Winemaker Notes
In cool, high elevation sites, Riesling always preserves its natural acidity, even in warm vintages. Indeed, this is the case with 2012 and so we see a wine that has a warm-vintage fruit profile of orchard/tropical fruits such as pear, apple and lychee, yet the wine possesses citrus-type acidity; a great combination for an extremely aromatic and exotic wine that has the legs to age. Very little rain during ripening allowed us to target this intricate balance via canopy management and irrigation and as October cooled down we honed in our picking decision, finally pulling it off the vine on the 23rd.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Dry and crisply detailed, this delicious, bracing Riesling combines refreshing minerality with delicate yet complex fruit flavors of apple, pear and tangerine. It’s full-bodied and drinking beautifully, but has the structure to develop over a decade or more. You decide whether to enjoy it now or tuck it away. Editors’ Choice.
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Wine Spectator
Lean and zingy, with bright flavors of gereen apples, lime blossom and sice. finishing long and vital.
Riesling possesses a remarkable ability to reflect the character of wherever it is grown while still maintaining its identity. A regal variety of incredible purity and precision, this versatile grape can be just as enjoyable dry or sweet, young or old, still or sparkling and can age longer than nearly any other white variety. Somm Secret—Given how difficult it is to discern the level of sweetness in a Riesling from the label, here are some clues to find the dry ones. First, look for the world “trocken.” (“Halbtrocken” or “feinherb” mean off-dry.) Also a higher abv usually indicates a drier Riesling.
A large and geographically diverse AVA capable of producing a wide variety of wine styles, the Columbia Valley AVA is home to 99% of Washington state’s total vineyard area. A small section of the AVA even extends into northern Oregon!
Because of its size, it is necessarily divided into several distinctive sub-AVAs, including Walla Walla Valley and Yakima Valley—which are both further split into smaller, noteworthy appellations. A region this size will of course have varied microclimates, but on the whole it experiences extreme winters and long, hot, dry summers. Frost is a common risk during winter and spring. The towering Cascade mountain range creates a rain shadow, keeping the valley relatively rain-free throughout the entire year, necessitating irrigation from the Columbia River. The lack of humidity combined with sandy soils allows for vines to be grown on their own rootstock, as phylloxera is not a serious concern.
Red wines make up the majority of production in the Columbia Valley. Cabernet Sauvignon is the dominant variety here, where it produces wines with a pleasant balance of dark fruit and herbs. Wines made from Merlot are typically supple, with sweet red fruit and sometimes a hint of chocolate or mint. Syrah tends to be savory and Old-World-leaning, with a wide range of possible fruit flavors and plenty of spice. The most planted white varieties are Chardonnay and Riesling. These range in style from citrus and green apple dominant in cooler sites, to riper, fleshier wines with stone fruit flavors coming from the warmer vineyards.