
The assistant winemaker, Katrina (another Puget Sound grad),
led our tasting and we met the winemaker, Philip Coates. 21 Cellars has been
around since 2003, but only recently took off after their 2006 Pont21 Cabernet
Sauvignon was named one of the Top Ten New Washington Wines. Our tasting consisted
of the 2007 Pont21 Cabernet Sauvignon ($19), the 2009 Pont21 Malbec, and the
2008 Promesse 21, a Cab Sauv/Cab Franc blend for $32. I was thoroughly
impressed by the Pont21 Cabernet as it was rich, smooth, and very drinkable. It
reminded me of some of the Bonterra Cabernet Sauvignon - juicy without being
jammy, and smooth with fruit without being too overbearing. The
Promesse 21 was also delicious, but a bit over-budget for me (and for this
blog). The assistant winemaker suggested that the Pont21 Cab that this wine
would only improve with age, up to seven years in the cellar. I found the wine
to be perfect as we drank it, as it was smooth, and I found the tannins already
smooth and well-developed. I bought a bottle to take home and am happy to hear
that it’s sold in some grocery stores in the area as well. I think that this
winery will only expand from this point and I highly recommend stopping by to
taste some wine.
We finished our wine tasting afternoon with our usual weekly
dinner party. Wine-snob themed, we drank two excellent and inexpensive Bordeauxs
with goat cheese, onion, and mushroom tarts, smoked salmon on tuiles, and cheese
and wine spreads on crusty sourdough. We finished the evening off with Caitlin’s
excellent arrabiata and penne, a Horse
Heaven Hills Cabernet Sauvignon, and then had hot pears stuffed with blue
cheese, nuts, and raisins for dessert. I’ll write more on the Bordeauxs for
another post, so stay tuned.
Ben and I spent the rest of the weekend drying out a bit
from the wine festivities by watching Intervention and Addicted on Netflix. If
you’re looking for a way to be turned off of alcohol and other substances,
watch these shows. There is little that is less appetizing than screaming
alcoholics running nude through the streets and washed up basketball players selling
their clothes for meth.