One of our favorite local wineries had day 2 of their 3 year anniversary party today. Heather and I were lucky enough to get tickets to both days!
If you haven’t heard of Long Cellars, check out our Day 1 party post for a quick intro and write up. He is an amazing winemaker, and should get rich making wine.
So let’s break out the wine for the day!
Malbec
Day 2 started with my wife’s favorite varietal Malbec. Again, we were sampling wines with tiny amounts available, so a chance to hit these early vintages was amazing.
We started with a 2014 from Glacier vineyard. Light, blue and dry, with a single bottle available for ~20 folks who made it to the party. 2015 had two samples available, a vintage from Scooteney Flats that had a savory nose, with a red fruit finish (twelve bottles), and a Boushey vineyard that was truly outstanding, with out of this world blue fruit (none left, just a sample available.) Classic Washington Malbec. The 2016 (seven bottles available) had the complexity I had come to expect from the year, and the 2017 (another seven bottles) was dark, and full, and super fruity. The Scooteney Flats was uniquely savory, I wondered if it had a touch of syrah in it.
Petit Verdot
Petit Verdot is a unique grape. When you read about it, it is normally just a blending grape. Something to make a blend fuller, and finish strongly. When Heather and I started tasting in Washington, you would find Petit Verdot in tiny percentages at the end of blends. 4% here, 2% there. Very light additions. Then in 2016, we started seeing producers push it our as a single varietal.
Jason had three versions of the Petit Verdot for us to try. A 2015 from Scooteney Flats, light and delicate, with 6 bottles left. A wonderful 2016 from Boushey that was brutal and fleshy; almost, for the life of me, toothsome. The 2017 was a bright powerfully ruby everyday drinkable fruit-bomb that finished with a screaming bit of pepper. There were 3 cases left of the ’17.
The Friendship Blends
A unique thing that Jason does every year is to create a blend with friends of his. They get together, test out various blends (he tells a grander story), and create a wine together. Each gets named in a unique way, usually with a letter of their first names or last names.
Jason Long should be famous for his blends. The single varietals are fabulous by themselves, but his ability to create a truly balanced Bordeaux is his strongest trait. The 2014/2015 FAIKEN, with 8 bottles left was our target for the evening. Heather and I first fell for FAIKEN in 2018 when we first found Long Cellars, and we fell hard. The FAIKEN is a Cabernet, Merlot, Malbec and Petit Verdot blend of grabby tannins, dark red fruit, perfect acid, and a delightful boozy burn. The 2016 NEKEL, a bawdy and pungent Cabernet-dominant blend was second up and with 4 bottles available for purchase, and I recall buying at least half-a-case of it when it was made first available. Finally, we had the 2017 PAJJAM. The PAJJAM is a winner, but was released about 6 months ago, and was the only wine I wasn’t worried about getting a hold of. We still have one bottle, and with 18 cases available, it was just a pleasant thing to enjoy. I do love Merlot, and a Merlot dominant blend makes for a wonderful finisher on the afternoon.
The End of the Party
Once again, to conclude the party Jason offered everyone the chance to purchase two bottles if they wanted to (via a raffle, to keep it fair). If anyone wanted more than two bottles then after all the other attendees else had a chance, they could do so.
We were able to grab two bottles of our favorite blend, the FAIKEN, and once everyone had their chance, I grabbed one more bottle of the 2016 Petit Verdot.
Wrapping Up
Two days with six wonderful hours of tasting, stories, food and conversation. I am so happy we were able to take six rare bottles home, and a celebrate a local winery. It was a great time and a great Father’s Day weekend.
Christopher Brown's - Blog 