The crowd trickled in at a steady pace Thursday, January 15 to taste the wines from the portfolio of W.J. Deutsch & Sons. Suzie Streater, representative of these wines along with Karen Nelson, sales rep. for Columbia Dist. were ready to pour and talk about the wines. It was a nice line-up with only a couple of duds in the group of thirteen wines. We tried to select a nice variety of both value and eclectic wines. There were wines from Australia, France, Italy and Washington State. Close to seventy attended the event and many took part in the first “Blind Tasting” challenge. Four wines were chosen from the table of wines being presented. It was a blind format, so the challenge was to see if you knew which wines from the open table were in the brown bags. We had one individual get all four correct and many guessed three out of four. GOOD JOB! We had a lot of fun and learned about many new wines. Here is my review of the wines presented...

2008 Yellowtail Pinot Grigio...... $6.99                           86 points

Talk about fresh off the boat! We had some of the Yellow Tail wines since they are so popular and a great value. I had never tried the pinot grigio before so here was my chance. As you might expect this wine was fresh and lively. On the nose there was an excellent bouquet of orange peel, lemon and some granny smith apple. It was fairly tart on the palate and this was no doubt due to the freshness of the wine. It showed tart granny smith apple on the front of the palate with some apple skin qualities. It stayed quite astringent through the mid-palate through the finish. I believe this will settle down in a couple of months. The wine would be an excellent match with oysters or clams. I originally gave this 84 points but changed my mind. It is a really good value and should be excellent with food.


2007 Geyser Peak Sauvignon Blanc..... $10.99                    88 points

Geyser Peak has long been known for their excellent Sauvignon Blanc, and it had been some time since I tasted it. It did not disappoint. Many California Sauvignon Blancs can be insipid and boring. This showed some very interesting qualities. On the nose I got a little tar and sea salt or a little bit of the bay. On the palate there was a nice lemon drop flavor with hints of raspberry bubbleyum. It had a fairly good mid-palate and the fruit did not disappear. It finished with a nice sea salt and lemon the carried on and on. The finish was quite amazing for a sauv. blanc. This was another wine that screamed for oysters.  

2006 Kunde Chardonnay...... $14.99                                  72 points

This wine was quite disappointing. It showed good promise on the nose with a nice toasted marshmallow and caramel bouquet. However, the wine was very disjointed and off kilter. Way too much oak with no fruit whatsoever. I tried it a couple of times and could hardly have it in my mouth. It finished with a burnt wood bitter back end that left me feeling like a needed a shot of bourbon to clean my palate.

Non-Vintage Yellowtail Sparkling Rose...... $8.99                    88 points

You just have to love sparkling rose’. This inexpensive version of this style was a very pleasant surprise. There wasn’t a ton of bouquet but some slight strawberry tones came through. (It may have been a little to cold to get the bouquet). On the palate it showed some nice cherry flavors that reminded me a little of cherry 7-up mixed with cherry bubbleyum and some skittles. This is not a bad thing. It was very pleasant to drink with good weight and a pleasing finish. It wasn’t too sweet or too dry. This wine would be a crowd pleaser for sure. Do not shy away from this because it is YellowTail, it is a good sparkler.

2006 Castello De Monastero ....... $11.99                                  65 points

This wine was by far the worst of the bunch. The nose showed menthol, cherry and a little oak. When this wine hit your palate you knew you were in trouble. On the front of the palate all I could extract was burnt rubber bands. There was nothing on the mid-palate (Thank God!) and the finish was quite bitter with no fruit showing at all. I would not recommend this wine to anyone, although someone liked it and ordered some. Like I always say, wine is all about the individual.

2005   Beauna Vista Pinot Noir (Carneros) ... $20.99                   90 points    

So now we are past the two duds in the bunch and the rest of the wines were very respectable. One of the top Pinot Noir producing appellations in California aside from Russian River is Carneros. This wine represented this appellation very well. The wine had a classic burgundian nose with toasted strawberry and some nice earth tones. This was unexpected since most California Pinot Noirs can be quite fruit driven, some even putting Syrah in it to give it weight. This is not necessary for those of us who are in love with this varietal. That being said, this wine had good fruit but not overdone showing strawberry and provincial herbs on the front and mid-palate with a touch of oak on the back end. In a blind tasting one might mistake this for a wine Pinot from Burgundy... O.K. this might be a stretch, but it was that good.  

2005   J. Vidal Fluery Cotes du Ventoux ... $12.99                    88 points

This wine from souther Rhone is a classic “Old World” style red. The nose shows mushroom, cherry and some oak flavors. Flavors of toasty oak, cassis,, cherry show on the front of the palate. The mid-palate had an odd flavor that I couldn’t put my finger on. It wasn’t unpleasant, just odd. The finish had your classic Rhone spice with a little truffle and forest floor flavors. If you like old world style wines this one is for you.

2005 J. Vidal Fluery Vacueyras..... $22.99                                88 points

Another red from southern Rhone, this wine basically made of the same grapes as the Cotes du Ventoux was a bit more New World but just as enjoyable. The bouquet was that of mint, cherry and oak. On the front palate anise and dark cherry tones came through quite nicely which continued into a strong mid-palate finishing with toasty spice box and a nice chocolate hit on the back end.

2005   Columbia Winery Cabernet Sauvignon... $10.99           89 points

I wanted to bring some of the Columbia wines to the tasting since I sell so much of it at the store and I haven’t tasted them in awhile. I was not disappointed. I thought they were popular because they were such a good price. I am sure that is part of it, but this was a very good qpr. ( Quality to Price Ratio). A little menthol on the nose with cherry, toast and a whiff of anise. Blueberry and spice box on the front palate with some vanilla coming through on the mid-palate. The finish had a very pleasing anise and chocolate hit. Overall a great cab at a great price.

2004 Columbia Winery Syrah..... $10.99                                   88 points

A touch of bacon fat and smoke on the nose. Anise, and boysenberry on the front that carried through on the mid-palate. The wine showed good structure with good firm tannins and acidity. The finish was pleasing with a nice cherry hit on the backside. This wine was a lot more complex then I expected it to be. A very good food Syrah.
                                            
2006 XYZIN 10 Yr. Zinfandel.... $13.99                                     89 points

I love zinfandel, so my hard ass critic hat came on for this one. What a nice zinfandel! Raspberry pie on the nose with a touch of celery and mocha. The palate had wonderful raspberry and black pepper on the front that intensified through the mid-palate finishing with cassis and black currant on a fairly long finish. This zin will definitely make on my shopping list in the future.  


2004   Geyser Peak Meritage.... $45.99                                       86 points

This was the most expensive wine of the bunch, so of course the expectations were just a little higher. I was a little disappointed, it fell a little short on the qpr scale. Smoke, dark berry, currant and plum on the nose. On the front of the palate you got anise and green pepper followed by cassis and a touch of oak on the finish. It was a very herbaceous red with a little more vegetal character then I enjoy in a red. If you like green pepper and grass this is the wine for you, and there is nothing wrong with that. I believe with some age it will mellow out and become a 90+ wine. Buy one, put it away, let’s say 4 to 5 years and you will see what I mean.

2006 Covey Run Semillon Ice Wine...... $22.99                          90+

What can I say, it is a sticky sweet wine. How can you not like it unless you do not like sweets. What I liked about this one was that it was not too heavy. A very clean sweet. Loved it.