Northwest Fine Living

Wine: A thousand year tradition

Created in 2004, NWfineliving.com and Alumnus Wines strive to offer information on boutique wines, limited production wines, rare wines, and yes, bargain wines, available to our friends in Seattle and in the Northwest. You are welcome to explore and browse, but currently, we are only offering information on these wines. If you would like purchase any of these wines, please contact us directly.Thank you and ENJOY!

-Tim Lenihan, Founder and President

Update: Huge Wine Weekend!

November 10th, 2008: What a great weekend of wine, Walla Walla, good friends, and good times. This past weekend was Cayuse Winery's release weekend...however, many other wineries have followed suit and now have their own wine release weekends at the same time. This was also one of the first times that we split the drive up by opting to drive to Yakima, stay the night, and then continue on to Walla Walla....this way the drive is only 2 hours to each spot instead of the 4 hours straight to Walla Walla.

We pulled into Walla Walla around noon on friday and pretty quickly started to find tasting rooms around the downtown area. There are still the same number of wineries in the downtown area with many of the same ones still in their original places after all of these years. We ended up meeting some friends over at Vintage Cellars, which is a great lil' wine bar right at the cross streets of 2nd Ave and Main Street. I have been here many times, but its been a few years since I last visited this place. They have a great selection of Walla Walla wineries by the glass pour and also by the bottle. While their food selection was not super expansive, it was a good fill up before we headed onto a few other tasting rooms.

The airport area of Walla Walla became our next destination, which on a friday night, turned out to be a good spot seeing as there are about 20+ wineries within walking distance of each other. Plus, a ton of these wineries were open late in anticipation of the upcoming wine weekend. This area used to be a barracks for the army, but is now a staging ground for up and coming wineries. We stopped in at Ensemble Cellars (a very new place in my book trying to do more Bordeaux style wines, but only had 1 available for purchase), Stephenson Cellars (which had quite a few wines available from last year and this year too), and then Elegante Wines (which was very new to the scene, but had moved into a cute barn-esque structure built with money from government grants). This was all on friday night, and we hadn't even been out to dinner yet...and all of the wine that came with that!

We chose....well not really chose, as dining options were very limited to anything you could find, a great restaurant called Whitehouse Crawford, which has been in Walla Walla for years. Great food that night, but I recommend two things: get reservations ANYWHERE weeks in advance if not months...and two, if you dine at Whitehouse, go for the appetizers, specifically the burger which is AMAZING.

The next day was basically dedicated to the Cayuse tasting and wine pick up. We wanted to head as late to this as possible as its much more fun towards the end of the night when the wine is flowing freely. However, that left about 3 hours of free time...oh what to do?....wine tasting I suppose! We first headed out to K Vintners (usually worth noting because of his good wines, but this was just another visit that confirmed just how arrogant some wine makers really are), and then off to Sweet Valley Wines (a new winery co-produced/owned by my old boss and a friend of his), out to Gifford Hirlinger (a very fun modern winery family owned with a great table wine and a fun wine tribute to the winemaker's grandfather), and then to Dusted Valley Vintners (which has been a favorite of my for many years due to their fun, outgoing approach to their wines...easily two of the nicest couples/owners/winemakers in the wine world!), and lastly off to.....drum roll please.......CAYUSE! What a great winery with a HUGE following....it is not open to the public as it is invitation only, of which, you have to wait in line to even get an invitation. His wines are produced using biodynamic methods (which to this day I am still not sure all what it entails beyond howling at the moon and being organice) and have produced scores many times in the 96+ range. Soft subtle and a true treasure of mine for many years to come.

We had to take off for my grandmother's 85th birthday party early the next day, but had such a great time this past weekend. Worth noting and left out of the above stories are two wineries that two great friends have opened up:

Kontos Cellars : Cam Kontos and family have opened up a great new winery that has not even opened up to the public as of yet. Their first release will be the first weekend in December, but having already tasted his stuff, its worth jumping at your earliest chance. All of his wines are very soft, approachable, and a nice change of pace from the huge, uncontrolled, wine bombs that are all too familiar amongst other Walla Walla wineries. We liked these wines so much that we are hoping to have these wines available at our wedding....we'll keep our fingers crossed.

Reynvaan Family Vineyards: This great family has not even opened up to the public as of yet and is only available right now through pre-orders and being on their list. But, seeing as I got another chance to taste these great wines behind the scenes, I can tell you they are worth every penny....and watch my words, this place will have the same following as Leonetti and Cayuse have every year...so why wait to just be disappointed in a few years when they are no longer available?...plus, its super nice to see such a grounded family pursuing their dreams of producing phenomenal wines!

That is it for now...but it truly was another great trip down to the Walla squared.

