2004 Stella’s Garden Lost Highway Project Shiraz

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Jeff and I both got bottles of this from Garagiste. I had one about a year ago and thought that it was pretty good. We were cooking dinner and Jeff offered a free pass to his wine shelf and I suggested that we kill one of his bottles of this.

Before I discuss the wine let me frame the meal for you. I got a 1lb beef tenderloin tip, and we rubbed shaved habenero on it as well as a mesquite rub. And then we threw that on the grill and ate it with the vino.

Let me tell you, that Stella’s garden was sensational. It is a wine in exactly the style I love – full of rich black fruit flavor, nice terroir and full of body. This is not for the faint of heart (16.5% alcohol) but it carries itself extremely well (I had it pegged at only 15% or so based on taste). I might just have to source more of this stuff because for the price point it is an incredible drop.

I also want to point out that this wine always reminds of the “Streetcar named Marge” episode of the Simpsons and causes me to spontaneously burst into song, channelling Flanders yelling “Stellaaaaa!”.

2004 L’Ecole No 41 Cabernet Sauvignon

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I decided on a half bottle of this when I had dinner at 26 Brix. After tasting Walla Walla wines all day I would like to have ordered something Australian as a treat with my meal, but there was not a single Australian bottle of wine on the menu. One of the waiting staff tells me that this is due to the difficulty of getting Australian wine out in Walla Walla. Still, I saw a bottle of Two Hands in a store a few blocks from 26 brix, and I would have ordered that right away if it was on the menu.

I was in the mood for a nice Shiraz, but my second favorite is Cab, and they had some on the menu. I tried to balance my need for something nice, with my need to not spend money and my need to not kill a full bottle by myself. The L’Ecole was the best intersection of these needs.

This was definitely a wine that needed to be eaten with food. I think that it was too tannic for my tastes – it tasted young to me and when the meal was finished it was hard for me to have the remainder of my glass. The flavor was OK, but there was not enough sugar on the palate for me. I know that one commenter has already given me flak about my bias for “jammy wines”, but wine is a matter of taste. From what I have heard this wine is a great example of a particular style, just not a style that I am into.

The trip to Walla Walla

My father in law gave my wife and I a trip to Walla Walla as a gift, and we went down last weekend for two nights. We stayed at the Marcus Whitman Hotel, which is the tallest building in town by far and a thankfully easy to find landmark when walking around town. It is interesting that there is a town called Walla Walla in Washington State, because I grew up in New South Wales, and there is a Walla Walla there too.

Now, Walla Walla is in the middle of a wine growing region and some people are calling it the Napa valley of Washington (which is interesting, because the Australian Walla Walla was established by Germans from the Barossa who had land granted to them). I was looking forward to killing a couple of days off work wandering around a wine town and generally relaxing.

On the first night I had a glass of Forgeron Cabernet with a steak for dinner (unfortunately I have forgotten the year). This was OK but after the Cabs that I had tried recently (Justin and Penfolds) it tasted a little bit flat. It was drinkable but it did not really meet my tastes – I think that there are many Australian wines that I would prefer for the money. When we were there we met Dawn of DaMa Wines who invited us to come by the next day and see her shop.

The next day was tasting day. We woke up and wandered around to find some brunch, and settled on a nice bourgeois cafe (where we saw Dawn again. This told us that the town was not very big). After that we went to DaMa to have the first tasting of the day.

I cannot list everything that I tried there with accuracy, but I remember at least tasting a Viogner, a Merlot, a Cabernet Sauvignon and a Syrah. The most memorable of these was the Merlot – it actually had a hint of Terrior about it (which I have never tasted in a Merlot before) and a very pleasant flavour. I went back for a second glass and ended up buying several bottles for myself and some gifts, because a Merlot that I enjoy drinking is a rare beast, especially one for less than twenty dollars. The other wines were pretty good too – these ladies make some good stuff. Their wine was the only stuff I brought back with me from Walla Walla for a reason.

I met a restaurant owner in DaMa who heard I was from Australia and proceeded to rave about how good the bottle of Grange was that he had drank recently. This was interesting because Penfolds is hard to find out in the rural parts of the US and this guy had drank the best of the lot.

