He and other winemakers interviewed for this story said that the year started a little late with the bud break and then it got hotter and hotter through the summer. Some grape growers were concerned with the overexposure to sunlight and heat. But fires in the north in British Columbia provided a strange film of high altitude smoke that created a screen to the intense ultra-violet rays from the sun. It was like a sun cream for the vines!
“Thankfully for us, and unfortunately for BC, the vines instead of experiencing 105 plus degrees temperatures, were in the sweet spot for ripening,” Stewart said.
This certainly made the difference in the wines I tasted. They showed a richness of fruit and ripe tannins yet remained fresh and vibrant. Even the best reds that are built for aging were attractive and approachable and already gave pleasure when tasting.
Washington State wines bring a lot of the New World qualities such as the opulence you get out of places like California but they also show restraint that comes from European regions like Burgundy or the Rhone. “It’s the restrain that you would get out of Burgundy at the same time,” said winemaker Brennon Leighton of K Vintners. “It’s in between. It’s not New World and it’s not Old World. Washington has the best of two worlds. You have the focus and you have the restraint and the etherealness of the Old World wines but it has the freshness and bigness out of New World wine.”
My top wines certainly had this character as Leighton describes and two of them were his wines. I rated all of them 98 points including Hors Categorie Syrah Walla Walla Valley 2016, Cayuse Vineyards Syrah Walla Walla Valley Bionic Frog 2017, K Vintners Syrah Walla Walla Valley Phil Lane 2017, and K Vintners Syrah Wahluke Slope The Hidden 2017.
It’s worth noting that all my top wines were syrah. The grape is magical in Washington and it produces rich and intense wines with a diversity of aromas and flavors and a freshness and structure at the same time. I would argue that the state makes the most consistently great syrahs in America and different than anything out there from Barossa to the Rhone valley.
“Washington makes some of the most incredible syrahs in the world,” said Leighton. “It is not only the soil types like broken basalt or limestone soils or ancient river beds, but it’s also where the temperatures are absolutely perfect, where you have a fairly warm period in July and August but then it cools down significantly in September and October and you are typically picking the best syrah in late October.”
I really enjoy the richness of fruit to the syrahs yet at the same time they have a green tobacco and fresh herb undertones that give the wines wonderful complexity on both the nose and palate. It’s not just about rich and intense fruit like most other American syrahs.
In fact, the same could be said for most other grape types in Washington and blends for that matter. Everything seems to make excellent wine in the state, even less popular grapes such as malbec and aglianico or roussanne and chenin blanc. Washington winemakers often lament the fact that their state doesn’t really have an identity or that they are not known for one grape; it’s no longer thought of as a great merlot producer as it was in the 1990s. However, they probably should be focusing on how Washington makes wonderfully drinkable wines that are at the same time extremely age worthy and site specific when produced at a top level. This is very convincing and people love to drink the wines.
For me, I still find it difficult to generalize about region, subregions and specific vineyard areas. I know that winemakers themselves like to. But I tend to focus more on producers. And my tastings tend to support this buying and drinking strategy. However, I hope to explore the wines and vineyards more in the future.
