We are now releasing our 2007 Sweet Riesling. This is our first released wine made in our new winery in Eastern Washington. Because it was made in Washington, we can finally display a vintage (2007) and an appellation of Origin (Columbia Valley) on this wine. OK, now for the numbers:
- 100% Riesling, 100% 2007
- 68% Yakima Valley, 25% Horse Heaven Hills, 5% Mosel
- 25% Wallula Biodynamic grapes (HHH), 25% Blackrock Vineyard (YV), 22% Boast Vineyard (YV), 21% Selenium Vineyard (YV), 5% Mosel from our dear friend Johannes Selbach
- 9% Alcohol, 7% Residual Sugar, 2.99 pH, 0.81 Total Acidity

The wine was fermented at 75% with native yeasts that came on the grapes; this is a fantastic addition to our winemaking book leading to wines with greater sense of place and minerality. Overall the Sweet 2007 is an exceptional wine, very balanced with a great acid/sugar ratio. We have tried a bit of Mosel fruit this year in the blend to see if we could spice it up a bit (I think we did). Same great profile as the 2006, very refreshing and made to go well with a very wide range of food. I had it over Easter with a cold Salmon and beet salad and it was delicious and the low alcohol was nice for lunch (all that to say that it is not only good with spicy food).

This week end I was reading my favorite newspaper and came upon an article about a certain wine producer in California that, due to the insane domestic demand for Pinot Noir, had decided to supplement his sourcing of Pinot from France and Italy. The multiple and consecutive blends have somewhat different origins and probably different flavor profile. I find this practice very disturbing and potentially damaging to our industry mainly because the winery is not disclosing fully (ie clearly on the package) that the blend is changing during the year due to different sourcing hitting the bottling line at different time. Talking about taking wines down the commoditization path…