2007 Columbia Valley "H3" Horse Heaven Hills Cabernet Sauvignon

So this is yet another bottle we sampled at Beth's house while having dinner on Sunday. Beth and Brent brought this bottle out. After loving the Cellar No. 8, I was excited to try another!

The smell of this wine was like leather and chocolate! I guess that should have tipped me off. It was way too strong of a finish for me. This has the most kick of a Cabernet Sauvignon I've tried so far. After one taste, I passed my glass on to Noah. It just wasn't for me. It tasted like leather, chocolate, currants, and had a burning aftertaste.

Upon my research today, it scored decent too (90 points). It's described as, "Polished and silky in texture, with ripe blackberry, currant and mint flavors that keep sailing through the long, expressive finish. The tannins are beautifully integrated."

I also found it interesting it was noted as being best if drank between 2011 and 2017. I wonder in a few years, if I'd like the flavor better? I also saw on some private ratings that people didn't like it when they first opened the bottle, but after decanting it and letting it air out for few hours, they tried it again and liked it better. Hmmm. I might need to try this in the future with wines I find too bold. Maybe they just need to release some of the flavors!

2007 Chateau St. Michelle Nellie's Garden Dry Rose

This one we also opened while at Beth's house for dinner. I bought it at Albertson's, mostly because it was Chateau St. Michelle, and because it was a kind of their wine I had yet to tast. It says on the bottle its good with any meal. I assumed it was similar to a white zinfindel based on its description and color. It was pink, but darker than your average white zinfindel or blush. It was very sweet, and fruity.

I am always intrigued by how flavors develop in wine, so I did my research on this bottle. Here's what I found:

• This Dry Rose is actually 98% Syrah, and 2% Grenache. This actually amazes me. I usually consider Syrah to be more dry, and less sweet. It just goes to show how versitile a grape can be.

• 2007 was a good year for the grapes in eastern washington. It was warm early, and carried average temperatures throughout the summer. In May, 2 weeks before bloom, there was a whole week of 100+ temperatures. "This heat spike lead to smaller canopy which allowed for more light penetration and contributed to overall good fl avor development in the fruit. The hot
  temperatures also contributed to smaller berries with concentrated flavors."

• The Syrah grapes for the Rose were harvested slightly earlier than the grapes were for the reds, to allow for a more pure, fruit flavor. The fruit was left on the skins for only a matter of hours to allow for just the right amount of coloring to create the coloring for the wine.

• 82% of the wine was fermented in steel barrells (like a sweet wine would), and the remaining 18% of the wine was aged in neutral oak barrels for 2 months to add the "rich mouthfeel."

Perhaps all that information is a bore to you. But it is exciting and new to me. I love to near about each vintage, each winery, each vineyard, and each bottle of wine. It is amazing to me how there are so many types of grapes, and then beyond that...how they can create such different flavors. I mean, this is the perfect example. Syrah grapes can be pressed and aged in smokey oak barrels and create a spicy, full bodied Red wine...or they can be harvested early, fermented in mostly steel barrels, and turn out light and fruity. That gets a WOW from me. :)

2008 Columbia Crest Two Vines Gewürztraminer

Tonight we had already eaten "Linner", so we decided to finish the night with crackers and cheese. And of course, after a very long and busy week at work, I really wanted a glass of wine to unwind. I opened a bottle of Gewurtzraminer, not knowing what it was (nor can I pronounce it). Noah tried to train me in German, but I suck at rolling r's and making u's with an O.





ANYWAY, I really enjoyed it, even if I still can't pronounce it. It basically tasted like champagne without the fizz, and maybe a tad bit less sugar. It was very sweet, and very acidic. It would have paired awesome with fresh fruit, like peaches or pears. It went to our head pretty quickly, and with two glasses I was buzzed and ready for bed. I have a bottle of this wine from Chateau too, and I can't wait to drink it and compare.





I did some research on this wine, and I found that the 2008 was a good year. It scored an 87, and was named the "Best Buy" for the year. Here's the description the winemaker has for it:





"Aromas of spice, lychee and rose petals are followed by flavors of grapefruit and white peach. A subtle sweetness and bright acidity marry seamlessly to create this balanced wine."





