A few times a month we hope to offer our opinion on some wines that you may or may not be familiar with. The more we drink the more wines we’ll be able to tell you about, so we're going to drink…we're going to drink a lot…and we're going to do it all for you! We hope you find these reviews informative and useful when choosing your next bottle of wine.

Winery: Stevens Winery - Woodinville, WA
Wine: 2004 Stevens 424 Red Wine
Region: Yakima Valley
Price: $28.00

From the Industry: The Red 424 is a new classic in the realm of fruit driven meritage wines, and needs to be in any serious Washington collector’s cellar.

What We Say: This dark seductive wine is packed full of intoxicating aromas and hedonistic flavors. The powerful nose is jam packed with bold ripe fruit including juicy raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, and candied plums. There’s also a fragrant underlying of rich old spices. After you’ve spent some time breathing in all of the rich aromas and finally take a drink you’ll note how it completely coats your mouth and leaves a smooth velvety finish. The fruit still rules with juicy blueberries, blackberries, and strawberry, as well as some rich milk chocolate. But be careful because this wine’s also packing some high-octane that can fire up your mouth and mask some of the deeper flavors, so give it a little time to breathe in order to work off some of that heat.

Winery: L'Ecole No 41 - Lowden, WA
Wine: 2004 Barrel Fermented Semillon
Region: Columbia Valley
Price: $14.00

From the Industry: An excellent value. It sports aromas as well as flavors of spices, honey, and pears. Medium-bodied and expressive, this well-balanced effort is silky-textured, spicy, and fruity. Drink it over the next 1 to 2 years.

What We Say: The first things that come to mind are fruit and spice and everything nice. This wine is straight up yummy with crisp, clean aromas of honeydew melon, tropical fruit and fresh hay/grass. The crisp acidity provides some zesty citrus and lemon zeal along with more melon, honeysuckle and tropical fruit flavors. In production the malolactic fermentation creates a buttery smooth mouth feel that makes this wine go down easy. This could very well be the Juicy Fruit (gum) of wine.

Winery: Columbia-Crest - Paterson, WA
Wine: 2003 Reserve Syrah
Region: Columbia Valley
Price: $24.00

From the Industry: Crafted in a Cote Rotie-style, generous Syrah aromatics of white pepper, cocoa and blueberry are threaded with the Viognier’s subtle sweet orange peel, pear and rose petal. Hints of spice and earthy overtones, Horse Heaven Hills terroir hallmarks, are followed by intense flavors of cocoa, roasted coffee bean and dark chocolate. The blueberry-raspberry finish resonates seductively and evenly.

What We Say: This wine begins with potent jammy aromas of black & blue berries backed by wood spice (nutmeg/cinnamon), dusty earth and rich milk chocolate. The first taste is rather surprising as you would expect to be taken down by the supafly snooka after such a powerful nose, but actually the wine becomes more fleshy with candied blackberry, blueberry and plum. Joining along ringside are fresh red fruits, including strawberry and raspberry, combined with hints of toasted oak and dusty terrain. Definitely a little chewy with solid tannins and balanced acidity. Let this one breath a little, either in the glass or a decanter, before slugging it down – or you may be slugged back!

Winery: Saint Laurent - Wenatchee, WA
Wine: 2003 Merlot
Region: Columbia Valley
Price: $18.00

From the Industry: Fine-textured, elegant style has a minty edge to the red cherry and chocolate flavors, which linger on the refined finish. Drink now through 2010.

What We Say: Smooth and easy is a fitting way to classify this great drinking Merlot.  With initial aromas of black cherry, spice, bubble gum and a hint of buttery oak it’s apparent that this is going to be some good juice. The wine’s easygoing style continues at first taste with a subtle complexity of flavors, including a refreshing collection of juicy strawberry and cherry, spice and an underlying of dark chocolate. There are just enough tannins to supply the wine structure without overpowering your mouth, while the acidity provides for a bright refreshing drink.  This is a great straightforward drinker that’s soft on the finish offering up hours of drinking pleasure. It’s sure to be a hit with barbeques this Spring and Summer because it just tastes fun!

