Gretchen Neuman
VinoVerve Editor

I love local wine. But that doesn’t mean that I won’t drink wine that is made more than 100 miles away from my home. Why? Well at the moment there are only 37 wineries within that boundary and I don’t love all of them (Though I do love several that I have encountered so far). Plus, I love to explore and tasting new wine and food is like taking a little vacation from your everyday life. I call this seeming paradox the Tip O’Neill Corollary. Why? Well, Tip O’Neil once famously remarked that all politics is local. And the fact of the matter is, that all wine is too. It is local to someone. So I go ahead an enjoy those wines too and sometimes I even write about them.

This last week I tried a Crémant d’Alsace , a sparkling wine from Alsace (home of my Miller ancestors). I had tried still wines from the same House, Gustave Lorentz and had always liked them. So I was really looking forward to tasting this sparkler.

And I wasn’t disappointed. The wine was wonderful with medium sized bubbles and a dry but fruity taste. The varietals used to produce this bottle were Chardonnay 60%, Pinot Blanc 20% and Pinot Noir 20%. The winemakers feel that this provides fruity liveliness (from the Chardonnay), freshness and elegance from the Pinot Blanc and depth and persistance from the Pinot Noir.

In addition to the Crémant, the Maison Lorentz also produces still wines from traditional Alsatian variatels, including several Grand Cru Rieslings, Gewurztraminer and Pinot Gris, several late harvest wines and Eaux-de-Vie, liqueurs and an Alsatian Marc which is a type of grappa made from the skins of Gewurztraminer grapes.

The Crémant and still wines (Gewurztraminer, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris) are available at my favorite wine shop, Good Grapes. The Crémant is about $20.

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Gretchen Neuman
VinoVerve Editor

Wine has been produced near Lake Chelan since 1891 by Italian immigrants and that 154 acres were planted as of 1949 only 260 acres are currently under cultivation. There are fifteen wineries in the AVA (with one on the way). Grape varietals grown in the region include Syrah, Merlot, Malbec, Riesling, Pinot Gris, Gewürtztraminer, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

The area is unique in the Columbia Valley due to the micro-climate created by the lake which increases the amount of time that fruit stays on the vine. This allows the additional development of complexity building phenols while keeping the sugars and acids in balance. Additionally glaciers on ice-age Lake Chelan left the appellation with a coarse, sandy soil that is full of quartz and mica.

The Lake Chelan AVA is yet another subset of the Columbia Valley and was designated in April of 2009. . The AVA application for Lake Chelan was delayed for several years as Alcohol and Tabacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) froze all petitions due to a controversy related to the Calistoga designation. It was determined that any winery that included the name of the AVA or substantially similar to it must source 85% of its grapes from within the region. This required five wineries in the AVA with “Chelan” in their names to comply with the regulation.

Nothing is ever simple…

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Gretchen Neuman
VinoVerve Editor

Located completely within the Columbia Valley AVA and within Benton and Yakima Counties, Rattlesnake Hills is a 16 mile long stretch of territory of basalt mountains. The AVA was created in 2006 but has been under cultivation since 1968 when the Morrison Vineyard was planted with Cabernet Sauvignon and Riesling for Chateau St. Michelle. Currently there are nearly 30 vineyards in the area some of which can be found here

Grape varietals grown in the hills include Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Gewürtztraminer, Malbec, Merlot, Muscat Canelli, Petite Sirah, Riesling, Semillion and Viognier.

The AVA is centered around Zillah, Washington. I am hoping given that I will be in Walla Walla which is relatively close by, that I will get to experience the hills for myself. I was especially relieved to learn that the name “rattlesnake” comes from the shape of the hills… and not for any reptilian invaders in the area. I am like Indiana Jones that way. I hate snakes.

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Gretchen Neuman
VinoVerve Editor

I hate this time of year. I can’t hit the road and explore the way I would like to as there are too many things going on here. (Birthdays, Superbowls, etc.) So, instead? I make plans and dream of hitting the road.

