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Last month, we traveled with this grandpato-be<br />
to a winery tasting extravaganza in<br />
Woodinville, Wash., just north of Seattle.<br />
There are about 50 wineries in this so-called<br />
“Warehouse District” of Woodinville November that feature 2009<br />
some excellent wines in the emerging Wash. wine<br />
industry. These are very<br />
small wineries with small<br />
productions. You have to<br />
purchase them online if<br />
you want to try them, but<br />
they all have websites. I<br />
pretty much always feature<br />
only locally available wines<br />
in this column, but this<br />
time, I decided to make an<br />
exception.<br />
First of all, I need to<br />
bring you all up to date.<br />
Last month, I indicated that<br />
I ventured out to Seattle<br />
to be with our daughter<br />
and son-in-law. She was<br />
in the hospital expecting<br />
twin boys who wanted to<br />
join the party a bit early. To<br />
update you, I will simply<br />
say that the “soon-to-be”<br />
part of the “soon-to-be<br />
grandpa” is history. William<br />
Daniel and Oliver Gilbert<br />
are now part of the family.<br />
What a great thrill (well,<br />
two great thrills)!<br />
This is a wine column,<br />
however, and we do have some wines to taste,<br />
so let’s go there. Last month, I took notes in the<br />
Third Thursday Warehouse Winery tour of about<br />
15 wine tasting rooms in Woodinville. One of the<br />
clear winners in the premium category was the<br />
2006 Bishop’s Blend by William Church Winery.<br />
It is what I call a “Wash. Bordeaux” blend. In<br />
WINE NOTES |<br />
Warehouse Winetasting –<br />
Part Two<br />
By Joel Gilbertson<br />
BAGA <strong>City</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> Ad<br />
Wash., they love to add some Syrah (which is from<br />
Rhone, not Bordeaux) to their blends. In addition,<br />
they added a little Sangiovese. Whatever the blend,<br />
it is delicious.<br />
Another great premium wine is Red Sky<br />
Serendipity (redskywinery.com). This is a classic<br />
Bismarck Art & Galleries Association<br />
Festival<br />
of the Arts<br />
Themed dinner with live entertainment<br />
Road<br />
to Rio<br />
Saturday, November 21, 2009<br />
Radisson Hotel, Bismarck<br />
Call BAGA for ticket information (701) 223-5986.<br />
422 East Front Avenue • www.bismarck-art.org<br />
Bordeaux blend of<br />
Cabernet Sauvignon,<br />
Merlot and Cabernet<br />
Franc. The first taste<br />
shows some subtle<br />
blackberry, and it<br />
finishes with several<br />
layers of flavor.<br />
On the white side,<br />
I really liked two<br />
wines in my tasting<br />
excursion. One was<br />
the Cowan Vineyards<br />
2008 Pinot Gris<br />
(cowanvineyards.com).<br />
It had luscious fruit<br />
throughout. I also really<br />
liked the 2007 Alma<br />
Terra Coeo Viognier<br />
(almaterrawines.<br />
com), which is a blend<br />
from three different<br />
vineyards of Viognier.<br />
It captures the best of<br />
the underappreciated<br />
Viognier grape, with<br />
deep florals in the nose<br />
and citrus and lemon<br />
zest on the finish.<br />
It will be incredibly interesting to watch the<br />
Wash. wine industry grow. I believe we will see<br />
more and more glowing reports about wines made<br />
in this great state. It also will be interesting to<br />
watch these newborn grandsons in Seattle change<br />
and grow. Here’s to life–and to you–Will and<br />
Oliver.<br />
November 2009 23
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