Far away in the deep upper reaches of a land known as Ballard, Matt Gubitosa toils away in small carefully organized cellar, slowly crafting the wines called ANIMALE.  The wines are intense and full flavored made from select vineyards in Eastern Washington where well-drained soils, cool nights, low yields, small berry size, limited irrigation, and late harvests result in special grapes that make unusually complex wines.  Grapes you won’t find in your typical CMS Washington blend.  Come by on Saturday, meet Matt, and try the new wines of his 2011 vintage.

2011 Dolcetto – Columbia Valley $25
This Piedmontese grape finds a new home on Waluke Slope.  It shows intense cherry aromas and flavors with a soft but lingering finish.  24 cases produced

2011 Cabernet Franc – Yakima Valley $25
Inspired by the great reds of the Loire Valley, the Cab Franc is elegant and spicy with notes of chocolate, clove, and fresh berries and suggestions of citrus peel.  24 cases produced

2011 Tempranillo – Yakima Valley $25
This classic Spanish varietal takes on a new persona in Prosser.  The Tempranillo is tangy and lithe, complex and intriguing 24 cases produced

2011 Petite Sirah –  Yakima Valley $26
From a vineyard in Sunnyside planted especially for ANIMALE, the 2011 Petite Sirah is a muscular wine with burly tannins lurking beneath its dark full fruit. 24 cases produced

2011 Carmenere – Red Mountain $25
This interesting and intense “lost grape” of Bordeaux that was reborn in Chile also shows up to state a claim in Red Mountain.  The Carm has saturated red/black color and flavors of fresh berries, mixed herbs, tobacco and roasted red peppers.  It is full bodied and vigorous with a lengthy finish. 32 cases produced

Chile is a long, narrow country dominated by the Andes to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Its vineyards cover an 800-mile stretch of land with a range of varied and diverse micro climates from the hotter and drier regions in the north to the wetter and cooler regions in the south. Chile has a long viticulture history from the 16th century when the Spanish brought vinifera with them.  In the 19th century, French varieties were planted.  Stop by on Saturday as we tour the vineyards.

2012 Undurraga, U Chardonnay/Riesling  $10  (Central Valley)
85% Chardonnay, 15% Riesling
Don Francisco Undurraga, an enterprising man in the 19th century, was one of the pioneers of winemaking in Chile and founder of Viña Undurraga with plants he brought over personally from France and Germany.  Today Undruuaga has expanded its holding into most of Chile’s wine regions. For this wine the Riesling underwent twice weekly lees resuspension for 3 months, while 20% of the Chardonnay was aged with oak .The blend is a wine smooth rich bodied wine with a bit of spiciness.

2011 Leyd a Pinot Noir  $14 (Lyeda Valley)
Viña Leyda is located at the west side of the Coastal Mountain Range of Chile, just 7 kilometers from the Pacific Ocean.  They pioneered viniculture in this valley, creating the new designation of origin, D.O. which is named after them. The Pinot Noir is made in a fruit driven style showing its cold climate influence. Aromas of blueberries and strawberries mingle with earthy mineral and herbaceous notes.  

2011 Undurraga Aliwen Cabernet Sauvignon/Carmenere   $14 (Rapel Valley)
60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Carménère 
Carménère a almost forgotten Bordeaux varietal has thrived in Chile.  The Aliwen ages nine months in French and American oak. Notes of ripe fruit, spices and oak perfectly blend delivering a wonderful aroma. The wine has great body, sweet tannins and a long elegant finish.

2010 Cousiño-Macul, Finis Terrai $26  (Maipo Valley)
Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Syrah
Founded in 1856, Cousiño Macul is the only winery in Chile amongst those established in the 19th century that continues in the hands of the original founding family.   The Finis Terrai offers a complex nose, in which notes of wild berries, blueberry, raspberry, and blackberry can be felt, as well as a subtle French oak aroma, in perfect balance with the fruit. In the mouth plum and strawberry, accompanied by a slight sweetness, principally from the merlot, can be found. It’s intense, balanced and round, with ripe tannins and a long finish.

2009 Undurraga, Terrior Hunter Syrah  $20  (Limarí)
The Terroir Hunter is Undurraga’s to make wines best suited to each region.  This savory, meaty Syrah is made in tiny quantities and hails from the remote region of Limarí near the Atacama desert in the north of Chile where the semi-arid, cool climate with alluvial terraces of calcareous soils makes bright and mineraled Syrah, This wine has key notes of black pepper, smoke, and tar that accent the wine’s plush and concentrated core of black fruit.

This Saturday we’ll be tasting some tasty wines gathered from the Spanish landscape.  We have a lovely Galacian white, a very old vine La Machian Bobal, a solid value Rioja, a heavy hitter from Zamora and a dry Amontillado from Jerez.  Join us.

2012 Vina Reboreda, Blanc  $12
65% Treixadura, 35% Torrontés
Viña Reboreda’s vineyards comprises 40 hectares on the Miño River Soils vary from alluvial  and stony near the river to outcroppings of slate, granite and chalk on the higher west-facing slopes.  The Blanc is a crisp, freshly aromatic and versatile dry white wine with impressive complexity and persistence. Treixadura provides savory consistency while Torrontés adds floral and spice notes.