And with a trip to Washington State coming up at the end of the June that gives me some time to think about where I will be going. Washington is full of viticultural areas that are mostly part of the larger Columbia Valley AVA. I am working on exploring the smaller viticultural areas first.. and began with Walla Walla since that is where I will be visiting.

This time, I am exploring the Yakima Valley. Years ago, Kevin and I drove around parts of Washington State and got pretty close to Yakima. It was an amazing place. Highly irrigated, the area is a fruit belt. Orchards of apples, peaches and even a town called Apricot (which we passed). The rest of the area not being irrigated looks like a moonscape. It is dry and desolate and I was amazed by the difference between the lush valleys and bleak hills.

That being said, the area is home to nearly 50 wineries and has cultivated wine grapes since 1869. The main varietals planted are Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Cabernet Franc, Lemberger, Sangiovese, Malbec, Chardonnay, Riesling, Semillion, Sauvignon Blanc, Gewürztraminer, Chenin Blanc, Pinot Gris and Viognier.

Hopefully, I will be able see some of these wineries on my trip west. Oh, and like my map of of the Central Delaware Valley AVA, I find a recognizable shape in this map. Instead of a dragon, today, I see a whale. In fact, given that I grew up on the East Coast, I see Fudgie The Whale, the beloved ice cream cake shape from Carvel. I won’t test this theory by inverting the shape to see if I can identify the equally beloved Cookie Puss. But you East Coasters will understand my drift….

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Gretchen Neuman
VinoVerve Editor

So after all that discussion of the Ohio and the Firelands, did I finally get around to tasting any wine? Of course I did!

I began with the Pinot Grigio, currently the most popular wine according to the ladies in the tasting room. I could taste green apple and grass. It was a little less crisp than some of the pinot grigios than I have had in the past, but this is a good thing… Sometimes, those wines get too bitey and for some reason that makes the hinge of my jaw hurt. (I never said that logic was my strong suit).

Next up was the Riesling. This was advertised as tasting of apples but I thought it had more of a honeyed flavor that reminded me of pears. This is made in what I consider a more traditional style, in that it was semi-sweet. I love the new modern dry Rieslings as well, but there is something to be said for the full, fruity and floral tones of the traditional method.

I even sampled the Gewurztraminer which I had tasted with Henry Bishop, Rory and Kevin (albeit not the same vintage). It is still an excellent blend of tropical fruits and rose petals. The best of two different worlds.

Additionally, I tasted both the Pinot Noir (a wine that I have enjoyed from Great Lakes regions, i.e., Niagara Escarpment) and the Cabernet Franc. The Cabernet was herbal and lightly spicy and nicely dry. The Pinot Noir was smoke with anise and cherry.

Additional offerings under the Firelands label include:

Cabernet Sauvignon
Merlot
Chardonnay
Barrel Select Chardonnay
Rose de St. George
Country Estate Red
Walleye White and
Ice Wine

Additional wines from the other Lonz, Inc. labels were available including the Mantey, Dover, Mon Ami and Lonz (from grapes produced on Middle Bass Island). I picked up a Mantey Cream Sherry for my father. He has always been a fan of Ohio sherries and am looking forward to tasting it with it in the near future (most likely Thanksgiving).

Additionally, the winery is a source for homewine makers and sells juice in the autumn (until it runs out).

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Gretchen Neuman
VinoVerve Editor

It seems these days I am always on the road and this is a good thing. I love meeting people all over the country who love wine so much that they have dedicated their lives to it. And naturally, I enjoy tasting as well. The best part of wine lovers is that they are everywhere and while it hasn’t been able to said as much about wine makers they are certainly becoming more widespread. In Iowa for instance, there are over 70 wineries.

One of the common complaints that I hear from those uninitiated in travelling to wineries outside of the west coast is that any wine produced in the rest of the company is sweet. This was certainly the case with the other winery that I visited in Iowa, the Ackermann Winery. Of course, the people of the Amana Colonies would have come by their love of sweet wine naturally given their German heritage and they continued to produce wines in that style when they arrived in Central Iowa 150 years ago.

