Well, I have to admit, vacationing is hard work! I am enjoying a few days of wining and dining in Walla Walla on my summer vacation national park tour. I started the day with a drive to the Columbia Gorge to take some photos of the mighty Columbia River and then I drove back into town for stops at Woodward Canyon and L'Ecole No. 41 to taste a bit and buy some wine. Then it was off to my first official tasting of the day at Reininger Winery, one of my long time favorites.
Reininger has made some changes to their tasting room, though some of the artwork is still the classic, showing Raul (aka Mr. Owl).
Having tasted through some of the classic Helix and Reininger red wines, including the new Helix Crush Crew Red (count me a big fan, but more on that in a future post. Eventually, we got to tour the barrel room and do a bit of barrel tasting. The barrel room was such a relief given that the outside temperature over the past few days has been well into the triple digits!
We had a chance to taste some of the 2020 Tempranillo, which is still extremely young and in development, though to be fair I thought it tasted like a glass of beef, so this one could shape up to be a very interesting wine. Then we tasted a bit of the 2015 Cima, which will be the next vintage releases of this super Tuscan style wine. It was shaping up very nicely, and I am looking forward to tasting this wine when it's released.
Having enjoyed a wonderful couple hours with the folks at Reininger, it was off to Pepper Bridge for a tasting on the south side of town.
Pepper Bridge is probably one of my favorite places to taste wine, as it's just a beautiful setting with gorgeous views of the vineyard, and to add to the ambiance, they recently remodeled their tasting room with wonderfully clean decor.
After tasting through a the wine club tasting flight, including the 2018 Trine, 2018 Merlot, 2017 Pepper Bridge Vineyard and 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon. All of the wines were tasting wonderfully, and some have developed nicely since I reviewed them initially (including the 2017 Pepper Bridge Vineyard). They also do a nice job customizing the tasting menu for wine club members, making you feel like an honored guest.
Although Jean Francois was not available today, winery founder and "founding father" of the Walla Walla wine industry, Norm McKibben stopped by to say hello to all of us in the tasting room. He offered some nice perspective on the potential impact of the recent heatwave on the vineyards and the potential for the 2021 vintage. He is always someone that's a pleasure to speak with, as he provides a great perspective on how nature can be fickle in the vineyard, just like any agricultural venture.
Overall, it was a wonderful first day of wine tasting, followed by a wonderful dinner of Alder smoked duck with dirty rice, scallion and spring green kimchi and kalbi sauce at Hattaway's, a wonderful southern comfort food restaurant in Walla Walla. Cheers!
No comments:
Post a Comment