The Wine Newsletter: Q2 2017

The Westin Kierland Villas is once again proud to present to you our quarterly Wine Newsletter.  It is our hope that this publication finds you in good spirits, happy, and healthy.  Your wine experience at your home away from home is important to us and we are pleased that we can continue to provide insight following your departure.  Sit back, relax, and enjoy our second quarter installment, authored once again by our resident Wine Expert, Mr. Tony Miller.

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The two topics of this newsletter are both popular Q&A subjects at our weekly Wine Tastings: rosé wines and the wines from the Evergreen State, Washington.  Our discussion of rosé is quite timely seeing as summer is the perfect time to try a new rosé.  One can't pick up a wine magazine or look at a wine column anywhere in the United States, Australia, or Europe without seeing numerous articles about the explosive sales growth and great quality that rosé has achieved over the past few years.  Advances in stainless steel temperature-controlled fermentation and a better understanding of the importance of picking grapes early, when grapes have a bit more natural acid, have made modern rosé a joy to drink.  Sales statistics show that Americans are now catching up with the rest of the world in appreciating this much-maligned wine.

Premium Washington wines have also grown in popularity, especially with wine critics.  Washington’s first wine grapes were planted in the 1860’s and by the 1920’s 42 wineries had sprung up.  Unfortunately the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, better known as Prohibition, hit Washington wineries as severely as in California and it took until the 1960's for the wine industry to regain its footing.  The immediate predecessors of today's Columbia Winery and Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery began in the 60's on a very small scale.  From very humble beginnings, Ste. Michelle today dominates the Washington wine scene, an industry worth nearly $5 billion to the state.  But beyond the big players like Ste. Michelle are smaller, more entrepreneurial winemakers that are making their presence felt in Washington. Among those, perhaps even leading that movement, is Charles Smith.  And, typical of him, Mr. Smith’s strong feelings about rosé tie our two newsletter articles together quite nicely.

Rosé 

The hottest wine category in the U.S. market today is Dry Rosé.  Sales of rosé in the U.S. has increased by 26% in the past 12 months while total U.S. wine sales increased by just 3%. More interestingly, sales of rosé retailing for more than $20.00 increased by nearly 80%.   Premium rosé is the hot wine these days, with good reason. 

Courtesy of www.winecurmudgeon.com

Once Americans get past the White Zinfandel-like pink color, a realization sets in that premium rosé is a near-perfect food wine that offer surprising depth of flavor along with a bright, crisp, clean taste.  The wine pairs with a wide variety of foods very well. The best rosé can be treated almost like a good medium-body red when considering food pairings but, since it's lighter and brighter than a typical red, it’s more versatile and in many instances far more interesting.  Perhaps (finally) the stigma associated with being caught drinking "pink wine" has disappeared. Famous Washington state wine legend Charles Smith, a man with a reputation for making big reds, perhaps said it best. Printed on each case of rosé made by Charles Smith is his rosé motto:  "Yes, you can drink rosé and still be a badass”. Well said Mr. Smith, well said.

Rosé wines are not new to the world's wine scene.  Rosé was not created by Sutter Home Winery in 1975 by "inventing" so-called White Zinfandel.  Rosé was not invented in Portugal with Lancers or Mateus in the 1950's.  Wine historians suggest that early wine making techniques in Greece and Imperial Rome tended to produce rosé wines instead of reds and that most wines we consider today to be a "red wine" were actually rosé until the recent few hundred years.  Emphasis in early winemaking was to achieve fresh flavors.  Heavily extracted, heavier, dark-colored reds were considered inferior.  Well into the late Middle Ages and beyond, Bordeaux wines, called Claret in the important British wine market, were pale-colored.  But tastes changed and red wines slowly became red.  However, in France's extreme southern Rhone Valley and in the nearby Languedoc region, excellent and purposeful rosé wine with plenty of depth, richness and minerality have been famous for centuries.  This region gets plenty of warm Mediterranean sun which allows red grapes to come to fill ripeness and phenolic maturity.  Rosé from this region is justifiably world-famous. A wine that demonstrates all the traits of excellent rosé and the style that help lead to such an increase in rosé sales is the 2016 Campuget 1753 Rose.

