
Both of these wines are contenders in their respective price ranges and do a good job of balancing the fruit – There are other wines in these price categories which may appeal to other people who enjoy getting their socks knocked off with an over-abundance of oak or fruit, these wines – especially the merlot – are not that style at all. In fact, they almost have an old-world kind of style here and stay very focused.

I’d really like to see where these wines are at in 3-7 years but like all to many wineries now-days, it seems like they release stuff still on the young side as holding bottles doesn’t allow the revenue’s to come in. I get it. It’s a tough battle.

GH has a good, solid effort with both of these wines and I’d highly encourage you to seek them out and try them yourself. I feel they’re pretty well priced – not too expensive, yet probably won’t become a daily-drinker for some folks. Regardless, seek them out and try them and let me know what you think or better yet, post your thoughts in our forums.