As I drove down the country roads toward the Wallace Winery, I wondered what I would find. Pulling into the parking lot, I saw that this was part of a working farm. There were grapes growing as well as corn. I entered the tasting room to be greeted two young women who had clearly been enjoying the beautiful summer day as I arrived. I asked about tastings and was greeted with this warning, “Just so you know, we don’t have sweet wines”. Clearly the expectation of the region was for those kinds of wines and she wanted to head off any disappointment on my part. But you can’t disappoint me when I get to try a new wine!

Looking around I found 10 different wines mostly produced from estate grown grapes (only the Joan’s Cuvee was produced from grapes brought in from elsewhere). I started with the wines produced from locally grown grapes. The first was a Chardonel. This varietal is a cross between the Seyval Blanc and Chardonnay grapes and is often found in northern climates as it is hardier than Chardonnay. This wine was aged in stainless steel. The wine was fruity and pleasant but very light but would be lovely on a hot summer day.  The next white I tried was their Traminette.  Traminette is a varietal that was meant to be a table grape with the flavors of Gewurtztraminer, but was ultimately found to produce excellents wines. This wine was floral and citrus and like the Chardonel exceedingly light.  Nice for sipping by the pool on a summer day, but not quite what I would serve with dinner.

At this point, I tried tasting the red wines.  The Chambourcin, another hybrid is a varietal that I have come to taste often in the Midwest (and Tennessee as that is more southern) and have liked a lot.  This wine like the others was lighter than I would have liked, but still flavorful.  It was like tasting a very light Rhone.  The flavors were pleasant, just weaker than I expected.  This made me curious to taste the last wine on my list the Joan’s Cuvee.  The grapes for this wine were imported from California as whole fruit, not juice.  It is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot and was aged in oak barrels.  Unlike the other wines, this was full bodied and I was a surprised with the richness.

Other wines produced by the winery include a Blanc de Blance made from the Chardonel, ‘Iowa Barn’ White, a blend of Chardonel, Vidal Blanc and Vignoles, ‘Iowa Barn’ Red a blend of Chambourcin and Chancellor grapes, a Vignoles, the Nouveau made from 2008 Chambourcin and the River City Port which is produced from Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon.  The prices of the wines range from $11.99 to $22.99.

The winemaker is Dr. Edward Wallace who has turned his love for wine from a hobby into a business.  (Dr. Wallace is a chiropractor in West Branch, Iowa ((Home of the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum)).  Dr. Wallace has been making wine for 15 years and opened his tasting room five years ago.  My conclusion after tasting his wines is that he can produce good flavors but that the quality of the local grapes must be improved to bring greater depth to the wines.  Overall, I was impressed with his desire to make dry wines in an area that seems populated with wineries producing sweeter varieties.  It appears to be a more difficult undertaking and I wish Dr. Wallace good luck in his winemaking quest.

Wallace Winery
5305 Herbert Hoover Highway
West Branch, Iowa 52358
319.643.3000

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Marguerite Barrett
Contributing Writer

Newport Vineyards has an extensive menu of wines, 31 in total; one of the largest selections that I’ve seen yet from a Northeastern regional winery.   The menu begins with 13 whites divided into four categories: dry, no-oak (2), dry, oaked (1), Alsatian Style (6), and the semi-dry (4), before moving into the Rosés (4), the Reds (8), the Dessert Wines, which include a Port and an Ice Wine (4), and finishing with a Brut sparkling wine and a hard apple cider.

A tasting, which runs $9, includes your choice of five wines and allows you to join one of the two daily tours of the winery (1 and 3 pm).  Unfortunately, if you elect not to take the tour or arrive after the tours have finished for the day (as we did), the price still remains $9.  Tastings of the Ice Wine and the Brut will run you an additional $1 each.  Individual glasses of wine can be purchased for $6, although a handful of the premium wines run $8 per glass.

