Washington State Wines Are Dope AF

Few wine regions are as versatile as Washington State. Washington State can make stunning expressions of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, and also knock it out of the park with Riesling and Gewurtztraminer.

You know what I say to that? Like Meryl Streep’s acting chops, Washington has some serious range.

Okay. You get it. As a region, Washington can pretty much do anything. I’ve never really met a Washington State wine I didn’t like if you wanna know the truth.

There’s something about the balanced acidity, concentration, and intensity of these wines that really just gets me every freaking time. There’s also another huge reason why I love Washington wines.

Washington wines are easy on the wallet!

I don’t know why, but Washington wines are pretty affordable. Washington Cabs are great if you wanna save some serious dough. Interestingly enough, this region only started gaining popularity (at least globally) in the 1990s. And honestly? When I was working the streets, Washington wines were still one of the best kept secrets around.

Everyone in California was all about Cali wines, so it was actually pretty easy to get a great quality Merlot or Cabernet that was priced at half the cost as one from Napa. So without further ado, let’s take a second to talk about Washington’s geographical features, the terroir, and some of the more important regions of Washington.

GEOGRAPHY OF WASHINGTON STATE WINE REGIONS

Washington wines are loaded with great minerality and concentration, and do ya wanna know why? It’s because the majority of the soil here is volcanic. That’s right, a lot of the wine regions in Washington are near the Cascade Mountain Range. The Cascade Mountain Range also happens to have a LOT of volcanos. This rich, volcanic soil is absolutely phenomenal in producing mineral-driven wines.

If it weren’t for these incredibly large glacial rivers like the Columbia River, Washington would probably be kind of close to California if you wanna know the truth. It’s super sunny over there, and it receives very little rainfall. The only reason why it isn’t extremely hot is because of its latitude on the 47th parallel.

With all that in mind, temperatures fluctuate like crazy over here. There are very strong diurnal shifts (temperature shifts from day to night) in this region. Sometimes the temperature shift from day to night can be as much as 50 degrees!

WASHINGTON APPELLATIONS TO KNOW

YAKIMA VALLEY AVA - CHARDONNAY, RIESLING, CABERNET, SYRAH, and MERLOT

Yakima Valley is the OG of AVAs in Washington state. Established in 1983, the Yakima Valley is one of Washington’s most diverse growing regions. A lot of the soils here were influenced by the Missoula Floods and are planted with both red and white varietals.

Some of the best wines I’ve repped came out the Yakima Valley AVA. What kind of place can do both exquisite Bordeaux style blends and Riesling and Chardonnay? If you see a wine from this AVA, I highly recommend snagging it. Stay tuned for the pick of the week, featuring one of my favorite wineries from this AVA.

RED MOUNTAIN AVA - CABERNET SAUVIGNON FTW

The Red Mountain AVA was established in 2001 and is a subset of the Yakima Valley AVA. When I was a broker, slinging juice, the Red Mountain AVA was the hip new kid on the block. Folks at Duckhorn in Napa Valley where they produce the fanciest, schmanciest, Cabernets and Merlots were even taking notice of this region.

Red Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon is something else. It’s concentrated, pixillated, and not some overblown fruit bomb like some of the Cabs from the warmer regions. There’s brilliant depth of flavor to these wines, and you’ll be getting a lot more complexity in these wines. Red Mountain Cabs are Cabs for the thinkers.

I often compare Cabernet Sauvignon to Regina George in Mean Girls, or guys who drive neon colored supercars with modded engines because they’re compensating for something.

Cabernet Sauvignon from the Red Mountain AVA is not compensating for anything. It knows what it is and is quietly confident in that fact. There was a podcast when my wine hero, Marissa Ross, mentioned that some wines have B.D.E - big d*** energy - and honestly? Wines from the Red Mountain AVA have loads of that.

WAHLUKE SLOPE AVA - RED WINES, BORDEAUX BLENDS

The gently sloping vineyards of this area close to the Columbia River account for 20% of the average annual production of Washington Wines each year. It is one of the warmer regions in Washington State, and because of this it is perfect for varietals like Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, and Merlot.

There are 20 vineyards in the Wahluke Slope, and a lot of wineries outside this AVA source grapes from here depending on their needs. This dry, warm climate with lower elevation produces some truly stunning red varietals, and a lot of wineries I used to work with in Washington State sourced their grapes from here.

