Adventures in Wally World

Greetings and Welcome to Wine E the Elder.

This my inaugural posting in the new blog begins with our recent trip to Walla Walla, Washington, with Ruth and Steve and their (now our) friends Mark and May.  This trip in November has been an annual event for many, many years.  What started originally as an exploratory weekend, we soon (we being KT, moi and T&J) were snared into the yearly bacchanalia that surrounds the Cayuse release. Although the Cayuse release has now moved to April, our salmonoid instincts drew us back to the spawning grounds of so many wonderful wines, meals and memories. This trip, sans Cayuse, proved no exception.

The trip over was exceptional for the unusual weather. Most of the way the air was thick with a milky, gossamer haze, often rendering the eerily placid Columbia barely distinguishable from the horizon and above. Paul Simon's Hazy Shades of Winter played constantly in my head. We, of course, stopped in Arlington to pay homage to the Tot, (And the Tot did NOT disappoint!) then it was onward Dionysian Soldier.

Our first stop, once within the wine rich circumference of the WW, was at L'Ecole.  I had read that their Apogee blend was again available and I had distant memories of enjoying it.  Also, a new blend to me, the Perigee, was being offered; whether it was the clever titles or the 'hope springs eternal' side of me I don't know, but we, despite having previously mediocre at best experiences at L'E, trudged through their line-up of forgettable wines. The P & A are "bordeaux blends", so they say.  They can say that because the varietals they use, cab sauvignon/ merlot/ cab franc, are the same as those used in the mother land, but honey, it is a sacrilege to even use the "b" word in the same context. L'Ecole bordeaux blends are to bordeaux what Miracle Whip is to mayo, what Velveeta is to cheese, what Kraft Mac'n'Cheese is to pasta!  Needless to say, we did not let the dust settle on our feet as we headed for the exit; not even a Mercy buy in hand.  L'Ecole: I finally understand my lesson...we have graduated and won't be back.

On to Long Shadows, then, to sample through current offerings and stuff from their library.  It was fun to taste vintages that we have kept underwraps, awaiting the taming of the fruit that only time can bring to these bottles.  The Poet's Leap was delightful, as always, and maybe a few bottles came home with us, but we were not enticed to pony up the big bucks that the big reds are going for.  The lunacy of paying +$50 for those monsters cannot be sustained, can it?  Yeah, it probably can, but for we who enjoy the finesse of barolos, barbarescos, chateauneuf's (for a lot less dough) the day of reckoning arrived.  We just said no, Nancy, we just said no.

The journey to town got a lot sweeter, when we stopped off at Bunchgrass.  Although the original proprietor, Roger, is not directly involved anymore, the winery has stayed true to his legacy.  We tasted a malbec, a couple of syrahs and a cab sauvignon that were just delightful and didn't smack of the jammy, sugery, high alcohol offerings that are ubiquitous in WW land.  Okay, maybe one of each came home with us and they were not mercy buys: the mercy will be in the graceful way they someday make their way to our ample table.

Dinner at the downtown Bistro found the six of us full of good cheer; we made a stop on the way at the new-to-us Main Street tasting room of Sinclair.  There, we tasted some pretty reds and heard a charming little nineteen year old cutie crooning out some soulful tunes from the forties and fifties.  The tasting room was elegant, bedecked in antiques and sculpture and all the atmosphere equalled pricey but not over pricey wines.  We snagged a nice bottle of cab sauvignon for the future. At the Bistro  the ensuing food and bottles of wine only increased our bon vivant mood and made for a delightful end to our first day trek. Wined and dined, boys and girls, that's the winning hand and we held 'em in spades.

On day two in Wally World, we made some new discoveries and indulged in some old favorites. KT and I began the day at the Reynvaan winery, sampling their early offerings and chatting up some very friendly folks including a geologist of some reknown. The winery sources its grapes from the fabled cobblestone fields near Cayuse's holdings and the wines had some of the same character...oh, and they had some of the same prices!  So we limited our indulgence to the two best futures and will be deelighted to pick those up next year.  The geologist, by the way, was one who spent the day with the legendary wine writer Alice Feiring this past spring. Alice is a formidable opponent to all wines domestic and a legendary zealot for the difficult to define "natural wine" movement.  But she had good things to say about her visit to Cayuse and that's no small compliment. Read it for yourselves:  http://www.alicefeiring.com/blog/2010/03/1st-stop-cayuse.html

Mark my words: we got single bottles this time but they will surely follow the Cayuse exclusivity formula and go to the "three bottle minimum" ploy soon.  It is a capitalist adventure, after all, and a successful model has been already established.

From Reynvaan, KT and I went to see our good buds at Gifford Hirlinger aka "the potato house".  Great wines, great people and maybe a few bottles found their way into our car. Such yummy juice at such reasonable - for Walla Walla - prices. We were there when they first opened and owner Melissa was about 180 months pregnant; she's been scarce since, raising her and Mike's two kids but they are old enough now so she could come to the tasting room.  How nice are these people, Mike and Melissa?  When we maybe purchased a few bottles, Melissa forgot to charge us non-tax rates.  We had mentioned that we were heading to Trust after her place and she called us there to tell us that she had overcharged us and if we came back by, she would compensate us with another bottle of wine!  Ah, the antidote to all the commercialism that speckles these vineyards.

For a luncheon rendevous, we headed to Abeja to join our new crew.  Interestingly, the scene at Abeja was considerably more subdued this year.  The economy?  The absence of Cayuse crowd?  Don't know but it was different.  Their wines, of course, were great but we were not inclinded to take any home.

From Abeja we went to the forgettable but delightfully named winery: Tranche.  And there, we made our first and only Mercy buy: a pinot gris that has a wee bit too much residual sugar. Tranche is apparently affiliated with the uber hip and pricey Corliss winery and has some work to do to make a niche in the coveted wine world of WW.  I wrote it off but KT wants to come back and see if it can grow into its pedigree.

Final night was dinner at the Whoopemup Cafe.  More good food and good wine and we closed this visit out in style. Sunday night, back in the comfort of our lair, we followed tradition by having a french white wine with a simple but delicious meal.  And, as in years past, we were amazed at how much more enjoyable the simple wines of Europe are, than any we tasted in Washington.  Simple, elegant finesse and made for food. It's like we've been eating deep fried foods for days and then, at last,  sit down to a fresh crisp green salad. Really, it's that different.  So, in the end, we decided, that Walla Walla wine touring is always about the experience and seldom about the wines. And as long as the experience delights, as did this one, we will continue to brave the big "bad" world of big "bad" red wines.