Friends and Wine in Seattle

Taste Washington! The Ulitmate Wine Experience was spectacular!! 216 wineries were there, and Karen, Nancy and I tasted over 50 wines in under 3 hours. We were still standing at the end of the day because we were very good about spitting after sipping. We had dozens of excellent wines and lots of tasty food samples. JJ got to see *lots* of old friends from the wine industry and was even invited to apply for a job with one who recently started a new business as a distributor of NW wines. I hope he's in business for a while, because when I retire from libraries, that could be the next big thing--moving from the Midwest to the Southwest to take the job might also sweeten the pot a little. For now and the foreseeable future, I'm not budging from my current location--I'm loving it here on the Middle Coast! At any rate, back to the wine tasting--we had wines from all over the state, including Cave B Estate*, Syncline*, Andrew Will*, Cadence, Fall Line, McCrea*, O-S, Walter Dacon, Chandler Reach*, Terra Blanca*, Robert Karl, Goose Ridge Estate*, Powers, eMaurice, Canoe Ridge, Cougar Crest*, Gifford Hirlinger*, K Vintners, L'Ecole No. 41*, Nelms Road (Woodward Canyon), NxNW, SYZYGY*, Tamarack*, Wines of Substance, Woodward Canyon, Darby, Januik, JM, Novelty Hill, Agate Field, Alexandria Nicole, Sheridan, and Wilridge. The ones with an asterisk indicate my top choices. All wineries poured multiple choices and I tasted an average of 3 wines per table. I tasted all 6 of McCrea's offerings, which were quite superior to many of the other wines I tasted. McCrea specializes in Rhone style blends and varietals, so lot's of Syrah here blended with Grenache and Mouvedre. For the whites, he uses Rousanne and Viognier. He uses American oak for some wines and French for others. Other stand outs were Andrew Will's Bordeaux style blend called Two Blondes, SYZYGY's cabernet and syrah, Tamarack's Firehouse Red, Cougar Crest's, Dedicated 2, L'Ecole's Semillon and Perigee, and Goose Ridge's Vireo. Most of these are reds and red blends. Also, I highly recommend Syncline's Rose, which I believe is Grenache-based. Syncline also specializes in Rhone varietals and does a wonderful job. At the seminar the day before, I also had the pleasure of tasting DeLille Cellar's 2006 Doyenne Estate Rousasanne from the Red Mountain AVA--it was my favorite of the 4 whites, full-bodied and very fragrant.~Before the seminar on Saturday, Nancy and I went for a great urban hike featuring the Seattle Art Museum's recently opened Olympic Sculpture Park--the two photos were taken there. Lots more good stuff happened, making for a wonderful vacation and a much needed break from work.