WCI back to regale you with an evening of some of the best reds I’ve had in a long while…

As soon as we finished our salads, Don Townshend of Townshend Cellars (www.townshendcellar.com) started pouring. Nothing like starting with the Big Boys, so we poured Don’s acclaimed ’00 Cabernet Sauvignon, and my first contribution to the evening, a St. Supery 2000 Dollarhide Ranch Cabernet. (www.stsupery.com)

These were some huge wines! The St. Supery was a bit softer but still had a ton of fruit, while the Townshend was huge… a bit more acidic, as is Don’s tendency, but easily worthy of another decade in the bottle. The five of us began our informal, highly subjective judging, and declared it a tie, with a caveat that we would taste again in a half hour or so.

We’d barely finished our first tastes of those when he poured his 2000 Cabernet Franc. It was one of the biggest wines I’ve had in years. It was a giant, and leapt into the running for the evening’s top wines. I love Cab Francs, but have had some disappointing ones as well, so it was a great surprise.

Now, we were using an air breather by “Air au Vin,” (www.airbreather.com) that breathes air into either a bottle or a glass of wine, equalling about an hour of decanting in about 30 seconds. We were able to “taste test” the new wines fresh from the bottle, and then airate them and taste them again; it makes a real difference.

Don then opened a second Cab Franc, this time a  1999 L’ Ecosse from California, that he had bought a case of years ago. On any other evening, it would have been a star, but while tasty, didn’t stack up to the Townshend Cab Franc.

Finally, he opened his 1999 Merlot. This is a Monster wine. As many of you likely remember, after the movie “Sideways,” Merlot sales fell, while Pinot sales climbed, and people kind of went off Merlot. I think it’s kind of ironic, since two of the most acclaimed, expensive and rare wines in the world are Merlots… yup, Chateau Petrus and Le Pin are both Merlots. I think Sideways did wine drinkers disservice, because with a wine like this, people are missing out! It is easily one of the best Merlots I have ever had, and Don said it might be one of his top two or three best wines he’s ever made, along with his Late Harvest Chenin Blanc, and his 95 Reserve Cab… Legacy wines.

I haven’t even got to tell you about dinner yet, so I guess I’ll be back to finish the story tomorrow!

Cheers,

WCI

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WCI here, and I’d like to take a small diversion today and talk about some great wines I was able to try this weekend.

I was lucky enough to have some of my dearest friends come into town over the weekend, and so, if I was going to make dinner, I might as well fill the table, so I invited Don Townshend, winemaker, salesman and chief cook and bottle washer for the acclaimed Townshend Cellars in Spokane, Washington, and we had ourselves a party! www.townshendcellar.com is their website, and is worth checking out.

Don is one of the most talented winemakers I’ve met–almost the A.D.D of winemakers, as he makes almost 30 different wines. He’s one of the few winemakers I’ve done a dinner for where I can do an entire 8 – 10 course dinner using only their wines, as he makes everything from a sparkling Huckleberry Brut to several different ports and dessert wines, and everything in-between.

Don and his guest Cathy arrived right on time, and, as is his wont, Don brought a few bottles of some of his best wines to share with us, combined with a couple from my cellar, and let me tell you, folks, what an amazing evening of wines it was!

We started with one of our special champagne cocktails, accompanied by a plate of hummus, crackers and couple of great cheeses; in particular, a two year old, aged cheddar and a lovely smoked Gouda, and then, corkscrew in hand, Don started opening…

First up was his brand new release, entitled “DRG,” for Down River Grill, the restaurant Don crafted the wine for. They are actually having the release party this week, so we got a bit of an early taste. It was quite nice, with tons of fruit, and was a great way to start the evening.

Next up was a salad, with fresh Roma tomatoes, cucumbers, Craisins, fresh sliced pears and a raspberry vinaigrette. We diverged from the list to serve a crisp Riesling, but then, it was time for Big reds!

I’ll be back tomorrow with the tales of a great evening, and about their fun wine club, too!

Until then,

Cheers!

WCI

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