Christy and I took our time studying the menu and selecting our wines, while listening to our hosts explain ad nauseum to a group at the other end of the bar that tastings work best if you start with the whites and move on to the reds.  I’m always amused, and often exasperated, by the people who don’t know what they’re doing – but desperately and often pretentiously pretend that they do.   The winery staff had my sympathy that day; I can only imagine how frustrating it is to watch someone select a fuller-bodied wine like a cabernet franc as their first wine, follow it up with a light-bodied white, and then have to listen to them complain about how the “white tastes funny” – all the while keeping a polite smile on your face.

But eventually the group settled down, and our host wandered over to pour our tasting.  I elected to begin with the one dry, oak-aged white, the

2007 Newport Chardonnay A nice wine, but not one that blew me away.  The color is a very pale yellow, and the nose has light grassy notes with a very light touch of citrus.  A light-bodied wine, in the mouth the flavors are light, clean and smooth with light sweet notes of pear and a touch of lemon on the finish.  The citrus is crisp and balances the smoother, deeper flavors of the pear, and the oak provides a light toastiness.   The tasting notes indicate this would pair well with grilled fish and poultry as well as light cheeses.

2008 Tranquility Next up for me was one of the Alsatian-style wines, a blend of gewurztraminer (34%), muscat ottonel (34%), pinot gris (22%), and riesling (10%).  Like the Newport Chardonnay, Tranquility is also a pale yellow color.  The nose is bright with lovely floral notes and a hint of sweetness from the muscat.  A light-bodied wine, yet fuller than the Chardonnay, Tranquility is a soft dry-style wine with floral notes, low oak, and a touch of sweetness that provides depth and character.  It’s an interesting wine and my favorite of the wines I tasted that afternoon.  Tranquility is a gold medal winner for Best Vinifera Blend at the Atlantic Wine Competition.

2006 Rochambeau Named in honor of Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, the French General who fought with George Washington and helped defeat the British at the Battle of Yorktown (1781),  Newport Vineyard’s Rochambeau is a blend  of Cabernet Sauvignon and Landot Noir.   Made in the Bordeaux-style, the wine is medium-bodied, bright and tangy.  The nose has interesting notes of pepper and berries.  In the mouth, the wine is young with a tangy “back” taste and strong berry notes, particularly on the finish.  I tend to prefer stronger, deeper reds, but I was intrigued by this wine and will definitely be giving this another try on my next visit.

2007 Cabernet Franc I have become a real fan of Cabernet Franc, finding it one of the richest most satisfying reds produced here in the Northeast, and even when not touring local wineries am finding myself gravitating towards cabernet francs and zinfandels over my former favorites pinot noir and cabernet sauvignon.  Newport Vineyards’ Cabernet Franc didn’t disappoint, but I didn’t find it as strong as the Cabernet Francs from Chamard or Gouveia.  The color is a lovely jewel-tone medium garnet that subtly sparkles in the glass.  The nose is deep and soft with light notes of earth and fruit and just a hint of spice.  A medium-bodied wine, there are soft notes of fruit in the mouth – I detected dark berries and just a hint of cherry brightness.  The finish is clean with lingering notes of pepper that give the wine an interesting character.  Perhaps I had a tasting from a recently opened bottle, but I did feel that the wine needed to breathe longer to display it’s full potential.

2006 Newport Jazz I finished out the afternoon with a dessert wine, a Sauterne-style, late harvest Sauvignon Blanc.  Despite my general fondness for dessert wines, this was my least favorite of the afternoon.  A lovely dark gold color, the nose was rich and sweet and held a lot of promise that unfortunately the wine didn’t deliver.  Surprisingly, in the mouth the wine was slightly dry with a sharp finish.  The mouth feel had that silky smoothness that one expects from a dessert wine, but the balance was somehow just “off.”  It may that I had a tasting from a bad bottle, so I will definitely give this another try before writing it off altogether.

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Marguerite Barrett
Contributing Writer

The Whites finished with the Gewurztraminer, a Gold Medal Winner in the 2004 Amenti Del Vino International Wine Competition, and a Bronze Medal Winner in the 2005 International Eastern Wine Competition and the 2008 Amenti Del Vino International Wine Competition.