Winery: Woodinville Wine Cellars - Woodinville, WA
Wine: 2003 Ausonius (Red Blend)
Region: Columbia Valley
Price: $35.00

From the Industry: This nicely crafted full-bodied red has a lively nose of red fruits and soft vanilla notes that leap from the glass. Seamless on the palette it offers a round and generous mouth-feel revealing cola tones, black cherry and plum. The finish is long and full with beautifully integrated tannins.

What We Say: With brawny aromas of dark and red fruit, blackberry, cherry and oaky vanilla this wine comes off a little bold on the nose.  But once you take a sip you’ll notice an elegant, but strong, array of black cherry, plum, blueberry and blackberry. The velvety mouth-feel offers up a smooth mixture of minerals and vanilla.  And with solid tannins the wine won’t only last on your tongue but on the shelf as well. Everything comes together very well in this red blend, making for a pleasurable drink that wont knock you off your chair but has enough backbone to go the distance.

Winery: Barrister Winery - Spokane, WA
Wine: 2003 Red Mountain Merlot
Region: Red Mountain
Price: $28.00

From the Industry: A thick, chewy, fleshy and chocolaty wine, this is classic Washington Merlot. Nothing wimpy about it, the concentrated boysenberry, blueberry, cherry and chocolate flavors are enhanced with cedary aromas and some steaks of cinnamon.

What We Say: Red Mountain is Washington’s smallest AVA but its fruit produces some big wines. This Barrister Merlot is no different with aromas of dark ripe fruit, spice, earth and toasted oak. The real power however, comes at first taste with more of that ripe red and black fruit, blueberry jam (but not too jammy), smoked oak and a spicy underlying of cinnamon. When it comes to traditional merlots this is definitely light and juicy vs. thick and jammy. The finish (or lingering flavor) has a nice velvety structure with lingering cinnamon & spice. This is a fantastic merlot, bold and complex, which is a nice break from those traditional one-sided merlots. The tannins are pretty solid so you may want to decant for 1⁄2 to 1 hour to soften things up.

Winery: Boudreaux Cellars - Leavenworth, WA
Wine: 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon
Region: Horse Heaven Hills, Columbia & Walla Walla Valleys
Price: $40.00

From the Industry: Complexity in the nose includes black cherries, plums, a string of caramel and a whiff of oak. Cherries and plums are the focus of its elegant and rich, beveled structure. There’s lots of acidity and a long complex finish of black cherries.

What We Say: This elegant cabernet begins with bold and inviting aromas of bright mountain fruit, black cherries and currants, with hints of spicy tobacco, caramel and a little petrol (not to worry, that just means it’s a got what it takes under the hood). Contradictory to the initial impression on the nose this wine is very smooth and inviting. With flavors of black cherry, strawberry, blueberry and plum, backed up by hints of cinnamon, spice and everything nice. This is a great cabernet to have over dinner because it’s bold enough to hold ground on its own but not too overpowering. Solid tannins and plenty of acidity will allow this wine to idle by for several years; that is if you can keep from drinking it now.

Winery: Stevens Winery - Woodinville, WA
Wine: 2003 Blacktongue Syrah
Region: Yakima Valley
Price: $29.00

From the Industry: This is a dark, dense and rich Syrah that will stain your tongue black. But, still remains very smooth and drinkable with big dark fruit, cinnamon, and a little earthy. The fruit was sourced from Dineen Vineyards in Yakima Valley, which will soon be known as one of the premier vineyards in the state.

What We Say: Another terrific wine from Stevens Winery. One of their best to date. Big fruit with a slightly jammy nose of dark berries and a tiny bit of earth. The earthy undertones continued to show when tasted, with additional flavors of cinnamon and of course the dark fruit. For such a big wine the tannins are pretty mild, which makes it very easy to drink. Definately drink the wine now, but because of the structure it could be laid down for years of enjoyment.

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