Create New Wish ListA group of Binny’s wine staff visited Walla Walla, Washington. Jon Kaiser reports from the road:
Most of the Walla Walla wineries we visited, with the exception of Woodward Canyon, source their grapes from the Columbia, Cascade, and Yakima Valleys. The vineyards in Walla Walla have to be in elevation above 600 feet to avoid damaging frost when the vines start to bud. A primary characteristic of these valleys that create such rich and full bodied Cabernet Sauvignons, Syrahs, and Cabernet Francs is that during the warmer months the valley floors get very warm but the vines enjoy drastically cooler nights. The sun warms the soil during the day so that it radiates heat throughout the night, keeping the vines active even when the temperature cools. Average rainfall in Walla Walla is only 17 inches per year, so most of the agriculture in the area is dry farmed wheat while vineyards utilize drip irrigation.
Several of the wineries we visited in Walla Walla are located on the property of the Walla Walla Regional Airport. It was an Army Air Base during World War II where pilots learned to fly B-17 bomber aircraft. While the airport still flies small commercial planes, The Port of Walla Walla overtook ownership of the property in 1989 and the older barracks, firehouse, hangars, and buildings associated with the base are now home to 20 plus wineries including three of the biggest. We got a chance to visit Tamarack Cellars, Buty, Dunham. The quality of product and volume of production coming out of these small facilities is astounding, with production on the scale of both very large and very small. From 100,000 case production wines to just a few thousand. We tasted barrel samples at many of the wineries we visited, and one of our favorites was at the Long Shadows vineyard. Customers will love Michel Rolland’s 2012 Pedestal Merlot when it finally hits the shelves at Binny’s – in a few years.
Have you met Elmwood Park Binny’s Wine Consultant Mike Kiessel? Mike has been working with Binny’s for seven years, and his interest in good wine and food goes a lot further back than that. Critical to this was the decade and a half he spent living in San Francisco, within striking distance of some of the world’s greatest wine producing areas.
Hello:
For those who dont know, Westvleteren is a Trappist Abbey Ale from Belgium. The Abbey of Saint Sixtus makes 3 beers, 6, 8, and 12. The 12 is widely regarded as one of the finest ales in the world. Before this historic release, the only way to get this beer was to make an appointment with the monks and buy the beer direct from the abbey, in person, on the third Saturday of the month.
