The Wine Knows

2008 Walla Walla Spring Release Weekend - surprises, favorites, and disappointments!

Hey everybody,

We got home last night after three wonderful days spent at the Walla Walla Spring Release Weekend. We visited about 30 wineries over that time and filled every empty spot in our cellar.

The weekend was very interesting, especially in finding some wineries we had never been to before that make some bodacious wines. What was everyone's experience?

I am going to list our two biggest surprises, among many. If Andy happens to read this and says it is ok, I might list a few of the biggest disappointments (in our humble opinions, anyway.....). You know what "they" say.... opinions are like (behinds....)- everyone has one, and they all stink!

That said, our two biggest surprises? The first was JLC Winery (formerly James Leigh Cellars). Across the board, Lynne Chamberlain makes some incredibly tasty wines and they are priced absolutely right. I had read about them but never had any of their wines, and we are totally glad we stopped in.

The second biggest surprise, and our favorite winery visit, was Rulo, which is right next to Isenhower Cellars. Rulo wasn't even on the wine maps we had! Their wines, and I mean every one of them, were exceptional AND great values! I think $24 was the most expensive, and that was a Walla Walla syrah. All of the whites were killer, and to us, two wines stood out. A totally dry syrah rose' ($15) rocked our little worlds, and a blend called "Syrca", which is a 70/30 blend of syrah and cabernet sauvignon. That is simply a huge, very well balanced, extremely well made wine for $18!!! On top of that, Rulo had the BEST assortment of imported (and a few domestic) cheeses I have seen outside a cheese shop! We were impressed the day before with Spring Valley's food pairings (which were fabulous), but the cheese spread at Rulo was simply amazing. OK... I know we are here to talk about wine.....

We also were pretty underwhelmed, or downright disappointed, by a few wineries new releases, but I am thinking that we should keep this "positive", unless Andy says it is cool to share our opinions on those.

Anyone else have some great experiences from this weekend?

Let us all know!

Tim