Washington Wine Month, a last Hurrah! 2007 Januik Columbia Valley Red

Wow!  This week has been one right from the crapper as far as work goes!  It's 8:43 and I just got home from work (you know I just mistyped "for work" and I think that's more than a Freudian slip!).  So I don't know if I'll even have time for dinner tonight, so I better open some wine!  And to celebrate the last day of Washington Wine Month, I opened one of my 6-pack from Madwine.com, this one is the 2007 Januik Columbia Valley Red, what a treat!  Unbeknownst to me, Mike Januik is a very consistent winemaker who according to Robert Parker "does is make good wine, year after year, without a lot of fanfare or glitz."  This wine is a blend of 62% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Syrah, 6% Cabernet Franc 6% Petit Verdot, and 2% Malbec (but I won't hold that against it).  And the grapes are sourced from some of Washington's great vineyards, including Klipsun, Stillwater Creek, Alder Ridge, Seven Hills, Lewis, Ciel du Cheval and Weinbau vineyards.

The wine itself is quite pleasing, with a deep ruby color and a nose exhibiting aromas of leather and cedar.  The wine is nice and dry, with flavors of black currant and berries that really holds up remarkably well.  With some initial spice, at the end, this wine has a wonderfully smooth finish.  Although I appear to be drinking this one for dinner, I could imagine it holding up quite well to grilled steaks, but also going quite well with salmon or a nice dry rubbed pork tenderloin.  I have no idea what this one cost me, since it was a 6-pack for $160, which averages out to $26.67 per bottle, so at that average cost it's not a great value, but still a solid red that I would rate an 8.0! 

2008 14 Hands Cabernet Sauvignon

Ok, so it's been a rough day and a rough week or so filled with a lot of work, so now I am going to relax a bit and celebrate Washington Wine month, since there's only 1 day left!  Today I am enjoying a bottle of 14 Hands Cabernet Sauvignon, from Washington's Columbia Valley, an area known for wonderful cabs.  This wine is a very nice, easy drinking red that would be wonderful to enjoy all evening, though I will enjoy this one with dinner too.

The wine is fairly dry, with a very smooth taste.  It has a dark ruby color and exhibits flavors of dark cherry and currant, that finishes very nicely.  The aroma offers a hint of fruit, leather and earth that perfectly sets your expectations before your first sip.  I am enjoying it with a dinner of crab cake, rice and fresh asparagus, and it really matches well with the spicy seasoning in the crab cake.  And perhaps the best part is the value!  This wine is a nice drinking red, available in most areas for around $10, making this one a solid 7.5 in my book!  Cheers!

2007 Snoqualmie Whistle Stop Red

Happy wine day!!!

So today was one of those weird but good days, with a whole lot going on!  I started early this morning helping an older lady from church to move, and since there were so many of us it look a lot less time than I expected, not bad.  Then I had to stop by Russo's in Grand Rapids to pick up a case of Sangiovese that I had put aside for my office wine club (less than $7 per bottle!  they will love that!), but when I got there, the wine guy got my order and there was a problem and a surprise. The problem was that when I e-mailed them to put aside a case of the Sangiovese, they mistakenly put aside a case of the Malbec they were also offering in the same e-mail (oh, let me tell you I am NOT a fan of Malbec!).  No problem, they had plenty of the wine I wanted so we just swapped out cases.  But at the same time, the wine guy brought out 3 more bottles, and said, "this has been sitting back there with your name on it for a couple months, would you like to pick this up too?"  Well he showed me 3 bottles of a wonderful 2005 Margeaux that I had reserved months ago, but I had already picked up!  I told him I already picked it up, but if they had 3 more I would be happy to take them off his hands!  So a hidden surprise treasure, a nice margeaux from the super 2005 vintage that I got to buy more of when I thought it was completely sold out!  I love surprises!

Ok, so then I went back home, put the wine away (and yet, my closet cellar is over capacity now, so I really must start drinking and blogging, in case you haven't noticed), so after getting some work done this afternoon, I finally had a chance to celebrate Washington Wine Month and opened the 2007 Snoqualmie Whistle Stop Red I bought a week or so ago!  Well if you're just getting to know me, I just love trains, and I volunteered on the crew of the Spokane, Portland and Seattle #700 locomotive when I lived out in the Northwest, just to show you how committed I am (or maybe that should say "should be committed"!).  For those of you who are not familiar with train trivia, a whistle stop is a stop between main stops/stations on a train line, where the train does not always stop, but sort of stops whenever someone needs to catch the train.  Far more common in rural locations, but a fun bit of trivia nonetheless.  So this wine combines two of my loves, wine (duh) and trains!  The bottle has a wonderful image of a crossing signal too:

The wine itself is a wonderful example of a nice Washington red table wine, nothing fancy, but a nice easy drinking red.  I am enjoying a glass as I type this, with a couple pieces of aged parmesan and asiago cheese (whoever thought of combining wine and cheese is a super genius!). The wine itself has a nice dark purple color, but it's not opaque, and a nice aroma of leather and cherries.  The taste is very dry, like so many of the high-quality reds coming from the Columbia Valley in Washington, and it paired so well with the cheese, I could spend all evening doing this!  But alas, I have a friend celebrating a birthday today, so we are off to dinner downtown.  Overall, this is a solid red table wine, nothing too outrageous, but considering I bought this bottle for less than $10, it is an outstanding value!  Overall, I would rate this one a 7.5, and will be heading back to Grand Central Market (ohhh, just caught the train connection there!) to get some more!