There was a nice little wine tasting at Gretchens last week, led by Noble Wines rep Renee Stark and featuring wines from Washington State. It was nice and relaxing for us (the kitchen help), since there were only two food platings and most of the cooking was either done ahead or very simple. Some of the wine highlights:
Novelty Hill Sauvignon Blanc 2005: Very drinkable, with good body. Not terribly acidic, but pleasant with the food.
Whidbey Island Lemberger 2006: I find straight Lembergers to be a bit one-dimensional, with very little body to the wine, but this had a nice flavor. Might be a good summer red, since it had a very clean finish.
Tamarack Cellars Merlot 2005: The star of the show. I’m not generally a big merlot drinker, but this was astonishing.
Bergevin Lane Calico Red 2005: A soft, rich, comfortable red blend from Walla Walla. Nice.
The food was mostly of the cheese-and-crackers variety, along with freshly made hummus, spinach phyllo triangles, and a pane: bread dough rolled up with ham and cheese, baked, then sliced. A cheese ball made with chopped pecans and onion jam was excellent, as well. It was fun to sort of eat your way around your plate and see which wines went with which foods – although actually it all went together very well.
Food on the Brain 
Lemberger is a tough one, if not for just sporting a plain unsexy name. Blue Franc helps, but Blaufrankisch is the original designator for this Austrian varietal. Yakima valley has extreme potential for producing some real good versions but I find they all mostly fall way short of that potential… But I have found one from the Delicious Wine Liberation Front of Oregon, a coagulation of Washington and Oregon winemakers from O’Reilly (who does Abbott’s Table) and Poppy who does Synclair. Poppy created this particular version and it is a hoot… probably the best Blaufrankisch I’ve ever had. More on the DWLF as it trickles in….
ummm… correction. It’s the Delicious Beverage Liberation Front (DBLF)
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