Featured Wines and Wineries

2002 Amavi Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon 95 Points Wine & Spirits

While I generally prefer smaller, boutique wineries which you are the only one that has a bottle from its vintage, I really do enjoy what Amavi Cellars is doing over in Walla Walla. The 2002 Cab Vintage is full of black currant, the fruit is full and rich, laced with rosemary and olive. It holds together with uncanny poise, finishing with a bright fraise de bois flavor, long and lifted. Buy it by the case and serve with spit-roasted chicken or suckling pig. (3,221 cases) (W&S 10/05) Amavi Cellars, Walla Walla, WA

2004 Cabernet Sauvignon, 750 ml bottle Image

2001 Reininger Merlot

After some long consideration, I thought that the first featured wine, and subsequent winery, should be from Walla Walla (where the idea for this entire project began!). And after thinking about all the great memories and great wines I have drank in Walla Walla, I decided to pick my favorite wine from my favorite winery, the merlot from the Reininger Winery!

This wine sells for around $30, but is worth every single penny. There 2001 merlot vintage scored 93 points in Wine and Spirits, and scored a huge hit with yours truly. This wine reminded me so much of sitting in a big thick leather chair from not just its ripe, leathery nose, but all the way through to its full smooth finish. I highly reccommend all of the wines from this beautiful winery.

Walla Walla Wines

What's up with Walla Walla, and why are so many people going there? Washington State's Walla Walla Valley is now making some earth shattering wines, creating cult followings of previously no-name wineries.

When I moved to Walla Walla I found lots of space. Granted, I like space; lots of empty space and the peaceful feel of nothingness that comes with it. But Walla Walla's was filled by less than a handful of wineries, some barely more than barns, making wines that hurt with unruly tannin. The amenities consisted of roadside motels with nailed-down television remotes and things like railroad cars disguised as restaurants. We did not part with sweet sorrow that first time around.

But, with a couple of years under its belt and much more money coming from farmers and out of towners, Walla Walla has grown up. For starters, the Walla Walla Valley is truly deserving of its own official American Viticultural Area (AVA) designation, garnered in 1984 by the region's grape growing pioneers. Walla Walla is defined by an ideal length of growing season and precisely the type of well drained soils that classical grape varieties love. You can even find wines reaching 93+ points on a regular occasion now.

Today the Walla Walla Valley is filled with no less than 90 operating wineries. Emboldened by the call of the ultra-premium grape, the vintners recently formed their own marketing resource and technical exchange, officially known as the Walla Walla Valley Winery Alliance.

Yakima Wines

It is strange but growing up in Yakima, I never guessed it would be seen as Washington's oldest wine grape growing region. But now more than ever, Yakima is looking towards its grapes to help boost its economy.

To help this public image, a group of prominent Yakima Valley wine grape growers recently formed a new organization, Appellation Yakima Valley, to promote and enhance the reputation of Yakima Valley wines.

The Yakima Valley appellation was approved for use on wine labels in 1983 and became Washington's first official federal AVA, or American Viticultural Area. The appellation has more than 11,000 acres planted to wine grapes and is home to 30 wineries and growing. Thousands of tons of Yakima wine grapes are used in the state's most prominent wines. In addition, grapes are sold to other states and countries for wine.

Wines produced with Yakima grapes are widely recognized as some of the best coming out of this region. Due to the age of these grapes, Yakima Valley grapes give the winemaker a phenomenal palette to begin crafting his various wine blends. The new organization plans to promote Yakima wines through education, tourism and special events. For information on upcoming events call 866-8469881.

Columbia Valley Wines

The Columbia Valley is the largest wine region in the state, home to more than 40 wineries and producing more than 90 percent of Washington's wine grapes. The whole region comprises the Columbia Valley, Walla Walla Valley, Yakima Valley, and Red Mountain AVA's along with their range of microclimates. This location, at approximately the same latitude as France's famous Bordeaux and Burgundy regions, partially accounts for Columbia Valley being so well-suited for producing premium wines.

The most widely known varietal in the Columbia Valley is Merlot, a grape considered by some as the source of the tastiest, best-balanced wine in America. The "king of red wine grapes," Cabernet Sauvignon, plus the white Chardonnay follow in production volume. Riesling, one of the original varieties planted in the state, and Syrah, one to the state's newest varieties, are also widely planted, amongst others.

The Columbia River Gorge/ Valley boasts 300 days of sunshine a year allowing all kinds of tour possibilities. The Columbia Valley Winery Association sponsors major events throughout the year, like the sweet retreat in March, Classic Wine & Cars in June, and Catch the Crush at harvest time in September. These events are celebrated at 14 wineries around the Tri-Cities (Richland, Kennewick, and Pasco) area and are ideal time to visit and sample unique vintage selections.