Two wines produced by our family of wineries were mentioned in this week’s Great Northwest Wine tasting roundup: Sagelands 2011 Chardonnay and House 2011 Chardonnay. Both outstanding in taste and value we hope you’ll enjoy some soon!
2011 Sagelands Chardonnay
Best Buy! This longtime Yakima Valley winery is now a label for Precept Wine in Seattle. Sagelands’ wines are uniformly delicious and affordable, as evidenced by this stunning and inexpensive Chardonnay. It opens with elegant aromas of artichoke in a butter sauce, diced celery, banana and pineapple, followed by bright, rather complex flavors of Granny Smith apple, Asian pear and a whisper of buttered toast. A kiss of sweetness adds length and bevels the edges on this wine’s impressive acidity, and the balance between oak and fruit is superb. Enjoy this with oysters, prawns, scallops, chicken or linguine in an alfredo sauce.
Rating: Outstanding!
2010 HOUSE WINE Chardonnay
Best Buy! Chardonnay is the No. 1 wine grape in Washington, though that doesn’t always mean it’s great. Well, this is an exception. This Precept Wine label originally created by the indomitable Charles Smith of Walla Walla is known for its great prices. But this also delivers in the glass as one of the best Chardonnays we’ve tasted recently. It opens with aromas of citrus, pear, mango and clarified butter, followed by flavors of rich butterscotch, nectarine and pineapple, all with just a whisper of oak mingling in the background.
Rating: Outstanding!