Olympic Peninsula Wineries

My co-conspirator and I visited some wineries on the Olympic Peninsula last weekend. As usual there was a mix of good, bad, and bloody awful. Details follow:

Olympic Cellars

The first stop on our list was Olympic Cellars, which was mediocre across the board. The people behind the counter were more interested in talking to each other than in telling us about the wines; someone should tell them that even bad wine is made better by conversation. Given the quality of their wines this is a lesson which they should take to heart.

The wine on offer at Olympic Cellars was universally disappointing. Their "Handyman Red", one of the blends from their Working Girl label, was just bad. It didn't feel balanced, didn't feel put together, didn't have much character. The wine from their premium line, La Dolce Vida, wasn't much better, but I can at least be more specific about its failings. The 2003 Syrah and the 2004 Cabernet Franc were aggressively tannic. I'm a big fan of tannic wines, but the first thing that went through my mind after tasting the Cabernet Franc was "wow, its like drinking a glass of stem".

But I may have spoken prematurely when I said that the wine was "universally" disappointing. The 2004 Merlot was decent; not great, not exceptional, but not bad either. I suspect that it might get better if you were to put a bottle away for a few years.

I'll probably not be going back; one unexceptional wine isn't enough to merit the trip.

Harbinger Winery

The next stop on the tour was Harbinger Winery, which was my favorite of the lot. Cake was playing in the background when we arrived, always a plus, and the Winemaker, Sara Gagnon, was tending the bar. She was happy to talk at length about her wines, and even came around from behind the bar and showed us some tubs where she'd been "punching down" the must earlier in the day.

In contrast with Olympic, the wines here were pretty good across the board. Here's some specifics:

• 2006 White Burgundy: This wine is aged on lees, giving it a yeasty character that I typically associate with Belgian ales. Definitely unusual, but not at all unpleasant.


• Dynamo Red: This had good flavor and nice complexity of character without being overpowering.


• 2005 Syrah: Sara said this was something of a "big brother" to the Dynamo Red. It was definitely a bolder, more powerful version of the Dynamo, but still well balanced in its assertiveness.


• 2005 Rapture: This is made using Cabernet Franc grapes from Sagemoor Farms. I'm a big fan of Cabernet Franc; if someone asked me to pick my favorite varietals it would probably top the list. The 2005 Rapture was much less peppery than what I've become accustomed to drinking primarily NY Cabernet Francs, which might be the first time I've actually been able to successfully detect regional variation on my own.


• 2005 Evolution: This Bordeaux blend was a little "corky", but was otherwise a fine wine.
  

My one criticism would be the 2006 Viognier, but I'm not much of a Viognier fan to begin with so you should take that into account. I thought it was a fine wine, but seemed a little steep at $27/bottle.

I'll definitely be going back to Harbinger in the future.

Black Diamond Winery

After Harbinger we visited Black Diamond Winery, which definitely had a little bit of a Deliverance vibe to it. It's off the beaten path, and the people tending the tasting room were vaguely creepy in an "I tan racoon hides for fun" sort of way. There's not a whole lot to say about the place; they do a bunch of fruit wines and some obscure, unassuming German whites, most of which are neither bad nor good. Their cranberry wine had a nice, tart bite and wasn't syrupy; we ended up taking a bottle of that home.

But then there's the estate grown Pinot Noir... it was bloody awful. So awful, in fact, that I was surprised that they were even selling it. It had that overcooked carrot smell that I associate with succotash, and didn't taste much better. Just to show you that wine is in the eye of the beholder, my co-conspirator thought that the Pinot Noir was pretty good. She's clearly smoking crack, so I offer her statement not for the truth contained therein, but merely for the fact that it was said.

I might go back again, but I'd make it quick and keep the car running.

Lost Mountain Winery

The last stop for the day was Lost Mountain Winery, whose big claim to fame is that they don't use sulfites in the production of their wines. The presence of sulfites (or lack thereof) doesn't really seem to have much effect on the quality of the wine, but the guy behind the bar said that wine without sulfites is less likely to induce headaches.

The wines here were mostly nice, well structured reds. None of them really jumped out at me, but they were definitely better quality than the crap we got at Olympic cellars. Their one "interesting" wine, and I use the term loosely, is their "Cellar Rat Red". Based on what I could elicit from the owner it appears that they make Cellar Rat by taking whats left over after the bottling of the other wines and pouring it into a big barrel. There doesn't seem to be any sort of quality control, they just dump everything in, resulting in a wine which can honestly be described as "chaotic". You really do feel like you're drinking 2 or 3 wines simultaneously; it makes you appreciate the time it takes to put together a good blend.