March Wine Club - Indigo

March is the first of two Washington wine month we have this year, plus we have a whole 31 days to enjoy it. Rolling in from February and the wines of France it does feel like Washington is the Wild West of Wines. Most of the 60,000 acres of Washington vineyards were planted in the 1970’s, those vines are just hitting their maturity. I read somewhere that Washington is defined by diversity over consistency, there are currently 70+ wine varietals grown in Washington. With vineyards coming to maturity, winemakers are still experimenting with which grapes do best in which part of the state.

I’m jumping in with the Powers winery. Bringing back the ‘wild west’ - Bill Powers, the founder was a true wine pioneer. Badger Mountain Vineyard was founded by him in 1982 and is the first wine grape vineyard to be USDA certified organic in Washington state.

Check out this link

https://www.badgermtnvineyard.com/our-history

I’m not sure if it makes a difference knowing the back story of a winery and the winemaking process but just drinking the wines you can tell there is a lot of love that goes into a bottle of wine from Powers. The 2018 Powers Carmenere is no different. Now I know carmenere isn’t what you would typically think from Washington but I tried this and I was blown away by the complexity. Dark ripe raspberry on the nose and palette, cocoa powder after a couple more sips the herbal qualities started popping out. Did I mention this tasty number hails from the famous Red Mountain AVA. PICTURED BELOW

The white wine selection this month should be familiar - a few months ago Greg featured a couple of wines from Mark Ryan - the Lu and Oly Bubbles and the Numbskull. I've been a fan of Mark Ryan 1, The wines are really good and 2. we are both fans of Pearl Jam. (The Dissident, Crazy Mary, Monkey Wrench-Mark Ryan Wines and Pearl Jam references)

https://markryanwinery.com/our-wines/

This month the indigo selection is the 2021 Lu and Oly 'Flowerhead' Sauvignon Blanc. The fruit, from Columbia Valley, is at the forefront of this, really delightful wine. Zippy citrus (grapefruit) notes on the pallet are followed by a long finish. Pairs nicely with cold winter daydreams of summer nights to come.

The newsletter is coming out a little different this month. Checking out for a vacation was amazing, but catching up after vacay isn't amazing. I will roll out the rest of this months wine club selections this week, here on the blog. I'm also working on freshening up the wine list for spring, which officially starts on 20 March 2023 @ 2:24pm, which is only 12 days 20+ hours away.

March Wine Club 2023

It's going to look a little different this month. I've gone back and forth on what I wanted to do. I am currently on vacation. I get back tomorrow-March 2nd. Before I left I did get most of the wine club wine stocked, I had a couple of cancellations 😔 and other clerical stuff that comes with wine club. One thing I didn't take into consideration is the newsletter. So to start, you are not going to get the unabridged version of the newsletter. Notes, opinions, maps, histories will be hitting the blog posts all month.

INDIGO

2021 Lu & Oly Sauvignon Blanc

2018 Powers Carménère

SAPPHIRE

2019 LATTA Rousanne

2017 Spring Valley 'Frederick'

PEACOCK

2020 Avennia Syrah

ROYAL

Jean Vesselle Brut 'Oeil de Perdrix'

Sign up/Register for post updates. I will have a few posts rolling out after I get back and I look forward to some fun Washington wines this month.

February Wine Club 2023

We are pretty lucky to live where we do, pretty sure we all know that. Among the many reasons, living so close to world class wine growing regions makes it pretty great.

According to the graphic- it's like we are living parallel lives with France. Maybe that's a stretch-France has a couple hundred years on us in the states making wine. The history, the AOC, the AOP, the grapes, the labels, the language. It feels intimidating to write about.

I will try my best this month to enlighten you on French wines. I'm sure I will barely scratch the surface, but I hope its a jumping off point. The map below should help get your bearings on our trip through France this month.

