March is the original Washington Wine Month. I’ve reviewed several wines from our great wine-producing state on Stan The Wine TV. Check out my latest, featuring the wines from one of my favorite wineries, Longship Cellars located in Richland, WA. Don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel so you don’t miss upcoming episodes.
I bet most of you thought I gave up on writing. I apologize for my absence, but I assure you that writing is a passion for me and I fully intend to continue providing interesting content. I particularly love this segment as it allows me the liberty to give somewhat random and sometimes cohesive information that I hope most of you find interesting. So, what has been going on in my world lately?
I’ve been focusing on Washington State wines on my YouTube channel since March is the original “Washington Wine Month”. The Washington Wine Commission added August sometime later and now we have two “Washington Wine Months”. For the longest time, I resisted observing the August version. Why do we need two? Obviously, it’s a marketing ploy to get stores to focus on featuring Washington wines during these two months. I can’t say that I’m fully on board with August, but I do mention it and have a couple of YouTube episodes on Washington wines during August. Since March is the original, that is where I spend most of my time focusing on our great wine-producing state. I think we can all agree that Washington State puts out some amazing wines. My “Pick Of The Month” for March is a Merlot from Corvidae Wine Company called Rook. It goes for a whopping twelve dollars. To be honest, I could have chosen several wines to be featured during March for under twenty bucks that are stellar! The quality of Washington wines, especially in the higher-end category, rivals many of the big hitters from Napa Valley at a fraction of the price.
My wife Susie and I are looking forward to traveling abroad once again as the world slowly creeps back to normal. To say the least, it’s been trying times this past two years. Places to go on our radar include South Africa, India and of course London and Paris. I hope we can go to the Rhone Valley as well as neither of us have been there. It is such a joy to be with someone who enjoys travel as much as I do. Susie is our travel planner and she does an amazing job. I have to be careful not to make every trip wine-centric, but Susie is always a good sport and doesn’t mind spending time with me exploring the many wine-producing areas of the world. I have to say, that when we go to India wine will not be involved. What will be involved will be tigers, temples and the culture of the people.
The mask mandate was lifted for Washington State just over two weeks ago, which means I can now plan in-person wine events once again. During the past two years, I have utilized Zoom to keep on my schedule with wine events that were booked nearly two years prior. When the pandemic hit hard in April of 2020, I was at a loss as to what to do. I thought I would have to cancel the many tasting events that I had scheduled for that year. I sat on a board meeting via Zoom that month and things started coming together. I purchased some two-ounce tasting bottles and started scheming a way to have my scheduled guests present their wines to my group via Zoom. It has worked wonderfully. However, I never intended Zoom to replace in-person tastings. The tactile experience of being together is something Zoom cannot emulate. Some of my peeps came to enjoy the Zoom events and I have to say they would prefer I continue them. It took me over four hours to fill the bottles for the tasting kits that we handed out. I asked that the participants return the small bottles so that I could sterilize and wash them for the next event (the bottles are not cheap). That process (which included peeling off the labels) took over five tedious hours. To say doing all that was worth the effort is an understatement. However, if we can taste once again in person, that is my preference. Zoom will always be a tool at my disposal and I will use it when necessary. I know that at some point, the in-person tasting will become the norm once again.
Cheers!
Stan The Wine Man
Washington State Merlot. Throughout my career in wine, I have been an advocate of Merlot from this state. I believe that it rivals Merlot from Bordeaux and Italy (I know, a lot of people don’t realize that Italy makes great Merlot), two places where it shines. The cool thing about Washington Merlot is that you don’t have to spend a ton of money to get a good one. My pick for February is proof of that.
2018 Terra Blanca Arch Terrace Merlot (Red Mountain, WA)… $17.
Terra Blanca is my 2021 “Winery Of The Year” and it’s a wine like this that put them on my radar. This Merlot comes from one of my favorite appellations in Washington State and, from a great vintage.
Aromas of licorice, currants, chocolate, cinnamon and a potpourri of baking spices. Dark cherries and currants on the palate with a backbone of chalky minerality and hints of plum. Smooth, structured tannins and balanced acidity. Notes of licorice and chocolate join the palate party into a mouth-watering, long finish where there is a hint of candied orange. This baby is ready to drink now and over-delivers for the price. A great food wine, think grilled meats, but certainly enjoyable all by itself. (A)
Cheers!
Stan The Wine Man
I would like to thank all my friends who recently subscribed to this blog. It dawned on me one day that I had not reached out to my wine group to let them know I had a blog and would be grateful if they would subscribe to it. They (you) responded immediately and signed up. I hope to boost the content and provide you with insights into the wine world and some entertainment as well. I love writing and learning about the intricacies of the wine world and wine in general. It’s an incredibly interesting world that some people devote their life to (I think sommeliers may come to mind). Of course, you may be thinking that I have devoted my life to the subject of wine and to an extent you are right. However, I have started to read a book given to me for Christmas called “Cork Dork”. I’m a chapter into it and now realize that I don’t even come close to the passion and commitment many people have for the subject of wine and the world that surrounds it. It’s both inspiring and humbling.
One of my suppliers has invited me on a trip to Spain and Portugal hosted by some of the wineries they represent. It’s a few months away, but I am very excited to visit that part of the world once again and explore the vineyards and wineries we will be visiting. I will have a camcorder in hand to record a few YouTube episodes while I’m there. It has also inspired me to write a few articles about this area of the world prior to the trip. I think most of you appreciate the wines of Spain (we just had a tasting with Basi via Zoom that was amazing) but I think many of the wines of Portugal are a mystery to a lot of us. Some of the best wine values in the world come from these two countries. I will embark first on a few articles featuring Portugual and then move on to Spain. By the time I take the trip, I should be more enlightened myself about these great wine-producing countries.
I can still remember back when my good friend Ted Seifert left his sales job at Unique Wines to open a wine shop in Bellingham called Seifert & Jones. He was one of my main mentors in the early years of my career. We became close friends and remain such. When he told me he was leaving to start his own wine shop, I was both happy and sad. I always looked forward to his visits to the store and we had a lot of good times together. He is doing very well with his business and we stay in touch, In my world, it is always difficult when you lose a competent sales rep. The real good ones are few and far between.
Well, it’s happening to me again. Many of you know Amy Pickering. She has been a part of four of my Zoom tastings in the past year. Her last one featured Marty Clubb, managing winemaker for L’Ecole Winery (he is also the owner). She has been a close friend and an outstanding sales rep. for Elliott Bay Dist. Like Ted, she not only sells wine, she knows a lot about the subject and the wines she represents (this is her last month on the job). Again, I’m not only losing a good sales rep., I’m losing someone who I look forward to seeing when she stops by my department. She is moving on to something different and I am happy for her but sad at the same time. I wish only the best for her.
To be fair, I have a good crew of sales reps that call on me. A shout out to Ben, Stacia, Lauren, Max, Josh, Danny, Daniel, Matthew, Chris and last but not least, Crystal. Crystal is leaving her position at Cru Selections and is moving over to Elliott Bay Dist. I have no doubt that Crystal will do a great job stepping into Amy’s shoes. The beat goes on.
Cheers!
Stan The Wine Man
