A Washington House White Option
This time, I've at least been to the tasting room...
When we moved to Seattle in 2015, it felt like “Washington Wine” was finally talked about with some respectability. Oregon, with their France-like climate and actually-French producers moving in, had dominated PNW wine and could compete with California in some ways. Washington was finally starting to do the same.
A big reason for that was “Woodinville Wine Country", a transparent cash grab by most of the largest producers in the state to build tasting rooms in a Seattle suburb completely unattached from their vineyards. This was extremely savvy because you could get something that felt like wine tourism from the rapidly-growing urban population without needing to convince them to drive 4+ hours over the mountains.
As part of that rapidly-growing urban population, we frequented the nearby tasting rooms and always had a good time. It’s a bit strange being so detached from vineyards, but they did a good job with the design of the area. Most of the wine was good, not much of it was great, but it reliably made for an enjoyable weekend day. Our favorite out there, by a pretty good margin, was Gard. We actually became members for a while and visited the actual vineyards each summer, which was a great time. But 1) they’re not really sold much out-of-state and 2) they don’t fit the cost guardrails I put in place for an everyday house wine option.
And in time, Woodinville got a bit tired. Real estate was expensive, so prices went up, and more and more tasting rooms were popping up in the city itself - especially the reviving SoDo and Georgetown neighborhoods to the south. There was increasingly good food down there, too, and we could take the train instead of driving. And on that side of town, our favorite tasting room was from the Charles Smith empire.
The tasting room is right across from Boeing, which is (as you might expect) a functioning airport. There was also an incredible fried chicken place in the same parking lot. Vibes were always very good, as was the wine. It was also still a functioning winery, though obviously the grapes were trucked in, so that was fun too.
A lot of the wine from “the house of Smith” is effectively Washington-only, but a good deal of the flagship K Vintners label is available out-of-state. And one of my favorite bottles is widely available here in Arizona.
K Vintners Art Den Hoed Viognier
You may be confused about Viognier being the highlight here considering K Vintners describes itself thus:
K Vintners is about small lots of single-vineyard Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache, Tempranillo, Sangiovese and field blends of those grapes, all of which are hand-picked, fermented with naturally occurring yeasts and basket pressed.
No whites at all in there! But, there are 2 Viognier expressions and a Riesling hiding in the label as well, and the Viognier is the standout. Both vineyards are very good, but the Art Den Hoed has higher production and, therefore, more distribution. This vineyard is also in Yakima valley, much closer to Seattle than Walla Walla, and therefore where I’ve spent much more time. Gard was all Yakima.
The label describes (via professional reviews) “snappy layers of apple, pear, and honeycomb” and “apricots, apple blossoms and guava on the nose” with “excellent freshness and a refreshing flower-petal astringency.” Sure. Why Not. I’m bad at wine tasting notes.
But what I did notice is that there’s not as much “perfume” on the nose as a lot of Viognier. Pretty much no matter where you look, the grape is at best described as “fragrant” or “floral",” and that can often be overwhelming. But here, the nose is more subdued. There’s a ton of fruit to find, and I resonate with apricot and guava as the notes. It’s very balanced, but crisp-to-the-point-of-tart which either works for you or doesn’t.
As a result, this will cut through whatever you’re eating and can be a good pairing with anything super flavorful. We cook a lot of Asian food, and this does well with anything slaty/spicy.
It’s a very good wine, from a place I’ve spent a good deal of time, and it works with what we tend to cook. But, I do worry that it’s still quite specific and may not be the kind of all-round crowd-pleaser that I’m looking for in the house wine I choose. It’s an option, but may not be the final pick…