2011 Vega Tolotas, 11 Pinos, Bobal Old Vine $11
Manchuela lies to the northeast of  La Mancha between the Júcar and Cabriel River valleys, and well above the coastal plains of Valencia and Alicante. It is the ancestral home of Bobal, one of Spain’s most interesting and underappreciated red varieties.  Vega Tolosa founded in 1905, has 150 hectares of organically farmed vines, of which 100 acres is head-pruned Bobal, all over 80 years old.  The wine is partially oak-aged, with varietal notes of wild mountain herbs, red fruit and minerals.

2010 Lorinon, Tempranillo, Tinto  $13
Lorinon’s tinto is aged 14 months in American oak, with partial malolactic in new French oak. The wine has spice and leather notes complementing the deep blackberry fruit and ferrous minerality of Rioja’s red soils. It is Mouth-filling yet fresh, with the structure for improving in bottle for a number of years.

2006 Alejandro Fernández , Dehezia La Granga $18
Alejandro Fernández and his wife Esperanza Rivera, having created Tinto Pesquera and Condado de Haza in their native Ribera del Duero, looked farther afield to Zamora and in 1998 started Dehezia La Granga, with planting 325 acres of old-clone Tempranillo from his vineyards in Ribera del Duero. The fully-extracted must undergoes malolactic fermentation in new oak, and a meticulous racking and aging program achieves natural clarification. The wines are bottled after two years in the barrel.  Purity of fruit accompanies concentrated texture and weight, with excellent balance and expression enhanced by two years in bottle prior to release.

Bodegas Hidalgo la Gitana,  Napoleon Amontillado  $20  500ml
Founded in 1792 by José Pantaleón Hidalgo, Bodegas Hidalgo is still owned by the sixth generation of the family, and is the last remaining family business to produce its own unblended, single-solera Sherries made from its own estate vineyards. True amontillados are naturally aged versions of the best finos, and are totally dry. The Napoleón is long, lean and elegant in style.

Stock up on your Mardi Gras Wine at Madrona Wine Merchants. Today we will be tasting two lower-alcohol content wines that might help Fat Tuesday not turn into Fat Hangover Wednesday.

From France we have a white:

2011 Domaine Uby Gascogne Blanc    ($8)
80% Columbard, 20% uni Blanc
A southern French white with lots of citrus flavors and good round body. It outdrinks it’s modest price.
11.5% alcohol by volume

From Italy we have a red:

2011 Castaldi Francesca Belevedre    ($14)
Crotina, Uva Rara
From the north of Piedmont, this unusual medium body red with citrus and berry fruit along with some smokey tannins.
12% alcohol by volume

Don’t be blue, have that second glass.

The northwest of Italy is home to Nebbiolo, that amazing grape that is chameleon like:  light yet sturdy, tannic yet graceful.  This Saturday we’ll be sampling some incarnations of the grape along with some other varietals of the region.  

2011 Conti Sertoli Salis, Terrazze Retiche di Sondrio IGT, Alpium  $14 
Chiavennasca is the local name for a clone of Nebbiolo grown almost exclusively in Lombardia. This opulent white is made by vinifying the grapes without skin contact during maceration (the skins are the part of the berries that impart color to the wine). The resulting wine retains the nobility of the Nebbiolo grape but is fresh and clean on the palate. 

Pelissero, Le Natura Rosso, Barlet  $13
80% Barbera, 10% Nebbiolo, 10% Dolcetto
The name “Barlet” indicates into the Langa dialect a small barrel with tap which the peasants used to bring with them as refreshment during the tiring hours spent in the country, the so-called “meals wine”. It is suitable for daily consumption and nice to enjoy at the “merende sinoire”, the Piedmont expression to indicate an evening snack.  The fruit for the Le Nature all comes from the Lange region, home to some great structured Nebbiolos but the wine has no such aspirations.  It aims to be merely delightful.

2011 Il Vino Dei Padre, Ruche di Castagnole Monferrato  $18
Evasio Sattanino established his wine estate “Il Vino dei Padri” at Monale, in Asti, with the aim of continuing the family tradition of wine-making, growing grapes in sunny old hillside vineyards, the name of the estate, literally translated, “The Wine of Fathers”.  Their Ruche is a rare Piedmontese wine, with a striking personality.  It has an intense bouquet, with floral and spicy notes, a dry flavor, and a harmonious and velvety finish.

2005 Dessilani, Fara Novarese, Carmino  $28 
80% Nebbiolo, 20% Vespolina
Fara is a small wine growing region in the northeast of Piedmont far removed from Barolo and Barbaresco.  The whole region has only 54 acres of vineyards but produces some very distinct wines.  Like a Barolo, Dessilani’s Carmino is aged for two years in barrel and 1 in bottle before release. The wine has good fruit, along with tobacco and tea notes and supple but sturdy structure.

2012 Cantina Casteggio, Moscatto  $10 
From Oltrepo Pavese in Lombardy, Cantina Casteggio makes this half sweet, half effervescent, but totally refreshing wine.  It is very aromatic with fruit white peach and apricot aromas and flavors and a nice medium sweet finish.

Bored this sprinkling Sunday? Swing by the shop to try a delightful German Riesling, and a wonderful Spanish Monastrell.

2012 Clean Slate Riesling    ($10)
Mosel
A bone dry Riesling with crisp mineral and citrus flavors.
10.5% alcohol by volume

2012 Juan Gil Albacea    ($10)
Monastrell
A great deal in a full Spanish Monastrell which has “black forest fruit, sweet spice and hints of smoke and aniseed.” I guess I can buy that.
NEW VINTAGE