As the wine was being poured, I was told this was the 2007 vintage.  The color was a pale yellow, and the nose was very light – and I mean very light.   On the palate, the wine was also light with a mineraly finish.  There were very faint notes of citrus, but overall the wine had no real depth.  I was told the wine was “coming along,” but all in all I was disappointed – and, I must admit, surprised.  While I definitely had my preferences among the wines I had tasted so far, they were all interesting wines with character.

When I expressed my comments, I was rewarded with a somewhat smug grin and a second pouring – this time it was the 2008 vintage, which had just been bottled that week.  A slightly deeper yellow that caught the light nicely, this wine had a much fruitier nose.  And upon sipping I found myself grinning as well – this is much more what I expected from a Gewurztraminer.  Much deeper, richer and smoother than the ‘07, there were lovely notes of pear and hints of citrus, and a light mineral finish.  

One of the great joys of Win(e)ding Roads for me is when I stumble across contrasts like this – or the Jeremy River White/Blackledge White contrast.  Experiencing the difference between two vintages, or two similar wines with slightly different formulas, or the dry and sweet versions of the same wine.  Fascinating and heady stuff…

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Gretchen NeumanVinoVerve EditorI know what you are thinking, “The building is lovely, but how is the wine?”And just so you know? I am getting there. Just in my own good time. I like savoring the sites and sounds as well as the tastes of a new adventure in wine.As Kevin and I got ourselves settled for a tasting it was recommended that we start with the white wines.The first wine that we tasted was the 2007 Gewurztraminer. I loved the smell in this glass. Flowers and tropical fruit, which continued into the drinking of it! I thought that the smell was like bananas with a touch of green apple and the taste was more like mango. The wine was overall dry but had a bit of sweetness that mellowed.More sophisticated palates than mine might say lychee (nuts?) fruit. I think I have to eat more of them to pull that from my memory.I love to drink wines like this with Asian or spicy food, or even better, spicy Asian food. (just writing that is making me miss the Tipsuda that used to exist in Hyde Park, a million oh, about 20 years ago.. of course back then I wouldn’t have had the sense to have a good Gewurztraminer with me, but rather a bottle of Canei…. Yes, you can). The tasting notes also suggest curries, pork, sauerkraut (choucroute garnie anyone? I make my own sauerkraut!) baked potatoes, Muenster cheese, turkey, salmon and fruit desserts. I concur.Unfortunately, (or fortunately for me) you have to be a member of the wine club in order to purchase this wine. I am a member, so this is great! It is easy to join. Sign up here. It is easy peasy!Next we had the 2006 Viognier, which to me tasted of honey and fruit which I thought orignially was peach. The tasting notes indicated apricot which I thought was pretty close. I prefer to think that I blocked out the sense of it being apricot. See, I once suffered an apricot disaster when my cat, Clyde, sat himself in a cooling apricot tart (to show me who was boss). The subsequent weeks of pushing Valium down the cat’s throat has quite put me off of apricots… but clearly I vaguely remember their flavor.The Viognier had a nice balanced taste of fruit and acid and a wonderful rich finish. The winery recommends serving it with seafood, such as prawns, salmon and swordfish as well as salads and antipasto.The last white wine that we tasted was the 2007 Late Harvest Riesling. It had a beautiful golden color and the aroma of honey and pear. It was a heavier wine in terms of its viscosity, enhancing the mellifluous sense of the wine and felt velvety in my mouth.Late harvest wines are often served with dessert and I can imagine this wine standing up to the acidity of lemony flavors and angel food cake. I can also imagine it being ideal with tangy goat cheeses.Oh by the way? Lynfred has a wonderful bakery on premises and makes bread to use during tastings. BUY THIS BREAD. Particularly if you get a chance to try the Goat Cheese Mushroom Swiss. You won’t be sorry.Up next: Red Wines Save This Page

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