HORSEHAVEN HILLS AVA - MABEC… AND CABERNET SAUVIGNON

Malbec fans - the Horsehaven Hills AVA produces Malbec that is guaranteed to knock you on your ass. It’s just that good. One of the best Malbecs I ever had was from the Horsehaven Hills AVA. It was restrained, graceful, and had just the right amount of fruit. There was a beautiful depth and concentration to this wine, and the acidity was on point!

This AVA is located right alongside the Columbia River, and produces some of the very fancy 100 point wines that critics like Robert Parker really love that will cost you the equivalent of a night out on the town.

COLUMBIA VALLEY AVA - RIESLING, GEWÜRTZTRAMINER, SYRAH

Yeah. You heard me. Anybody who has read this blog knows that Riesling and Syrah are kind of… Well… Low-key the polar opposites on the grape spectrum.

This particular AVA has an unbelievable mosaic of soil types - which is probably why so many grapes across the spectrum thrive here. There are a lot of smaller AVAs - like the Walla Walla Valley AVA that exist within the Columbia Valley AVA.

PICK OF THE WEEK: GILBERT CELLARS 2017 LEFT BANK, $20.00

I have a lot of affection for Gilbert Cellars.

When I was a broker, and had literally no idea what I was doing, one of my favorite people to work with in the industry was Charlie Gilbert. He was only a few years older than me at the time - I was like… 23, 24? And I always was impressed not only by how accomplished he was but the fact that he was a legitimately chill dude.

Charlie knew how to hustle, but he was relaxed and so fun to take out into the marketplace. When you work in the wine biz, there’s this super weird thing your bosses make you do called a “Work-With,” and it’s legit sometimes the most painfully awkward thing you can possibly imagine. Basically, you spend a day with a random supplier from a winery and just drive around to all your accounts and taste people on their wines.

HOLD UP LEMME JUST RANT REAL QUICK ABOUT WORK-WITHS THEN GET BACK TO CHARLIE….

A work-with is literally 8 hours in a car with a perfect stranger, or if you wanna use Gen-Z slang, it’s 8 hours with some random. It’s a total crap shoot. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. I’ve met some of the loveliest, hardest working people on work-withs whose company I’ve genuinely enjoyed (and I’ve probably featured their wines on this blog.)

Conversely, I’ve picked up people who were drunk from train stations and didn’t want to hit the market at all. I’ve picked up people who offered to buy me weed after selling their wines. And I’ve picked up people who would try to put their feet up on my dash. Legit, dirty, bare-ass feet. I have seen it all.

Weirdness aside, Work-withs are challenging for reps from a logistical standpoint, because having to put together an entire day of appointments for one wine - especially reps with larger portfolios and larger territories - can be challenging. Imagine driving in Los Angeles during rush hour trying to get from one appointment to the West Side to another in the Valley. And 3PM is the only time the people in the Valley will see you (because that was ALWAYYYYS the case.) You can see how challenging that can be.

There’s the other challenge that there were also some brands that honestly people just weren’t that interested in, or the suppliers would bomb and people just wouldn’t want to see them.

BUT BACK TO CHARLIE THO…

This was never the case with Charlie. Everybody wanted to see Charlie because he was legit the coolest dude with the dopest lineup. He was literally a dream to work with and everybody freaking knew it. Full stop.

He was the first supplier I worked with early in my career where we would actually close sales and move a lot of wine. It was rewarding working with him and his wines were always on point. He would also always bring something unique and special to the accounts, so our clients would be tasting an incredible Rosé one minute, followed by a Chardonnay, then the Left Bank, then that incredible Malbec (yup, theirs is one of the best I’ve ever had) followed by some kind of crazy Tempranillo port.

There are so many freaking wines Gilbert Cellars makes that I could endlessly sing their praises and profess my love for them from the rooftops. These guys literally do pretty much everything right. It’s really like… What are you in the mood for?

But I wanted to talk about the Left Bank because it truly is a phenomenal value. If you’re into Bordeaux blends, and concentrated, stylish red wines that are unbelievably affordable - DING DING DING THE LEFT BANK WILL BE YOUR SHIT. This wine easily goes toe to toe with some of the Second Wines in the Médoc, which are priced a lot higher. And I’m talking about Second Wines from some of those fancy schmancy Classified Growths too.

Anyway, it’s just beautifully balanced and earthy. You could drink it casually on the porch or have it with friends. It is simply a stylish, accessible wine that overdelivers on value. A true standout and one of the treasures I used to sell.

THURSTQUEEN WORLD TOUR: WASHINGTON STATE