May 2009 Archives
A Lovely Taste of Townshend
- Posted on May 6, 2009 at 6:28 pm
Right off the bat I want to thank all those new General Wine Thoughts subscribers. If you’re one of them, and you know who you are, I hope you will enjoy the casual talk of wine. My goal is to teach people from the ground up, from square one, from the beginning about wine. People often are intimidated when discussing wine and, although there is certainly a lot to learn about wine, you can still have a broad understanding of the different varietals and what to look for. I will be covering this as well as other opinions and, well, thoughts, during the coming months but I WILL go slow. Hey, I have my whole life to explain this stuff!
Now, about White Table Wine, Syrah and Viognier!
One of the many incredibly fun things about enjoying wine is meeting so many great people that share the same passion for wine. As I found myself around the Green Bluff area just North of Spokane, Washington, I felt compelled to stop by the tasting room of an old friend, Townshend Cellar. It seems like where ever I see Townshend Cellar set up (Taste Washington, Food Services of America events, etc…) I see Jill Rider. Her Business card says she is the Director of Sales and Marketing for the winery but she is also the General Manager and manages the tasting room and winery events and she does a stellar job, from what I can see. Really, what DOESN’T she do? The last time we were there it was myself, Shelley, her dad, Lloyd, and our newest pup, Izzie (see the last post for pictures of all!).
In fact, while visiting with Jill during this “out of the blue” stop, the winemaker, Don Townshend, called her to let her know he had just returned from his trip to Italy. Undoubtedly, a wine driven trip to be sure. The story of Townshend is refreshing. Don debated for years on whether or not he should make wine. Having never made wine he took the leap of faith after attempting a Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in 1995, bottling them in 1998 and realizing they tasted as good or better than some of the best California and Washington wines.
Now, Townshend Cellar makes about 10,ooo cases of wine a year and offers around 20 different wines for their customers to choose from. Their most popular wine is probably their T3 which is a non-vintage Bordeaux blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc. I see this wine on many restaurants’ wine lists and we have a bottle of that in our cellar, as well as their Vortex, 2002 Late Harvest Merlot and 2005 Syrah (which I just purchased when I was there).
The other night we opened their White Table Wine which consists of Sauvignon Blanc, Viognier and Chardonnay. For a price of under $11 you can’t really go wrong. It was very crisp from the first sip. Shelley tasted the Viognier right away and thought there may be too much of it. She thought it was syrupy and slightly metallic. I noticed there was a tartness to it right at the back of the tongue. We also noticed hints of apples and apricots on the nose and I also tasted the apricots. I was captured by the legs on this wine–the wine just seemed to cling onto my glass!
All in all, we enjoyed this White Table Wine. They also make a Red Table Wine. In the never ending quest of coming up with labels that will catch the eye of the consumer the labels on these wines simply have a white table and red table, respectively. Simple, to the point and catchy.
As for their Syrah–I bought the recently released 2005 while I was there but we already owned a bottle of the 2004 from our last trip to Townshend and we chose to open that. We drank this with barbequed ribs which was quite tasty. Since we had a half bottle left over we had that with steak the following night and it was even better! It is almost entirely Syrah with only 4% Merlot and it’s from Washingtons Columbia Valley. Very rich.
Shelly exclaimed, “It’s SO PURPLE!” as I poured her a glass. True, it is very dark. Right away there was alcohol on the nose but as it opened up the alcohol went away and was replaced with raspberries and pepper. I thought it was very soft with good mouthfeel. It paired well with the ribs but was outstanding with the steak.
The following night we completed the Townshend trifecta with their 2007 Viognier. I remember tasting this at the tasting room and thinking it was quite sweet. When we opened the bottle it wasn’t AS sweet but SO much fruit on the nose. This is a wine that would be wonderful on a hot summers day or with some oysters.
Townshend has made a name for itself with its quality juice and have only ten years making wine. Just think what another ten years will do for them. Why don’t you pick up a bottle of something from Townshend Cellar and try it for yourself.
Until then, bottoms up and ENJOY!
