I'll try to be brief here. We visited a lot of wineries.
Monday
Claar Cellars The sever wanted to talk about how great her wines were, and give us a wine education. She talked entirely too much, and poured too large servings of not so great wines. The wines seemed a little dirty tasting, sometimes overoaked. The reds were better than the whites. The Chardonnay was very oaky, vanilla and sweet--- overdone. The Riesling and Late Harvest Riesling were like sugar water.
After being a little looped and talked to death, we went to Horizon's Edge
Horizon's Edge Tasting in loft of an old building with no AC. Nice friendly cat. The Monster Chardonnay and the Dry Gewurztraminer were nicely extracted, with good fruit, but the Estate Pinot Noir was awful (light, almost rose, old barrels?), and the Merlot had a dirty tasting finish. The winery makes a prety good Ice wine from Charionnay and a respectable but a little hot tasting Pinot Noir based Port.
Eaton Hill The tasting room was a big warehouse with no AC, and a plethora of different vineyard labels. Most tasted OK, but a little simple and a little sharp. The Chardonnay was pretty good, as were the reds. The Gewurz and the Orange Muscat dessert wine were both simple, low acid wines.
Tefft Cellars This winery has good light reds, and a Nebbiolo in a lighter style. Their dessert wines (River Mist Chenin Blanc, Black Ice ice wine, and Zinfandel Port) were good. Smooth wines with good nose of honey (black Ice) and raisins (Zin). Their dessert wines were a little low in acid.
Washington Hills A converted creamery in Sunnyside, WA serves as the tasting room. This winery has a plethora of labels , with well made smooth reds and whites. They serve large portions, so I had to stop, but I was pleasantly surprised by the (off-dry) Riesling 2002 and the 2002 Late Hrvest Riesling. These are $5.99 and $7.99, respecectively, and the first WA Rieslings we tasted with adequate acidity. We need to come back with sober minds and bodies to reevaluate some of the reds, particularly their premium Bridgeman and Apex labels.
This was the last winery on Monday, and our senses were getting dull.
We stayed at a motel in Prosser, WA Monday night, and visited Hogue and Kestrel on Tuesday.
Hogue The big wineries always seem a little regimented to me. I wanted to taste the Gensis Riesling, but they were not pouring it that day. I bought a bottle of Genesis Merlot for $15.95. This wine is well balancesd and less coarse than their basic Merlot. Smooth flavors with dry puckering tannins. It need 2 -3 years. Will the fruit outlast tannins? The Genesis Cab (2000) also tasted rather tannic, with a cedar and raisins in nose. Smooth midflavors. Respectable wine for $15.95. I bought a bottle of the Genesis Riesling sight untasted (mixed metaphor), just to try it. Price $12.95.
Kestrel Vintners These wines are very nice well extacted wines with good fruit, compexity, and nice balance. They have a lovely Esatate Chardonnay 99 ($18) with a light nose of salt and sea breeze. Funky, musty flavors with a lot of cream. Smooth finish with well integrated butter and vanilla. The 2001 Estate Viognier ($18) had a spicy, sweet nose, a touch of vanilla, and a smooth finish. Elegant.The 98 Merlot had a nose of spice and pepper, prune like flavors, dry tannins, but not overpowering. Very elegant. At its peak ($18). The Raptor Red (62% Merlot 38% Cab) was a lovely smooth, well extracted wine, with light bell pepper and mint nose and great extraction, in an understated style. I got three bottles of the Raptor Red 97-98-99 vertical for $120.
Yakima Valley Winery Very light wines with a little too much weediness. Their
2001 Lemberger is a simple summer quaffing red for $10.49. These wines were quite soft, if a little too light and vegetal.We headed down through the hills south of the Yakima Valley Tuesday night. It was hard biking up 500 feet, and we bivouwacked in an old burned out grain warehouse along the road. On Wednesdy, we headed over to Goldendale, a long 49 mile trek. As a rest day, we went down to the Columbia River (with unloaded bikes!) on Thursday. WE visited our last winery, Maryhill.
Maryhill A beautiful winery overlooking the Columbia River. They had nice well made wines, for the most part. I was disappointed by their washed out Chardonnay. Thy make an OK Pinot Gris and Sauvignon Blanc, and a good quaffing low acid Viognier (I have little experience with this grape). I thought their Syrah had nice flavors but was a little vegetal. They also have a very good Zin, but like Jazz music, is not a genre to my personal liking.
We headed back to Topenish (on the Yakima Indian Reservation) on Friday, and back to our car on Saturday. Saturday afternoon, we made a sweepof the wineries, and picked up the wine, ateempting to keep them cool in 100 degree heat.
In summary, I was impressed with the high quality of Cabernet and Merlot, and pleasnatly surprised by some very nice Chardonnays. I have not changed my opinion of WA Rieslings, mostly sugar water. The Gewurz seem a little better, lightly sweet, some spice, made in a west coast style.
For the bike tourers out there, take lots of water. It's my favorite way to tour the wineries.
Tom Schellberg