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Chateau Ste. Michelle Cabernet Sauvignon 2014

Château Ste. Michelle Cabernet Sauvignon 2014

It’s an odd thing to taste Pacific Northwest wines halfway around the world at a wine show in Romania—but then, life is full of interesting surprises and it was even more fun to see how our domestic wines are received in Europe. Château Ste. Michelle is one of Washington’s State’s founding wineries, it’s also the […]

Vinarte Castel Bolovanu Soare Cabernet Sauvignon 2013

Vinarte Castel Bolovanu Soare Cabernet Sauvignon 2013

Another local wine from my recent trip through Romania’s picturesque countryside. This modern Cabernet Sauvignon from Vinarte Castel Bolovanu (it took some digging to figure out the actual producer) is fully-loaded. Chocked full of plums and vine-ripened blackberries, it’s fresh, plump and round on the palate with high levels of cedar-tinged tannins and acidity. A […]

Spring Valley Vineyard Katherine Corkrum Cabernet Franc 2013

Spring Valley Vineyard Katherine Corkrum Cabernet Franc 2013

The 2013 Spring Valley Vineyard Katherine Corkrum offers more complexity than I tend to find in Washington State Cabernet Franc. It’s a wellspring of mulberries and pie cherries neatly hemmed in by dried orange peel, baking spices and subtle, dusty earthiness. On the palate, it’s medium-bodied, with velvety tannins and delightfully spice and white-pepper-laden finish […]

Spring Valley Vineyard Frederick 2013

Spring Valley Vineyard Frederick 2013

A Bordeaux-style blend of 57% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Merlot, 22% Cabernet Franc, 5% Petit Verdot, 3% Malbec, the 2013 Spring Valley Vineyard Frederic offers sumptuous fruit on the nose and palate. Twenty months in new French oak has further graced it with a balanced, well-integrated toast profile of vanilla and pencil shavings lending structure to […]

Yves Cheron Les Dentelles Côtes du Rhône 2015

Yves Cheron Les Dentelles Côtes du Rhône 2015

I wanted to find a little more concentration of fruit at the core of this otherwise easy-drinking blend of 65% Grenache and 35% Syrah from Yves Cheron. The 2015 ‘Les Dentelles’ sports a classic Southern Rhône profile of plums and blackberries couched in garrigue, warm spice, and dried violet. It’s bright on the palate, not […]

Gustave Lorentz Crémant D’Alsace Brut NV

Gustave Lorentz Crémant D'Alsace Brut

The color of sun-bleached straw, this charming Crémant D’Alsace from Gustave Lorentz opens with a lively torrent of fine bubbles and inviting layers of baked yellow apple, smokey pear, granulated honey and sea foam. In the mouth, orchard fruit is couched in blithe minerality and weightier layers of marzipan and wet dough. Finishes on a […]

Knudsen Vineyards Pinot Noir 2015

Knudsen Vineyards Pinot Noir 2015

Established by Cal and Julia Lee Knudsen in 1971, Knudsen Vineyards had long been a primary supplier of fruit to Argyle. The family’s second generation, Page, Colin, and David Knudsen were determined to make their own wines from the estate. The 2015s mark their fourth vintage, and the wines are still vinified at Argyle. The […]

Camille Braun Crémant d’Alsace Brut NV

Camille Braun Crémant d'Alsace Brut

Really loving this year’s crop Crémant d’Alsace sparklers, including this honey-hued biodynamic blend of 60% Auxerrois and 40% Pinot blanc from Camille Braun. It’s expansive on the nose, expressing baked apple and poached pear along with a heady topnote of shortbread, brioche, and earth. In the mouth, there’s weight, but there’s nice palate tension, too—a […]

Spring Valley Vineyard Nina Lee 2012

Spring Valley Vineyard Nina Lee 2012

Co-fermented with 1% Viognier, Spring Valley Vineyard’s 2012 Nina Lee Syrah opens with a lilting topnote of dried violet that floats above weightier aromas of blackberry cobbler and black cherry. The wine’s namesake, a nod to the family’s enduring history in Walla Walla, Nina Lee was the wife of Frederick Corkrum. After meeting following her […]

Wijngaard Klein-Amerika Cuvée Bosrand 2009

Wijngaard Klein-Amerika Cuvée Bosrand 2009

Sampled at a recent #winelover hangout in Bucharest, the 2014 Wijngaard Klein-Amerika Cuvée Bosrand is a blend of Regent and Cabernet Colonjes—which appears to be a hybrid cross of between Cabernet Sauvignon and, as far as I can tell, an unknown mold-resistant variety. At any rate, it’s a tart, tightly-wound wine, with a modest dollop […]

CHRISTINE HAVENS
McMinnville, OR

christine@christine-havens.com