Carter didn’t rush perfection

One of the enduring – and most endearing – characteristics of growing grapes and making wine is that things cannot be rushed. The natural time cycles of growth and vineyard ripening cannot be accelerated past a certain point.

The same goes for fermentation, aging and bottling. Wine takes time, and the best wines often take the most time. Even finished wines that have been released for public comment and review may need more time.

Brian Carter’s wines are perfect examples of what I’m talking about.

I met Carter more than 25 years ago, when he was making a lively range of wines at the original Paul Thomas winery in Bellevue. When he left the winery in 1988, its glory days quickly drew to a close.

But Carter was just getting going. He continued winemaking and consulting for Washington Hills, Apex, Hedges, McCrea and Kestrel, among others, before opening his own winery in Woodinville a few years ago.

The Auction for Washington Wines named Carter its “Vintner of the Year” in 2007. He is the only three-time winner of the Enological Society’s Grand Prize. His Apex Cellars 2000 Syrah was named the best wine (out of 350) at the Thomas Jefferson Wine and Food Classic, and brought him the coveted Thomas Jefferson Cup.

A quiet, unassuming man, Carter wears these accolades lightly. He gets middle-of-the-pack notes from Jay Miller (Robert Parker’s Washington correspondent), and, I fear, loses potential points because he favors unusual blends and crafts wines that need more time than most to evolve.

Shouldn’t that be rewarded? Yes – but ageworthy wines will only be rewarded only if and when the reviewer spends enough time with them.

Blending is Carter’s forté. He sources most of his grapes from Yakima valley vineyards, showing off the valley’s cooler climate flavors in his Euro-styled blends. That generally translates into wines with moderate alcohol levels (averaging around 13.5 percent), sharp acids and a laudable restraint with new oak.

Early one morning a few weeks ago, I took a final taste through Carter’s 2007 and 2008 Oriana ($24) white wines – clever blends of viognier, roussanne and riesling. I don’t know of anyone else in the country making such a blend, and neither does Carter.

The two wines were differentiated by vintage and bottle age, the 2007 showing more minerality, the 2008 more vibrant, succulent fruit and juicy natural acidity, but both were delicious.

This was not my first time tasting them; the bottles had been opened two days previously. I like to track new releases over many hours and days before doing a final review.

A day after it was opened, I also revisited Carter’s 2005 Solesce ($58). This Bordeaux blend is his most expensive, last-to-be-released wine. On the day it was opened it was not my favorite – I wrote “tannic, still hard, some heat, iron, black olive, earth…” But after breathing for 30-plus hours it had fleshed out, smoothed out, opened up, and lost its alcoholic edge.

It is clearly a wine to cellar, and though Carter has given it extra bottle time, it needs still more. Again, I think this should be rewarded. Aren’t muscular, ageworthy Bordeaux the ones we most admire and pay the highest prices for?

If you want something instantly accessible, Carter can oblige. Try his 2007 Abracadabra ($20), an eight-variety red blend that is bursting with fruit and nicely balanced. It’s ready to go, but not simply a front-loaded wine with no finish. This one has the tannins to balance and lengthen the flavors.

Among Carter’s other wines, I especially liked the Brian Carter Cellars 2007 Corrida ($35). This inaugural release of what he calls his “Spanish Style Blend” is 70 percent Stone Tree vineyard tempranillo.

The blend includes 14 percent merlot, 9 percent grenache (garnacha), and 7 percent cabernet sauvignon. The result is a mouth-watering bottle of wine, a perfect mix of berries, light chocolate, spice, mint, and bacon fat.

Another favorite is the 2006 Le Coursier ($30). This wine was previously called L’Etalon, but a threatened legal action prompted the name change. It’s the same wine – basically a Bordeaux blend dominated by merlot rather than cabernet, and it’s firm and tannic, with hints of violets and cassis, all beautifully proportioned.

The grapes are sourced from vineyards in four different AVAs, and the blending is impeccable. These wines improved significantly after six-plus hours of breathing time.

I had a similar experience retasting Trey Busch’s 2007 Sleight of Hand “The Spellbinder” Red. I had previewed it a year ago, but on visiting the winery and revisiting the wine a couple of weeks ago, I found this blend of 57 percent cabernet, 29 percent merlot and 14 percent sangiovese blend had significantly improved.

A year ago it was reductive, closed, displaying some light herbal character. The retaste opened up with lovely aromas, whiffs of leather and tobacco, a little licorice – in other words, the wine had fleshed out, showing black olive, herb, cassis, and plum.

The secret ingredient to all good wines? Time.