A view from Washington

As I write this, I am again sitting in the front room of my sister's houseboat (aka floating home) overlooking Lake Union in Seattle. As opposed to the summer view, which is bright and sunny with spectacular sunsets, it's iron-gray outside with just a few splashes of dull color.

The lake is nice though, with periodic flotillas of mallards, cormorants, mergansers, grebes and American coots paddling by, and an occasional blue heron flying over. Boats are more scarce this time of year, but the ones that do crisscross the lake are decorated with Christmas lights.

Seattle is a great city for food and wine. There is a plethora of restaurants and, of course, Washington and Oregon wines are abundant. In a little corner grocery store called Pete's Super Market, just a few blocks from the houseboat, the Washington and Oregon wines share their own shelves apart from the rest of the store's generous and impressive inventory of California, French, Italian and other world wines.

The best-known brand from Washington is Chateau Ste. Michelle, a huge operation that makes mostly mid-priced whites, rosés, reds and sparklers. Yet its winemakers also create high-quality special cuvées, most of which are only available at the winery or to wine club members.

Chateau Ste. Michelle currently is located in Woodinville about 15 miles northeast of Seattle. But it's been in the news lately because it was sold to a private equity firm that has decided to close the home winery and move all winemaking production to eastern Washington, where the vast majority of the state's grapes are grown.

From a winemaking point of view, this makes great sense, but the home winery also has been a center for cultural and musical events that entertain tens of thousands each year.

My sister's companion, John, is a former Boeing engineer turned winemaker turned winery owner. His wine work comes from being a member of the Boeing Employees Wine and Beer Makers Club (aka the Boeing Wine Club), from which as many as two dozen Washington wineries have emerged.

Unfortunately, as most were small operations in this era of massmarketed wines, few have survived, including John's Willis Hall label. Perhaps the most well-known of the survivors are Nota Bene, Cadence and Soos Creek.

(As an aside, John donated all the wine left in barrels in his cellars to a distillery to make hand sanitizer during the early stages of COVID in 2020.)

As I write this, I'm sampling a 2014 Nota Bene Arianses Vineyard Red Blend of the traditional Bordeaux varietals Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc. Such blends are common among Washington wineries, and varietal Cabernet Sauvignons and Merlot also are ubiquitous.

But equally as compelling are the Washington wines made from the traditional Rhône varietals such as Syrah, Grenache and Mourvèdre, or blends thereof, as these grapes do well in the eastern Washington climate of hot days and cool nights.

Smaller wineries and independent vintners have pursued experimental blends, such as the 2012 Pleasant Hill Cellars Cinsault Cuvée that I enjoyed last night from Larry Lindvig, a key member of the Boeing Wine Club.

Cinsault is a minor blending grape from the Rhône, but Larry has made it a centerpiece in this blend that also includes Malbec, Petit Verdot and Tempranillo, mixing traditional grapes from the Rhône, Bordeaux and Spain. It was racy and spicy and truly one of the best reds I've had all year.

One evening we also enjoyed a 2015 Pleasant Hill Cellars Tempranillo-Tannat blend. Tempranillo is the primary grape of Rioja and Ribera del Duero, two of the premier wine-growing areas of Spain. Tannat is a grape mainly cultivated in southwest France and Uruguay.

While Tempranillo usually produces a medium-bodied, highly perfumed and potentially long-lived wine in Spain, Tannat is known for its over-the-top brawniness coupled with plenty of bitter tannins. I envision this blend as Beauty and the Beast dancing together.

Regrettably, to get these dynamic reds, you'd probably have to go to Washington. Yet exciting blends abound throughout the wine world. Varietals are fine, but to me, blends can be more nuanced in their creativity. (Important note: Pinot Noir is best as a 100 percent varietal.)

That said, this article has focused exclusively on hearty reds, appropriate for cold Washington and Minnesota winters. Come spring, I assure you, I'll give equal attention to the great white varietals and white blends from the Pacific Northwest.

Pomeroy is a Mankato-based writer and wine lover.