“Twas the week before Christmas”…

Posted at December 18, 2011

For the next few days we are trying something new, so we may bother you with a few extra posts. Don’t worry, after Christmas we will go back to our once-a-week entries (and occasional travelogue).

Our $99 per case offer was popular this weekend  (see previous post), but we still have a lot of wine, and the offer continues till Dec 30. This is a great chance to stock up for the holidays and for January (when we will be mostly closed). I feel like the old-time car dealers with the marathon sales campaign: “we must be crazy to offer these prices!” But sorry, we don’t take trade-ins, so don’t have your old cars (or old wines) pushed, pulled, dragged, or airlifted in!

THIS WEEK    THIS WEEK    THIS WEEK
As an experiment we will be open M, Tu, Th, & Fri this week from 4:30-6:30. Each night we will offer two exceptional wines from our cellar for tasting for $5-10 per person, depending on the wines. These are mostly collectible wines from the last ten years that have received exceptional reviews and disappeared from shelves long ago (if they were ever there in the first place!).

 

 

 

THE GOOD STUFF THE GOOD STUFF THE GOOD STUFF THE GOOD STUFF

Monday we will start with these:   “Betz Family Winery, run impeccably by Bob Betz, MW, remains a Washington benchmark for top quality Syrah and Bordeaux blends. With his connections from decades of service at Chateau Ste-Michelle, Betz is able to purchase choice fruit from some of the state’s finest vineyards including Boushey, Red Willow, Ciel du Cheval, Alder Ridge, Kiona, and Klipsun. Regarding the 2006 vintage, Betz says, “I took a long time to warm up to the vintage, but the wines have come on strong.”  Robert Parker, Wine Advocate


  Betz   La Serenne Syrah 04      Washington      WS 93pts       $39
WineSpectator: Polished, elegant and refined, but packing a punch of intensity to the spicy, peppery blackberry and dark plum flavors, lingering on the sharply focused finish. This has pizzazz and depth. Best from 2008 through 2014.

 Winemaker: As in the past the 2004 La Serenne is 100% Boushey Syrah, with its characteristic, abundant silky tannins. For me the overriding impression with this wine is its seamlessness on the palate. Sure, there are the dense black fruits, roasted coffee, earthy aromas and the black berry, smoky flavors, but the overall palate impact, huge and yet supple, is what lingers in my mind.

 

 

Betz Family Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Pere de Famille 2006    WA 95pts     $65
Parker: 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Merlot, and the balance Petit Verdot and Malbec. Opaque purple, the wine has a brooding nose of wood smoke, earth notes, mineral, spice box, black cherry, and blackberry. This is followed by a layered, opulent wine with superb depth and concentration and 6-8 years of aging potential. This promising effort should be at its best from 2015 to 2030.

 Winemaker: The blend yielded a wine of serious proportion, lush and silky structure, and a complex tangle of fruit, spice and wood notes. There’s a deep core of black currant, with plum and black cherry beneath, then the sweet pipe tobacco, black olive and sandalwood set in. It’s full bodied, with a fundamental grip of tannin for longevity (79% of the fruit comes from Red Mountain), but a lifted and plush texture (composed of equal parts from the Horse Heaven Hills and Yakima Valley)

These wines are a real treat, and not often available for tasting.

More tomorrow!

Wine Tasting

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