I found the opportunity, last weekend, to head out to Walla Walla. The wife and her sister were there on family business. I was just there for business. And I meant it. Business, that is. Considering we were only going to be in town for 24 hours, or so, I had to make the most of it with a power-tasting. “Power-Tasting” is a method I’ve devised to speed through as many wineries as possible, all with a specified goal in mind. To make things easier on my schedule, though, I knew the grand Walla Walla Alliance tasting, where all of the wineries from the town were going to be back here in Portland the following Monday.

While in Walla Walla, I was able to make it to 12 wineries in about 4 hours. It may seem like quite a bit, but I feel like I could have done more. What’s the trick? Well, this time around I was looking for Cabernet Franc, as the single-varietal examples of this wine in Washington have been unique and entertaining to me (and fantastic). Considering these wines also tend to be a tasting-room only treat at most wineries, seeking these out gave me a goal. Failing that, and as a lover of all oddball wines, I would allow myself a taste other rare varieties such as Sangiovese, Barbera, Carmenere, the occasional Syrah, the isolated Tempranillo, and whatever eclectic wines may come my way.

One thing to keep in mind if you haven’t already figured this out, is the fact that Washington wineries seem to follow the same pattern. It seems EVERYone makes a Cabernet or a Merlot or a Cab/Merlot or some kind of Bordeaux-styled wine, or a few. Yes, there are some excellent wines like this. Yes, I can get bored that there are so many of them. And I can make my arguments about the overabundance of these particular wines, but the point of the matter is, in order to expedite my quest across the land-of-the-double-Wallas, I just skipped over most of these wines.

Winter hours were in effect, so that effectively trimmed down the number of places I could visit, as well. There’s not a lot of activity in Walla Walla wineries during this part of the year. The good news: The wineries that are open are lightly traveled and easy to get into, get tasted and get out. The bad news: A lot of them are closed. More bad news: Many of the new wines aren’t released until early spring. So, slim pickings are the theme, here.

So to shorten a story I could carry on too long, I’ll give you all a brief recap of where I visited, and what was good. This might give a bit of an impression of a fun and tasty way to speed through Walla Walla.

Waterbrook Winery – Downtown: I stopped here mostly for a map of the region. Having never been a fan of Waterbrook, I tried a couple wines just to be polite. They were about as remarkable as I was expecting, and promptly forgot what they were. No, wait! One was a Tempranillo! An unremarkable Tempranillo. The tasting room guy was nice, though.

Abeja Winery – East side: I thought I’d start here, considering they’re the furthest East of all the wineries, and then I could ease my way back Westward. But I got to the front gate and saw that they’re open “By Appointment Only”. Whoops. Gotta make sure to do all that research. I don’t care for making the appointments since that means they weren’t planning on being there in the first place, and you get guilted into buying the wine even if you didn’t like it.

K Vintners – East side: This is a short jaunt from the failed attempt at Abeja. I got up to the tasting room, and found that they appear to no longer be open to the public. Hm. Too bad. I guess I’ll see them in Portland.

Cougar Crest – Airport: They’re at the airport right now, but moving soon. Out on the West side of town they’re working on the serious winery/tasting room. It looks grand but apparently isn’t fully operational. Tasted 5 wines: Vivace (Viognier/Chardonnay), Viognier, Cabernet Franc (Yay!), Syrah and Dedication One (Bordeaux Blend). Walked away with 2 Syrah and 2 Cabernet Franc. That Viognier is always good too.

Patrick M. Paul – Airport: I knew they had a Cabernet Franc, so I needed to stop there. There were only 4 wines, so I tasted them all. All the wines were a bit odd and funky and perhaps a bit off. The final wine was a supremely weird wine made with Concord grapes. It smelled aromatically sweet but finished dry. It was flavor and character I was unprepared for and was potentially evil. Some things are just TOO weird. I grabbed a couple bottles of the Cabernet Franc and split.

Tamarack Cellars – Airport: This winery was my founding source for my Cabernet Franc obsession, and I popped in with the empty hope they might have some. They didn’t. In fact, I was pretty familiar with most of the wines there, but grabbed a couple bottles of the 2005 Merlot. I tried a barrel-sample of that on a previous visit, and it was spectacular.

Colvin Winery – Airport: This is another producer of supreme Cabernet Franc, and will be no more. The winery is closing its doors any day now, whenever they sell through the rest of their stock. As one of the few producers of Cabernet Franc and pioneer and champion of a single-varietal Washington Carmenere, they will be sorely missed . . . at least by me. I grabbed two bottles of their last vintage of Cabernet Franc and the last bottle of their Carmenere. Ever. It was a magnum too. Large format bottles are cool.