INDIGO

Calvet was founded in 1818, by Jean-Marie Calvet. His mothers' family owned vineyards in the

Rhone valley and it was where he inherited his passion for wine making. Jean-Marie and his son Octave started their family business with warehouses in Bordeaux in 1849 and by 1870 they expanded to Burgundy to become the largest wine company in France in the 19th and most of the 20th century. New York saw Calvet wines as early as 1882, but the main focus for Calvet was Europe, Argentina and Asia. Its presence in the US had all but disappeared until the late 1990's when six generations later, direct descendant Jean-Christophe Calvet and his oldest son Jean-Sebastien Calvet reintroduced the Calvet brand back into the market. The history and family traditions of European wines really impress me, I don't know that there are too many domestic wineries that have been in the family for more than a generation, let alone 6 generations.

The Calvet Muscadet is light bodied white wine made from Melon de Bourgogne grapes, specifically from the Loire Valley and even more specifically the Pay Nantais region of Loire. The texture is rich on this wine, the fruit is subdued and the finish is long and clean. When I think of food pairings for this wine, the first thing that comes is mind it oysters and French fries. Heck it would even work to refresh the palate after a rich meal, a rich cheesy meal.

The La Verenne Chinon is my pick for the Indigo red this month. Here is another multi-generational (5) wine making family. Currently Laurent and Stéphane Gourd tend to the 72 acre La Varenne estate. The Gourons practice sustainable agricultural methods to coax the best maturity and natural low yield from their fruit. They utilize cover crops in each row and have rigorous standards for green harvesting and canopy management. From the gravelly-sandy soils of the plane and the sandy limestone hilltops, each parcel is harvested and vinified separately to reveal the expression of each parcel. We are still in the Loire valley with this wine, when you see Chinon on a French wine label you know you are drinking a Cabernet Franc specifically from the Loire.

SAPPHIRE

We are travelling to the East side of the country to the Alsace region for the Sapphire white wine

The wine comes from Domaine Albert Mann it is the Pinot Blanc/Auxerrois.

90% of the wines from Alsace are white, usually floral and spicy and express the varietal character with elegance, finesse and aromatic characteristics. The Pinot Blanc/Auxerrois is no different. First of all did you all know there was a Auxerrois (pronounced oaks sur wa) grape, I didn't either. Click here to learn more. After reading this info on Auxerrois my tasting notes made more sense-my notes read "mid pallet drinks like a chardonnay" This wine has a rich, musky aroma and plenty of citrus flavors.

We head south from Alsace to the Rhône Valley. There is were the Calvet Croze-Hermitage Cru du Rhône hails from. The wine is 100% Syrah and even though Washington and France are on the 46° latitude line this Syrah is nothing like our jammy Washington fruit bombs (that's not saying all Washington Syrahs are fruit bombs). This particular Syrah is a soft, creamy wine that finishes clean.

PEACOCK

First of all where and what is Châteauneuf-de-Pape (CdP)? CdP is located at the bottom of the Southern Rhone appellation, it is known for Grenache-based red blends. White CdP are a little harder to find as only 7% of the region's vineyards are white grapes. (We have a CdP Blanc on the bottle list at Bluebird.) To be classified as a CdP it must be a blend from grapes grown in the CdP commune (or the 4 specific surrounding communes). What grapes you say? Bourboulenc, Cinsault, Clairette, Counoise, Grenache, Mourvèdre, Muscardin, Picarden, Picpoul, Roussanne, Syrah, Terret Noir and Vaccareèse. Fun Fact: CdP was the very first French wine appellation; created in 1936. I read somewhere that Châteauneuf-de-Pape wines are the gateway drug to French wines. The peacock this month definately got me hooked. Domaine Charvin Châteauneuf-de-Pape Rouge. This bottle has it all: raspberry, plummy fruit flavors, then it evolves...herbs, leather, violets. I was left speechless when I tried this wine. My wine notes consist of O-M-G WINE CLUB PEACOCK.

I hope you all like the wines this month. We have a really exciting February at the Bird. On 03 February Chef Basso will be helping with the Emerge fundraiser at Honey Eatery. Tickets are still available, available here. Then there is Valentine's Day, it is always a busy day for us-and because we have too much love in our hearts we are going to celebrating Valentine's Day with a DINNER for 2 MENU all month long. Starts February 1st. Call us, 208-665-3777 for a reservation.