The Chateau de Campuget is a vineyard property dating back to 1640 near Nimes, France.  It has been owned and operated by the Dalle family since 1942.  They make a variety of value wines but it is their "1753" designated wine that has created industry buzz as of late.  Vines were originally planted in this vineyard in 1753 and although none of the original vines remain, this vineyard's history of premium grape cultivation contributes excellent grapes to make a truly world-class rosé.  In 2016 the rosé blend is 90% Syrah and 10% Vermentino, a crisp white grape.  Each grape was picked, crushed, and fermented separately with minimum skin contact before settling and brief aging in stainless steel.  The final blend was assembled and bottled with a Vinolok closure; a glass "cork".  This newly released, beautiful rosé exhibits classic French rosé aromas and flavors of strawberry, peach, cherry, raspberry, rhubarb, and tangerines along with crisp acids, complex minerality and a refreshingly bright finish.  Pair it with grilled shrimp, fried chicken, barbecue ribs, pizza, smoked salmon ,chicken salad, crab cakes, lobster ravioli, steak tacos, ham, calamari ,pork tenderloin, oysters, lemon chicken, sushi/sashimi, avocado salad, roasted turkey or a fruit/cheese plate.  To fully appreciate it's bright fresh fruit flavors, drink it now and over the next 9-12 months.  The 2016 vintage wines from this region are already considered superior to the very good 2015 wines, and although the 2016 hasn't yet been reviewed by any critics, the 2015 received 90 points from Robert Parker.  Expect this wine to earn high scores, but by the time the critics have weighed in, the limited national supply of this wine will be gone.  If you are interested in this wine, we are currently selling it for $34.00 per bottle.

Charles Smith

Courtesy of www.austinchronicle.com

Charles Smith is a true phenomenon in the Washington wine industry.  The immense popularity of his wines is evidence of the enterprising spirit that makes Washington wines, when made by aspiring and committed winemakers, special.  Smith went from working in the Los Angeles produce district as a teenager delivering oranges on the 2:00am-noon shift and sleeping on the beach to working in restaurants to going to Denmark with a Danish girlfriend and eventually working in Copenhagen bars just to have a job.  There he met many musicians which lead to a nine year stint as a band manager with tours throughout Europe.  He returned to the United States in 1999 to open a wine store in metro-Seattle.  It is here he met winemakers who convinced him to make his own wine.  He released his first wine, 330 cases, in 2001. 

In 2006 he created his Charles Smith brand and acclaim quickly followed, including 2008 Wine and Spirits "Winery of the Year" and 2009 Food and Wine magazine "Winemaker of the Year".  The list of personal accolades is endless and wine critics pretty much agree that self-taught winemaker Charles Smith makes stupendous wines.  Smith is known for his big, rich reds that display structure and body but with crowd-pleasing soft, supple tannins.  He and his wine group now make over 60 wines under various trade names even after recently selling one of his value-priced product lines for $120 million.  After that huge sale, he referred to his life as a "dream come true”.  As he said, “I started out with a borrowed $5,000.00 and an Astro van.  And someone writes you a check for an ungodly amount of money.  It's a dream come true".  With that "ungodly amount of money”, he continues to look  at new projects to find ways to expand his creative wine reach.  Just in the past few years, he’s created several new brands, in addition to his Charles Smith, Charles and Charles and K Vintners wines, including Sixto, Vino, Secco, Wines of Substance, Casa Smith and B. Leighton. 

B. Leighton is Brennon Leighton, Director of Winemaking for all wines made under the Charles Smith banner.  The B. Leighton line began in 2012 to showcase a few specific Yakima vineyards planted to Petite Verdot, Syrah, Grenache, and Mourvedre.  These wines received immediate critical acclaim and among those highly touted wines was the first release, from the 2013 vintage, of Gratitude. 

The 2013 B. Leighton Gratitude is a GSM.  Made famous in France's Rhone Valley and then in Australia, GSMs are Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvedre, with either Grenache or Syrah being the majority grape. However, Gratitude is unique: 70% Mourvedre, 25% Grenache, and 5% Syrah.  This wine has much more structure and more body than a typical GSM because Mourvedre, a very full-bodied black grape, is 70% of the blend. These three grapes were handpicked, sorted, crushed and allowed a 25-day maceration.  Each lot was fermented separately before aging 21 months in French oak.  Final blending was completed and bottling was done unfined and unfiltered.  This jet-black soft, rich, full-bodied wine shows aromas and flavors of blackberry, black plum, black currants, Kalamata olives, black cherries, dried strawberry, and vanilla along with hints of violets, lavender, sage, and white pepper.  It's soft, lush texture and long, layered black-fruit finish pairs well with grilled steaks, lasagna, crown roast of pork, bison burgers, Italian sausages, French onion soup, leg of lamb, grilled sirloin with blue cheese butter, mushroom risotto, duck breast, prime ribs, roast turkey, short ribs, dark chocolate or a hearty cheese plate.  Drink it now and over the next 2-4 years.  (Parker 93 points) (Wine Spectator 92 points) We are selling this wine for $44.00 per bottle.

Thank you all for your continual interest in the wine program at The Westin Kierland Villas.  Enjoy your summer and a glass of rosé!

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If you desire any further information or would like to purchase the wine, please contact The Westin Kierland Villas Food, Beverage, and FUN Manager John Voita directly at john.voita@westin.com. Please note that deliveries are not available to all areas.  

Wine Event Information

It is always a pleasure hosting the wine events for you.  Please be sure to register prior to your arrival to ensure you are a part of the experience.  Thank you.

Tony Miller

Resident Wine Expert

The Westin Kierland Villas