Trio Winery – Airport: This one was new since the last time I was out there. It was in a part of the airport I’d never seen before, and could have potentially been new, as well. The building was definitely new. Steve Michner, the winemaker I talked with in the tasting room for quite some time, was nice, informative, and let me try a couple things not on the regular menu. This included a Mourvedre barrel sample. That got my geeky-senses tingling, and I eagerly anticipate that release. I grabbed a couple Sangiovese bottles and headed away from the airport.

Seven Hills – Downtown: This is one place I’ve wanted to check out for some time. Their tasting room hours had them only open during the same hours I was working, so a previous visit was difficult. Having had tried a number of their wines, there were a few things of theirs I wanted to check out. Once there, though, there was only one wine in which I was really interested. The Tempranillo. It was okay. Their Riesling is really good. And the tasting room staff seemed a bit jaded, if slightly unpleasant. Every comment I made was met with either indifference or a response that equated to “no, you’re wrong.” I bought a bottle of Tempranillo to pay for the tasting and left.

Spring Valley – Downtown: Just around the corner and down the street from Seven Hills there is a row of tasting rooms. You can get a lot of work done here. I only popped into Spring Valley because they had a Cabernet Franc a couple years ago. Of course the didn’t have it this time, but the tasting room staff mentioned another one was being released. I got suckered into tasting their entire lineup (mostly Cab/Merlot, of course) and committed to buying a bottle of Syrah. Unfortunately no prices were posted and I didn’t realize the Syrah was $50. It wasn’t THAT good, but they already ran my card. Ah, well.

Slight of Hand – Downtown: The winemaker and owner Trey Busch was there. I had already tried most of his wine when he visited my shop with a sales rep, but I got a sample of something to be released soon. I don’t remember exactly what it was. But it was tasty. I’ll find out and let people know when it’s released. I believe it was a Cab/Merlot.

Ash Hollow – Downtown: I popped in. It was busy. I didn’t see anything I hadn’t tried recently. I smiled at a few people and left. They do have a Cabernet Franc rose’ wine. But that doesn’t count.

Three Rivers – West side: It’s actually quite a ways from downtown to get out here, but I saw on their website that they had a Cabernet Franc. Deductively I figured out it’s probably from the same vineyard from where Colvin sourced their grapes. They weren’t tasting it, but I bought a few bottles of it. And a Grenache. Can’t pass that up.

Woodward Canyon – West side: They’ve been there almost longer than anyone. Their wines are good. And to me, overpriced for what they are. I tasted them all. Nothing really jumped out at me.

L’Ecole No. 41 – West side: Just a bit further down the road is L’ecole. It’s a cool building and a large tasting room, but to me it tends to feel a bit too . . . I don’t know . . . professional . . . ? It’s like a tasting room factory assembly line where they want you to taste quickly, buy something and get out. It was almost closing time, so really I didn’t have any other choice. Behind the bar was somebody with whom I went to college. A former friend of a former girlfriend. That’s odd. Hm. Small world, eh?

And the sun was down and the day was over. But the following Monday in Portland, at the Taste of Walla Walla (trade tasting), these struck a chord with me:

Morrison Lane – I appreciate what these fine people are doing. They showed a fine example of a Counoise (obscure Rhone varietal) and a Carmenere, as well as a Syrah and something else. Something white. I forget. Good stuff.

K Vintners – I was pretty familiar with three of the wines he was pouring, but the Boom Boom Syrah was new to me and pretty good, especially for the price. The flavor was a bit like the name.

428 Wines – They make only one, and it’s a Merlot/Syrah. And it was tasty. Not the greatest value, but it was tasty, balanced, and probably a great steak wine.

Adamant Cellars – The standout to me was a wine most folks would gloss over. It was a 50/50 blend of Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc. Yes. White wine. I found it one of the most exciting wines of the entire tasting.

Beresan – These guys made a killer Cabernet Franc in 2005. It was probably the only wine I ever remember purchasing an entire case. At the tasting they had a Malbec. Much of Washington Malbec seems thin, especially in comparison to the examples from Argentina and France. This one seems to prove that Malbec has the potential to produce decent examples in the Northwest . . . it’s just going to take a little time.

So there’s my report on Walla Walla . . . at least for right now. There will be others. A visit to Walla Walla can be fun any time, but there certainly are more options during the warmer months. There are more places open and there are generally more wines available, as they are mostly released in the Spring. But when you have limited time, this can work out just fine. For more information about visiting Walla Walla, check out: http://www.wallawallawine.com.

M