After DaMa we found a wine map in a shop and decided to drive around some vineyards for a bit. We decided on south of Walla Walla, because there seemed to be a lot down there and we had already driven through west of town on the way in. A lot of vineyards seem to be closed on Mondays, but we found a couple that were open and doing tastings.

The first one that we found was Pepper Bridge. The grounds were beautiful and it was great driving through the vines on the way in on a nice summer day. They were tasting a vertical of their Cab (2004, 2003, 2002). The 2004 was different to the other two in taste, and this makes sense when you read the tasting notes (the grapes came from some other vineyards due to freezing weather). I definitely liked the 2003 and 2002 better, but all of them were a little too tannic for my tastes.

Almost next door to Pepper Bridge was Northstar. They are primarily a Merlot house but they do other varietals as well. They were tasting six or seven different wines on the day (too numerous to remember). I thought that these were all OK, and I say OK because these also had a bit of a tannic taste to them. When I recounted the trip to a coworker he mentioned that the tannic style is a Walla Walla regional thing. I won’t begrudge anybody their style, but I cannot say that this tannic flavour is really my thing.

This ended the day for me. Not because I did not like the wines, but because I don’t like to spit at a tasting. After about 15 tastes of wine and some summer weather I was ready for a nap. We went back for a nap and then went to dinner (details of the wine there to come) and the next day we drove home.

Overall I was happy about the trip. I found an interesting small winemaker that surprised me, I got to drive around some vineyards and I ate some good food. It was nice to be around a place driven by wine. Even though I found the wine in the region too tannic for my tastes, I expanded my knowledge by finding this out. This was a good warm up for my eventual trips to Napa and Barossa that I hope to do one day.

2003 Justin Isosceles

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After killing the Grant Burge GSM we decided to open another bottle. Jeff did not have much of the GSM and was on a drinking mission, and I was just drunk enough to believe that more wine was a great idea (my hangover the next day would, however, prove otherwise). Jeff burrowed around his collection a bit, and consultation with his Justin aging chart told him that the Isosceles was ready to go.

I was happy that he did decide this – the Isosceles was a great cab. It had a hint of vanilla about it, and it had way more prescence in the glass than the GSM did. The flavour reminded me of the Penfolds Bin 707 a little bit (it has that same vanilla Cabernet feel to it), just slightly more subdued. There was also more smoothness and sugar in the 707, but considering the price points this is not surprising.

Looking around the tubes this is not exactly a cheap cab at around $50-$60 a bottle, but the quality was enough that I would definitely consider Justin the next time I want to try something Californian.

2002 Grant Burge Holy Trinity GSM

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As Jeff predicted, I am writing a review of this. It has been a while since we drank it but I have been blog lazy of late.

I gave this plenty of time to breathe and ate it with some lamb loin that I cooked roast style. As a wine to eat with my lamb I thought that it was eminently drinkable – I think that it paired quite well with the flavor of the flesh, and it was very smooth. To my drunken shame I killed half a bottle of it before taking the remainder to share with Jeff, and I enjoyed every drop.

Ultimately it was not the GSM that I hoped for though. Rosemount sets the bar with their offering, and the Holy Trinity cost me more than that, so on the value front it loses right away there. I think that The Steading is another better offering in the price range too – since I drank it I have been craving another bottle.

Personally, I think that Jeff was a little harsh on it. Perhaps this is just the kind of wine that does better with food, and that explains our slight difference of opinion.

2005 Sons of Eden “Kennedy” Grenache Shiraz Mourvedre

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I nabbed this one day when I saw it in a Real Estate Agency / Art Gallery / Wine Shop in Kirkland (I shit you not). I am a sucker for the GSM, and this one apparently was supposed to be good and priced at a point where I might believe it.

Tonight is the second night that I am partaking in this wonderful blend. It definitely has a hint of raspberry to it on the nose, and it is very rich and full bodied to drink without being hot in the mouth. I think that it is a bit young to be drinking though, because the tannins are stronger than the sugar. This is not a serious deficit, and something that I am sure some time in a cellar would do well to fix.

Today I noticed that Seattle Wine Co. has this in the 2004. I may just go down there and nag a bottle sometime to leave in the cellar for a year or two. This is a great GSM for having a relaxing meal or a quiet drink with somebody. Not as smooth as The Steading that I reviewed recently, but it is a bit cheaper and has a more aggressive style that some people like to go for at times.