Going to visit Bunchgrass next time in town for sure.
IMO the Rieslings are ok. Perhaps better than other WA rieslings, but you can find better ones at lower price points from OR, Germany and Alsace.
Of the ones I listed Trio has most low EtOH, low oak, high acid wines. Very food friendly, imo.
After looking at their websites and checking Cellartracker, I think Trio and Bunchgrass look like winners. I’ve emailed both to make an appointment.
We had a nice trip to Walla Walla last weekend. Weather was great except for some ominous fog which blew through town. I’m terrible at taking notes when I’m out tasting, but wanted to post some general thoughts/impressions about the visit, wineries and wines. First of all, though proclaimed as a “difficult” vintage, I generally preferred the 2011s over the 2012s (with some exceptions, of course). I guess this isn’t entirely surprising since I do love my wimpy Willamette Valley wines. So take the following with a grain of salt, and my biases stated up front.
Saturday visits: Bunchgrass, Gramercy, Amaurice, Rotie, Kerloo
Sunday visits: Seven Hills, Sleight of Hand, Trust, Kontos
Monday visit (on the way back to Portland): Syncline
On the advice of several folks on this thread, we made an appointment at Bunchgrass with winemaker Tom Olander (and winery dog, Rowdy). It was a great start to the trip. Tom poured the 2013 Rose and Semillon, and four reds from 2011. The standouts for us were the 2011 Founder’s Blend (Cab Franc/Merlot) and 2011 Cab Sauv Walla Walla Valley. All of these wines were nicely balanced, had great texture, and were definitely on the elegant end of the spectrum. This was a great find for us, and I’m already looking forward to opening the wines we purchased.
Next up was Gramercy, which we always love. Robbi took us through the current releases, including the 2012 Third Man (GSM), two 2012 Syrahs, 2011 Cab Sauv Columbia Valley, and 2011 Tempranillo. She also opened one of the club wines for us since we were picking up our shipment, the 2012 Grenache Upland Vineyard. The Grenache was singing. Perfectly ripe brambly fruit, earth and spice, all under 14% abv.
Amaurice and Rotie were enjoyable, though nothing really popped for me this time around, especially considering price.
Kerloo was good. The young woman who was pouring was pleasant and funny, and shared some “club only” wines she’d opened earlier in the day. The 2012 Syrah Blue Mountain Vineyard stood out with some black pepper and charcuterie notes.
Seven Hills always seems to have a few wines that are in my wheelhouse. The Riesling is good and a nice QPR. The Merlot Seven Hills Vnyd, Cab Sauv Columbia Valley, and Cab Sauv Seven Hills Vnyd (all 2012s) were good to great.
Sleight of Hand and Trust were both great places to visit and I enjoyed the wines, though I think their house style and/or the 2012 vintage stacked the odds against me finding anything mind-blowing there. Sleight of Hand is definitely doing okay without me on their bandwagon, but I’d like to revisit Trust when they’re pouring a different vintage.
Finally, Kontos seems to be a newer winery, with a strong pedigree, that’s trying to carve out an identity. They were pouring primarily 2010s and had some unique blends. I picked up a significant amount of oak in a few of their wines, but we ended up walking out with an Alatus, a Cab/Merlot/Malbec/Syrah blend that had some compelling aromatics.
Food highlights for the trip were the Worm Ranch, Brasserie Four, and Bacon & Eggs. On the way home, we stopped off at Syncline to pick up some wines. They’ve released their 2013 single-varietal Cinsault and Counoise, and both were killer. Good fruit, balanced, and relatively food friendly with abvs in the lower 14s. Thanks for reading, and thanks for the tips.
Seven Hills seems to fly under the radar. I opened a 1998 syrah (from a library release) last night, and it was great. Thanks for the notes.
Michael
Sounds like a great time. Thanks for reporting back. I’ve had exactly one Syncline wine–a cuvée Elena-- and thought it was exceptional. Definitely on the list of wineries I want to know more about.
Huge Rulo fan here. I haven’t read the other posts. Anyway, we thought Walla Walla Vintners were great wines at good prices. Have you thought about Long Shadow? On the pricey side though. Cougar Crest makes some good wines. I have a few more but they don’t scream QPR. But great wines though.
Surprised not to have seen Va Piano pop up in this thread–that was one of the standouts from our trip last summer. Their black-label Syrahs were fantastic.
Love their wines and forgot to mention them.
Totally agree, the Amavi Cabernet is terrific year in and year out. WALLA WALLA VINTNERS has always been my go-to red wine producer there - I just adore their Cabernets - and good bargains.