Winemaker Notes
Beautiful, luscious and alive - Gratitude opens up to blackberry, violet and mint. Yet reaches back and flows with complex notes of lemon thyme, orange zest, morels and marjoram. Rich, yet elegant and lovely to drink. It finishes with crushed rock, white pepper and baking spices. Another wine to be thankful for. Blend: 70% Mourvèdre, 25% Grenache, 5% Syrah.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The Mourvèdre-dominated 2016 Gratitude Blend (there’s 25% Grenache and 5% Syrah) is a flat-out awesome wine as well as possibly the greatest expression of the variety to come out of Washington State. Beautiful notes of black and blue fruits, dried earth, peppery spice, and loads of floral and rose petal notes all flow to a full-bodied red that has an incredible sense of elegance and purity as well as richness and depth.
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James Suckling
The nose has an array of ripe raspberries with deeper layers of blueberries and pastry that follow to the palate. It’s an open book, in terms of delivering such attractive fruit, and it holds long and pure into the finish. There’s deceptive complexity inherent in this blend. From the Olsen Brothers Vineyard, planted to the same percentages and made as a field blend. The Chateauneuf killer! A blend of 70% mourvedre, 25% grenache and 5% syrah.
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Wine Enthusiast
Mourvèdre makes up 70% of this wine, with the rest Grenache and Syrah. The aromas aren’t ready to reveal themselves on first pour, with aromas of raspberry, orange peel, smoked meat and herb emerging over time. The palate shows a lovely sense of purity and detail. Yum.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A blend of Mourvèdre, Grenache and Syrah, the 2016 Gratitude Olsen Brothers Vineyard wafts from the glass with aromas of black and red fruit, with a mineral dustiness and lush flowers. Medium to full-bodied, it's a delicious wine with flavors of dark cherry skin and blackberry, delivering lively tension and pleasure across the mid-palate, ending with a spicy finish. 1,048 cases made. Rating: 91+
With bold fruit flavors and accents of sweet spice, Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre form the base of the classic Rhône Red Blend, while Carignan, Cinsault and Counoise often come in to play. Though they originated from France’s southern Rhône Valley, with some creative interpretation, Rhône blends have also become popular in other countries. Somm Secret—Putting their own local spin on the Rhône Red Blend, those from Priorat often include Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. In California, it is not uncommon to see Petite Sirah make an appearance.
As the first recognized wine-growing region in the Pacific Northwest, Yakima Valley is centrally located within Washington’s vast Columbia Valley. The region also includes Washington’s oldest Cabernet Sauvignon vines, Otis Vineyard, planted in 1957, and Harrison Hill Vineyard, planted in 1963. Yakima Valley contains three smaller sub-regions: Rattlesnake Hills, Red Mountain, and Snipes Mountain and is ideal for both red and white wine production. In fact, Yakima Valley is Washington’s most diverse region, boasting more than 40 different grape varieties over about one hundred miles.
The cooler parts of the valley are home to almost half of the Chardonnay and Riesling produced in the state! Both are made in a wide range of styles depending on the conditions of the vineyard site.
But its warmer locations yield a large proportion of Washington’s best Merlot, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon. The finest Yakima Valley reds are jam-packed full of red cherry, currant, raspberry or blackberry fruit, as well as cocoa, herb, spice and savory notes, and exhibit a supple texture, great body, focus and length.