A Long Weekend in Walla Walla - Part II: The Main Event!

Having enjoyed a wonderful winemaker dinner at Pepper Bridge Winery the night before, it was time to get up early and head over to Corliss Estate's tasting room for barrel tasting of the wine lots in the auction.  A big thanks to them for hosting this great event, and they have such a beautiful tasting room, it's worth the trip all by itself!

The Main Event at Corliss Estate!

It was so much fun to taste these unique wines and talk with some of my favorite winemakers in Walla Walla!  Here are a few of the folks at the tasting and some comments on their wine lots:

Trey Busch is such an interesting winemaker.  I follow him on Instagram just to see where in the world he is at the moment and what awesome thing he's doing.  We chatted a bit about his recent trip to Wisconsin last winter and how cold it was, but there is never a dull moment with him (you should see his tasting room in Part III tomorrow)!  Here he is holding a bottle of the 2016 Psychedelic Syrah that was in the auction and a rock from the Stoney Vine Vineyard in the Rocks District where I think some of the best Syrah in the valley comes from.  I tasted this wine and is was stunning, certainly better than the 2015 vintage and perhaps better than the 2014!

Bobby and Danielle from Seven Hills Winery.  Bobby is the assistant winemaker and his work with Casey McClellan has resulted in some of my very favorite wines over the past few years.  The Seven Hills lot was from the 2016 Summit View Cabernet Sauvignon, which I loved, I've barrel tasted it earlier and it is certainly on par with the 2014 and 2015 vintages.  Unfortunately I am a novice at wine auctions and since this was the first lot it went for an insane price, but lesson learned, next year I won't be fooled again!

Chuck Reininger is one of my favorite folks to visit when I'm in Walla Walla.  This visit I didn't have time to visit the tasting room on old US 12, but at least I got to say hello to Chuck and LynLee, the wine club manager.  And the wine, Oh my!  Chuck had the 2016 Cabernet Franc from the XL vineyard, a 100% Cabernet Franc that was just stunning.  I bid aggressively for this lot but alas I was the underbidder so I'll have to wait and hope I get some next year!

Mary Derby from DaMa Wines wines is such a treat, I remember the first time I met her a few years ago when I stumbled into her tasting room on Main Street.  I have been a big fan of her wines ever since and this lot was no exception.  The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon blend was made of Cabernet Sauvignon (90%) and Merlot (10%) from the Heather Hill and Seven Hills Vineyards in the Walla Walla Valley.  This was a solid Cabernet that stood toe to toe with some of the big names in Cabernet in the room!

Jean-Francois Pellet, or JF is a wonderful winemaker at Pepper Bridge Winery, and always a pleasure to talk to or just enjoy a glass of wine with. I met him at a winemaker dinner in Walla Walla last year and was very impressed, as he has a wonderfully French approach to making some fantastic wines at Pepper Bridge.  Their lot was the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon, which I found very approachable despite its youth, so I am excited to get some of this wine next year!

And Soon it was time for the auction to begin in the barrel room at Corliss.  Again this was such a wonderful venue for this event and I appreciate all the hard work that everyone at the Walla Walla Valley Wine Alliance put forth to make this such a great event!

I was ready with my auction paddle, but as a wine auction novice I wasn't sure what to expect from the bidding.  There were at least a half dozen lots that I would love to win, but would they go for a few thousand each or $10,000?  These were 60 bottle lots, so for $50 wines that might mean $3,000 and I wasn't ready to commit $18,000 to this adventure, so I stayed conservative and alas I was a loser!  The only bottle of Reveal wine I came home with was a bottle of 2015 Otis Kenyon Merlot that I picked up at the wine bar at the Portland Airport!  Stay tuned for tomorrow's conclusion of my adventure with the after-party!