Grapes to Wine — Celebrate the Harvest
By Kathy Ward
Program Participants
• Dragonfish • Puget
Sound Wines • Appellation
Orientation
There’s a distinct change in the air in autumn, when It’s
crisper and fading daylight slants at a more acute angle. Celebrate
this harvest time season by tasting wines of the Puget Sound
Appellation.
Puget
Sound
Wine Growers Association
Program Participants
Bainbridge
Island Vineyards & Winery
1997 Pinot Noir
2000 Siegerrebe Late Harvest
2000 Dry Müller-Thurgau
Federweisser (if available)
Hoodsport Winery
2001 Island Belle
Lopez Island
Vineyards & Winery
2001 Madeleine Angevine
2001 Siegerrebe
Siegerrebe juice and fermenting juice
San
Juan Vineyards
2000 Madeleine Angevine
Vashon Winery
1998 Chasselas
Whidbey Island
Vineyards & Winery
2001 Madeleine Angevine
2001 Siegerrebe
Maury Island Vineyards
2001 Perennial Vintners Müller-Thurgau
Misty Isle Vineyards
Island Belle grapes and juice
Foods by
Dragonfish Asian
Café
Maki Sushi Trio:
California Roll
Dragon Roll
Inari Vegetable Roll
Dungeness Crab and Corn Wontons
with Spicy Garlic Dip
Chinese Five Spice Salmon
with Seasonal Greens
tossed in Passion Fruit Vinaigrette
Korean Bulgogi Steak Satay
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Family owned and operated wineries grow the varietals that thrive
in this official American
Viticultural Area (AVA). These artisan winemakers, most with
their own estate vineyards, produce “new” wines from Old
World, varieties such as Madeleine Angevine, Siegerrebe and
Müller Thurgau.
Puget Sound is a cool-climate, short season region where early
ripening grapes turn into floral, aromatic, and sometimes spicy
wines with deeply layered complexity. They’re lower in alcohol
and come through delicately on the palate. The whites are made in
dry and off-dry styles. Pinot Noir also does well. And growers
are finding that other recently planted reds make aromatic and delicate
wines.
Enological Society members tasted grapes, sampled juice, and savored
wines at an October 9 educational event featuring the Puget Sound
AVA. We also learned how vineyardists nurture their fruit, and found
out what the traditional German harvest Federweisser is all
about.
Pan-Asian on the Menu
Paired deliciously with the wines were four food bites prepared
by Dragonfish Asian Café. A rebirth of Blowfish,
this restaurant is eclectic in style and cuisine, with a cross-cultural
contemporary menu that invites sharing. Opened in mid-1997, they
garnered quick attention by making Seattle Times restaurant
critic John Hinterberger’s top 10 list.
Choosing “the enlightened path of reincarnation” to transform
into a name free to expand into other markets, Blowfish became Dragonfish
on Chinese New Year 2000. They're located in the Paramount Hotel
at 8th and Pine and open for lunch and dinner 'til 1:00 am.
Nibble like a fish, or gorge like a dragon on sushi samplers, seafood,
dim sum (including a weekend brunch), bento box meals, wok-tossed
noodles, wraps and rice plates. Get started with a free appetizer
coupon at DragonfishCafe.com.
We’ll e-mail updates on future program events. To get in our
address book, send a message to EnoSocMsg@aol.com.
Puget
Sound Appellation Wines
Siegerrebe (zieg-aR-RAY-buh),
difficult to pronounce but delightful to drink, is a German
varietal developed by crossing Madeleine Angevine with Gewürztraminer.
With spice and floral aromas and flavors of grapefruit, lychee
nuts, pears or apricots it pairs well with Asian cuisine and
curries.
Siegerrebe Late Harvest is a rare botrytis-affected
spicy-sweet and fragrant dessert wine that can also be served
as a luscious aperitif.
Madeleine Angevine (mad-ell-eene Anj-eh-vine),
though a white grape with French parentage from the Loire Valley,
was developed in Germany. Lopez grows theirs organically in
island vineyards. Barrel fermented and dry, the wine is characterized
by citrus, melon, pear and tropical fruit, as well as spicy
herbal qualities, that complement seafood and shellfish dishes.
Müller-Thurgau (MOO-lure TUR-gow),
a prolific German grape, is a cross of Riesling and Sylvaner
done in the early 1880s by Dr. Hermann Müller, who was
born in the Swiss canton of Thurgau. It’s fruity and refreshing,
characterized by a floral and musky aroma, and pairs well with
roasted chicken, fresh pork, turkey or pan-fried trout.
Chasselas (shas-suh-LAH), one of the oldest
cultivated varieties perhaps of Middle East origin, is a leading
white grape in Switzerland and also grown in small sections
of France, Germany, Italy and New Zealand. It has a delicate
aroma of sake, apple and citrus with a clean mineral/acidic
finish.
Federweisser, which means “feather
white,” is a newly fermenting milky-colored harvest wine
with some residual sugar and a lot of carbonic acid fizz. It’s
best served chilled with brown bread and nuts. (This will be
poured only if available on program date.)
Pinot Noir was first commercial grown
in the Puget Sound region by Gerard Bentryn, who was also the
impetus behind establishing an officially recognized Puget Sound
appellation. This fragrant and elegant burgundy style with smooth
cherry and raspberry flavors and a toasty finish is a natural
with lamb or grilled salmon.
Island Belle, with 100-year-old historical
links to Stretch Island on the Olympic Peninsula, is the oldest
varietal in the Puget Sound appellation. A grapey, delightful
red wine, it’s used by Hoodsport Winery as a varietal and
also a blend with Merlot.
And More:
An educational aspect of harvest time is sampling grapes fresh
from the vine and newly pressed juice as the winemakers do.
We’ll get to taste Island Belle and Siegerrebe fruit
and fermenting juice as a prelude to the 2002 vintage.
We’ll also sample some wines made by up-and-coming amateur
winemakers who source their grapes from Puget Sound vineyards.
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Appellation
Orientation
An American Viticultural Area (AVA) is a geographic grape-growing
region with soil and climate that distinguish it from surrounding
regions. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
authorizes AVA designation. A wine label notes an appellation
only if 85 percent of the grapes were grown within the legal
boundaries of that area.
In October 1995, Puget
Sound became an officially recognized AVA. Picture Bainbridge
Island sitting horizontally center in this 45-mile-wide region.
North-south boundaries stretch 190 miles from the Lewis County
line to the Canada border.
Ancient glaciers deposited the gravelly sandy loam characteristic
of the Puget Sound region. Shielded by the Olympic Mountains
and Vancouver Island, the area also is distinguished by a temperate
climate; temperatures rarely drop below prolonged freezing nor
rise above 90 degrees. The growing season is sunny, with less
average rainfall than some classic wine regions of Europe. Add
a northerly latitude with extended hours of sunlight, and the
Puget Sound Appellation is a natural winegrowing region.
Last year several wineries established the Puget
Sound Wine Growers Association to nurture the development
of winegrape production and build public awareness of the region
and its wines.
Puget Sound AVA winemakers last visited us for a May 1999 program.
Check here for additional
details of how the appellation came to be. |
Click here to
see a list of past Seattle Programs
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