The empty bottles are slightly over-filled on a rotary table (in the background) then pass through a station that aspirates the excess guaranteeing that each bottle is filled properly. The next station puts the Stelvin closure on (screw cap) before the bottles head to the labeling section of the line. After labeling the finished product is returned via conveyor belt  to the same area where the empty bottles were taken out of their boxes. Empty bottles into the back of the semi and full, labeled bottles back out minutes later, pretty slick.

Because we did the winery exercise first on this day we ended up tasting wines pretty early in the day. But hey, we're professionals! After tasting through the lineup of Airfield Estates wines we were bussed over to the DuBrul Vineyard for our Yakima Valley Vineyard Exercise. If you haven't been to this part of the world you definitely need to head up to Yakima Valley. Most of the landscape is desert-looking and you would not think that anything worth eating could grow there. And if there wasn't adequate river water available for irrigation nothing would.

As the bus made its way up the hill I kept asking myself "would I ever think to plant a vineyard here - no!". We were greeted by Hugh, Kathy and Kerry Shiels, owners of DuBrul Vineyard (and Cote Bonneville). This property, originally planted in 1992, sits on a primarily south-facing slope looking out across the Yakima River toward the newest AVA in Washington, Snipes Mountain. The soil is littered with rocks and the aspect (tilt with respect to direction) changes every 30-40 meters making for a difficult-to-manage vineyard. But manage it they do and a number of prominent wineries seek out the grapes grown here including Owen Roe and Woodward Canyon. If you read the previous post you can see what they do with this precious crop under their own label "Cote Bonneville". Really well-made wines if a bit on the expensive side.

Our afternoon exercise was a tour of Red Willow Vineyard followed by a Syrah Comparative Tasting Workshop. The vineyard is a unique site situated in the North West corner of the Yakima Valley on the Yakima Nation Indian Reservation. Because of its higher elevation (1200-1300 ft) this site was above the flood plain of the Lake Missoula floods which means the soils are really nutrient poor and more ancient than most of the other vineyard sites in Yakima Valley. The list of varietals grown here is extensive and some of the oldest plantings of Syrah in the state of Washington are here too. A prominent feature in the vineyard is the small chapel that sits atop one of the highest points in the entire site. This was constructed by a local artisan from pictures of "Hermitage La Chapelle", a truly iconic vineyard on the east bank of the Northern Rhône that arguably grows some of the world's best Syrah. 

The Syrah tasting was exciting for me because I enjoy the varietal and more importantly because I see that Washington is capable of truly world-class Syrah. Once again we were given 3 known Washington Syrahs and 6 unknowns including 3 more from Washington. The known wines:

2006 Gramercy Cellars Lagniappe, Columbia Valley

Co-fermented with 3% Viognier; fermented with 40% whole clusters. "Lagniappe" is a Creole term to denote a little bonus that a friendly shopkeeper might add to a purchase. By extension, it may mean "an extra or unexpected gift or benefit." This Syrah certainly gives a little extra by means of its incredible aromatics. This really reminds me of Northern Rhône wines with violets, dark berries and a hint of dried herbs on the nose. The palate shows elegance but no restraint with regard to intensity. I really like the texture of Greg's wines.

Dark ruby color. There's more new oak on the nose here followed by violets, underbrush and white pepper. Densely packed layers of red fruits emerge along with fine tannins mid-palate and the finish is medium length.

I'm a big fan of David O'Reilley's wines and this is always one of my favorites. This vintage is deep ruby in color and exhibits aromas of plum, violets, leather and pepper all nicely wrapped up in velvety tannins for a long finish.

This was riper and fuller in body but still maintained a good sense of balance. Pepper, ripe berries, a hint of dried herbs and roasted meat with a medium-long finish of fine-grained tannins. I did guess California...

This was a much more restrained style with earthy, gamey notes that made me believe it was from France...

This one too was a little rough around the edges and didn't strike me as New World in style. It definitely didn't have the typical power I associate with Barossa Valley Shiraz.

Purple ink in the glass, the 2007 La Cote Rousse is 100% Syrah primarily from Kiona and Ciel du Cheval Vineyards. This smelled voluptuous and tasted even better! Based on the nose I thought this might be from the Northern Rhone but once in my mouth I guessed Washington. Very dense and layered on the palate with fine-grained, mouth-coating tannins and an exceptionally long finish. Really good stuff.

Deep ruby/garnet color. My least favorite of the bunch because of its lack of precision. Rather chunky in style the wine seemed out of balance (perhaps it needed a bit more acid?).

Dark ruby-red color. Lovely aromatics of lavender, ripe red berries and a meaty component thrown in for good measure. This was classic Northern Rhone style Syrah with chewy structure and power without excess weight.