I gotta say, the grapefruit and peach makes sense, but I didn't smell roses, and I don't even know what a lychee is.

So here it is! Apparently a lychee is a soapberry. It grows on an evergreen tree in China, Thailand and the Phillipines. It has a hard outer rind, but is similar to the texture of a grape inside (but less juicy). It's apparently sweet and rich in vitamin C. It has a seed in the middle that is poisonous! They've recently started growing them in California, Hawaii, Texas and Florida, and can be bought in worldmarkets in a can. I'm intrigued enough to hunt this down and try them sometime. It might make them easier to identify in wine!

2008 Chateau Ste Michelle Sauvignon Blanc

Noah and I opened this bottle we got from the winery tour to enjoy with dinner. It was a "nothing special" kind of night for dinner, and I felt silly pairing wine with chicken nuggets....but I could really use a glass of wine to relax sometimes!

This wine was superb! It was acidic and crisp, but not too sweet to enjoy with dinner. You could definitely taste the melon and pear in the wine. It had NO aftertaste, just a clean cut finish. I really liked it, and had it again a few nights later! Yum!

2008 Columbia Concord

Ryan and Megan were over for the weekend as well. Ryan brought a big bottle of wine with him. They have a friend who works at a vineyard over in the Tri-cities. She bottled her own sampling of a Concord wine. I'd never heard of concord (outside of your basic grape juice!) so I was more than willing to try.

My Dad and I poured ourselves 2 glasses, and immediately responded with, a "wow" when we swirled and smelled it. It was super duper sweet smelling. No surprise, it was just as sweet. I couldn't even drink it. It was like dumping a cup of sugar into a bottle of Boones Farm. I guess that makes sense, as concord grapes are used to make Welches grape juice, jellies and jams. But still...WOW. So sweet. I think I may have loved it in my early days of drinking, back when I could drink Boones Farm and wine coolers. But that stuff is just so sweet, it makes my stomach turn now. Dad and I passed our glasses on to Megan and Kelly. They loved it. Between Megan, Ryan and Kelly...i think they finished that giant bottle of wine. Phew!

2001 Barrell Select Covey Run Syrah

Last Saturday we had a family get together at my parent's house. My dad made prime rib, and Noah and I provided wine for everyone to taste. We finally opened our Covey Run Syrah. We have had it since Cooper was a baby!
First off, I couldn't find tasting notes for it. The Covey Run website has tasting notes for "all its past varieties" except apparently they don't! But overall, it is a VERY dark wine. It was slightly acidic, and very heavy-bodied for my taste. It was very deep and dark, like cherries and pomergranate, but with not much sweetness to balance it. It was interesting because so far, most of the dark wines we have tried have also been very dry. This didn't leave that "suck your mouth dry" feeling in your mouth. It was interesting. Noah really really liked it. I found it too bold. Guess my taste buds just aren't ready for it!

2006 Vintage Chateau Ste Michelle Cabernet Sauvignon

On Friday we opened a bottle of wine we bought at Chateau Ste. Michelle. The grapes are grown locally in the Columbia Valley.

The bottles description: "Magical combination of sun, soil & water - the "terrior" of Washington State's world class growing region produces long-lived Cabernet Sauvignon with intese aromas and flavors. Dominated by rich black fruit, this wine shows a suppleness achieved by extended aging in small oak barrels."

We were told at the winery to eat this with red meat, so we paired this wine with pot roast and vegetables. It definitely had an oaky flavor, and had a very deep fruity taste. Standing alone, I found it a bit bold and drying. However, after taking a bite of pot roast, I enjoyed it much more. I thought it paired really well!

Noah felt the opposite. He liked it at first, but thought it the finishing taste lasted too long, and it had too much black fruit flavor.

We finished this bottle the next night with crackers, medium cheddar cheese, and apple slices. It liked it with the triscuits, and it was okay with the cheese, but it tasted awful with the apples! I guess that's why your supposed to drink lighter, more acidic and citrusy wines with fruit! I can't

For more information on this wine, Click here and review the fact sheet. It covers the weather that season, the aging process for this bottle of wine, and food pairing suggestions.

Also, we we mentioned earlier, no wine is 100% what it says...

This bottle was:

76% cabernet sauvignon

20% syrah

2% merlot

1% cabernet franc

1% malbec