Wino Wednesday: Walla Walla Village

In an effort to provide more consistency to this blog, I've decided to share my experiences which occur most Wednesday's from 5-7. The local wine bar in town hosts a winery which usually pours a generous tasting of 3 wines for a $5 fee. Tonight's winery was Walla Walla Village, and they were sampling 4 wines.

This is why tastings should always be blind if the wine is being evaluated, but I'm going to do my best to not be biased favorably for the locals. It isn't like anyone really follows my ratings anyways. The 4 wines are below, after a thought on Horse Heaven Hills.

Horse Heaven Hills is a relatively new appelation (2005) in the great state of Washington. It comprises a chunk of land between the tri-cities and the columbia river, and it's also the closest other appelation to the Walla Walla Valley (besides the Columbia Valley, which also occupies the space in between the two). Some well known vineyard lie in this area, such as Champoux, Canoe Ridge, and Alder Ridge. The list goes on, and many vineyards are planted on south facing slopes overlooking the river.

The funny thing about the appelation is it's in the middle of nowhere so while there's a large amount of vineyard area there are very few wineries. Columbia Crest lies near the town of Paterson just north of the Columbia, and if I'm not mistaken this is where Chateau Ste Michelle produces their reds. The area is very dry, like most of Eastern Washington, and it definitely produces some stellar fruit besides having a cool name. The one downfall which seems to occur is that the fruit can produce highly tannic and chalky wine, so this has to be kept under control by winemakers to suit the style preferred by the public. In a way this excites me that Washington can produce more "old world styled" wines, but the "new world" wines can be so delicious that we're probably better off sticking to what we do best and letting old world cabs stay in the Medoc.

2006 Walla Walla Village Riesling Horse Heaven Hills ~$16 - 82 points: A decent, quite "drinkable" Riesling. The nose is nice but not that exciting, mostly apple and tropical fruit, with maybe a hint of nice Riesling petroleum, but I'm not sure I'd have thought that if I wasn't looking for it. It's too sweet though - I don't know whether it's 2.8% RS would work better with spicey foods or dessert; probably either. Better than Bud Light by a long shot.

2005 Walla Walla Village Merlot Horse Heaven Hills Aldercreek Vineyard ~ $24 - wtf? points: I can't give this wine a numerical rating because I'm not sure if my bottle was up to snuff. If it was normal the rating still holds, but there was a moment where I thought the bottle was corked (if it was it was below my sensory level). It seemed rather muted, with not much going on besides some sour cranberry and a chalky high tannin finish.

2005 Walla Walla Village Cabernet Franc Horse Heaven Hills Aldercreek Vineyard ~$25 - 85.341 points: this wine probably has the best fruit of the bunch, but the oak overpowers it a little. Nice but oaky nose with vanilla and candy-like red fruit. The acid is high, I don't have the numbers but a little less would have been a good thing. Would probably be great with lighter red meats, though.

2005 Walla Walla Village Bordello Red Horse Heaven Hills Aldercreek Vineyard ~$28 - 85.35 points: It's a close call which of the final two wines was better. This one overall is the more polished, wine, but the Cab Franc had a better nose, and I dig the nose. Certainly a decent wine which would probably also show much better at a dinner table. Again very chalky tannins. 82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Merlot, 9% Cabernet Franc.