Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/326040
june 2014 / the tasting panel / 101 Figgins and Small continued to labor in virtual obscurity on their respective brands; and then it happened, in 1981: Out of the blue Wine & Spirits magazine contacted Figgins to request bottles of his Leonetti Merlot to review. Recalled Figgins, "I said what-the- heck, and sent them bottles of the '78." When Figgins learned that his Merlot was chosen by the magazine as the "American Champion"— named "best wine in the country"—the only thing he could say was, "You have got to be kidding me!" From there Walla Walla Valley quickly shot into the national consciousness as a very serious place for winegrowing. By the mid-1990s, according to L'Ecole No. 41's Marty Clubb, "We were up to a dozen winer- ies, which suddenly became 20 wineries, and then it really began to snowball." Today there are 100 wineries in Walla Walla Valley; many of them producing ultra-prestigious wines from grapes such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sangiovese and Syrah, intensified by the AVA's extremely porous, low-nutrient soils, ranging from silty loess to Châteauneuf-du-Pape–like galets. But, says John Freeman, who founded Waterbrook with Eric Rindal, "We would not be here if those other gentlemen [Figgins and Small] hadn't set the bar, and had the courage and the wisdom, and maybe a little bit of the luck, to estab- lish Walla Walla among the finest wine regions in the world." You would not, however, think that luck had much to do with it when you taste the wines still being made by Leonetti Cellar, shown at the March celebration: the Leonetti 2006 Walla Walla Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, for instance, is amazingly sleek, almost effortlessly deep, long, elegant, unforgettably endless; and the Leonetti 2012 Walla Walla Valley Merlot remains the essence of black-cherryish varietal fruit—seriously savory, dense and meaty. Walla Walla Valley is still the real thing. Neither are the newer Walla Walla Valley wineries missing a beat. Basel Cellars, founded in 2002, poured two reds over ten years of age, tasting as fresh and buoyant as the day they were bottled: a pungent, upbeat, firm and pin- point Basel 2003 Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon (blended with 16% Syrah); and a Basel 2003 Walla Walla Valley Red Wine (56% Merlot, 44% Cabernet Franc), com- ing across as a plush, lavish tapestry of damson plum and pipe tobacco. Although coming out the Basel family, winemaker Justin Basel has branched out on his own, crafting wine for the artisanal Foundry Vineyards from a small estate planted in 1998 by owners Mark and Patty Anderson. The Foundry 2007 Walla Walla Valley Artisan Blend (49% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot, 22% Malbec, 7% Cabernet Franc) is teeming with fleshy blackcurrant fruit, with subtle herb and roasted beef complexities. Tempus Cellars, founded by winemaker Joe Forest in 2006, is another "new kid" making lots of waves, particularly for wines made from grapes picked earlier than most wineries, achieving lower alcohols, more natural acidity and fruit quali- ties undiminished by excess oak. Nonetheless, the Tempus 2011 Seven Hills Vineyard Walla Walla Valley Merlot is an old-fashioned knockout, its velvet textured, black cherry fruit underscored by dried kitchen spices and savory tannin. One of the brightest of the new, independent Walla Walla Valley "stars" is Lullaby Winery winemaker/owner Virginie Bourgue, who moved to Washington from France's Côtes du Luberon in 2007. Bourgue makes the most acid-driven wines in the state, such as her Lullaby 2010 Walla Walla Valley Viognier, which layers gobs of honeyed, wildflower, pepper pricked orange peel fragrances on top of a steely knife- edged medium body. Her Lullaby 2010 Walla Walla Valley Syrah shows off the humongous potential of the region's cobblestoned plantings; ferocious in its scrubby, lavender- like, feral perfumes, piled atop a zesty, medium-full body. "I wish Grenache did as well in the valley, but Syrah is spectacular in the 'rocks' of Walla Walla," says Sean Boyd, owner/winemaker of Rôtie Cellars, one of the region's hottest new wineries. Boyd applies his instinct for minimal- ist winemaking and under-oaking to produce a Rôtie 2011 Wallla Walla Valley Northern Blend (Syrah co-fermented with 5% Viognier) that is deep, raw, rippling, nearly naked in its earthy, swarthy, black fruit qualities. Not to be outdone, winemaker/owner Cameron Kontos of Kontos Cellars, started just seven years ago, fashions a purer style Kontos 2011 Les Collines Vineyard Walla Walla Valley Syrah, which weaves violet and tobacco perfumes unfet- tered by oak, in a svelte, medium-full body. The Kontos 2009 Pepper Bridge Vineyard Walla Walla Cabernet Sauvignon is even more impressive—a tingly, snappy, contemporary interpretation of the varietal in its moderation of body, tinged by just the slightest veneer of sweet oak. Walla Walla Valley's past may very well be the stuff of legend; but clearly, many of its newest vignerons are not resting on those laurels. Sean Boyd of Rôtie Cellars. PHOTO: RANDY CAPAROSO PHOTOS: RANDY CAPAROSO Joe Forest of Tempus Cellars. Cameron Kontos, Kontos Cellars. TP0614_072-101.indd 101 5/23/14 9:40 PM