Barely On The Map

Washington wines were like a lone crouton in the glorious tossed salad that was Vinexpo, the world’s largest wine trade show held every other June in Bordeaux, France.

If you made the effort to find that crouton, or accidentally came across it, it was something to be savored. Yet it was easy to miss among the 2,500 wineries from around the world.

At last month’s spectacular event, I asked everyone I met whether they had tried Washington wines. Most people assumed I was talking about that other Washington of the D.C. variety.

“It is humbling,” said Brian Carter, the winemaker at Washington Hills (which also produces wines under several additional labels, such as W.B. Bridgeman and the ultrapremium Apex).

“I’ve been making wine in Washington for 14 years, and when I first got started, no one was familiar with it in other parts of the country, but we’ve steadily overcome that,” Carter said. “You now see Washington wines on lists everywhere.”

But bringing the wines to the grandmama of all viticultural countries can feel like starting all over again.

“It’s like deja vu,” Carter said. “People will say, `Oh, you’re from Washington, D.C.’ Most people have heard of Seattle, but then they’ve heard it rains all the time. It’s a lot like the first time I went to New York 20 years ago.”

While still young, the Northwest wine industry has moved beyond a novelty act. Right next door to the California contingent at the mammoth show, the Northwest block was impressive. A mix of Oregon and Washington producers stayed busy pouring every conceivable varietal made in the region.

Thierry Merlet, a 23-year-old Frenchman who is currently making wine at Worden’s, was at his third Vinexpo - as a visitor, not an official vintner.

He brought a few of his oenologist friends from Bordeaux around to sample Washington reds, and they liked what they tasted.

“They had never even heard of lemberger before, but they thought it was good,” Merlet said. “They were impressed with the reds from the Hogue.”

Steve Burns, executive director of the Washington Wine Commission, spent that sweltering week in Bordeaux handing out a steady stream of maps and brochures. He came away satisfied that a few more folks are familiar with where to find our nation’s second-biggest wine-producing state.

“I was pleased that companies like Stimson Lane (Chateau Ste. Michelle, Columbia Crest) and Hogue Cellars were doing business there,” Burns said. However, he added,“It’s not even about selling wine in France. It’s about checking out the competition, seeing what people are doing to market themselves and letting the rest of the world know that we’re a player.”

Tom Hedges, owner of Hedges Cellars, has been attending the biennial show since 1987 - yet didn’t display his wines until 1991. “It’s important to show people you’re serious, that you keep coming back,” he said.

Still, Hedges conceded: “It’s tough to entice people who have never even heard of Washington.”

Hedges does have valued contacts throughout the world, though.

“There’s a guy from Finland who I helped with a tequila deal and every time, he comes and sees me first thing, bringing by some new potential customer for me to meet,” Hedges said.

So it goes at most wine tastings - some sipping, a whole lot of schmoozing.

I overheard people discussing these lavish dinners they had attended, 10-course meals at splendid chateaux accompanied by rivers of wine. “I don’t have a single evening free,” I heard one journalist lament.

Well, I did.

One evening I wandered down to the lovely town center, everything you might imagine a centuries-old city to look like with elegant buildings, magnificent fountains and wide boulevards. During Vinexpo, a huge park had been taken over by food vendors selling everything from Cuban cuisine to fish and chips. There was a variety of music to complement the global grub.

After an action-packed day of tasting wines from all around the world (who knew they made fermented grape juice in Morocco and Tunisia?), I planted myself at the Connemara Pub booth, ordered a Guinness and listened to a threepiece Irish band.

More Vin-exploits:

I heard more than a few people say attending Vinexpo was a life-changing event. But for a couple of Washington winemakers, that statement was true in a legal sense.

Maria-Eve Gila, who’s been with Gordon Bros. for a couple of years now, and Gilles Nicault, the associate vintner at Woodward Canyon in Walla Walla, tied the knot in their native France just before the weeklong expo. Among those attending the ceremony were Rick Small, Nicault’s boss at Woodward Canyon.

The couple met while working in Washington. He’s from Provence, she’s from Paris.

So, there I was tasting an incredible super Tuscan from Zonin, one of the largest producers in Italy, and the guy pouring decides to play stump the wine writer. Fine, I was game.

He pours a red and says I’ll never guess what it is.

I take a couple of stabs before he reveals that this elegant blockbuster is a cabernet franc … from Virginia.

Barboursville Vineyards has ties to this country’s first presidential wine enthusiast, Thomas Jefferson. The third prez designed a mansion on the winery’s grounds in the late 1800s. What makes this historic property remarkable is that for the past 25 years it has been owned and operated by the Zonin family.

Its winemaker and many of his staff are Italians and wines are made in a true old-world style. Among the dozen varietals it produces on 830 acres are a barbera reserve and a pinot grigio, along with French varietals.

I’ve checked around and the $15 wine doesn’t seem to be available in our area. But the winery does ship to Washington and Idaho residents. For information, call (540) 832-3824. Or check it out on the Internet at barboursvillewine.com.

Another red that sent my taste buds into ecstasy was a cabernet sauvignon made by the famous Chateau Lafite Rothschild - in Chile.

This dynamo is the result of a partnership between Rothschild and a Chilean family that had been producing wines for two centuries.

The grapes come from 30-year-old vines, but the French have introduced some updated winemaking techniques (though it doesn’t sound too appealing when you learn some of the wine is fermented in cement vats).

I’ve been on the lookout for Vina Los Vascos cabernet on local shelves but have come up dry so far.

The effusive Randall Grahm is a California winemaker with his attention divided between the old world and the new.

His innovative lineup of Bonny Doon wines includes a Pacific Rim riesling made with a blend of German grapes and Washington fruit. And for the past three years, he has also made a syrah in France’s Cote du Rhone.

“It gives me a more global view than my colleagues, who think of California as the center of the universe,” Grahm said.

His booth - aptly named The Riesling Asylum - was jammed with savvy sippers with all sorts of accents throughout the event.

(I once heard Grahm compare his Pacific Rim riesling to Jerry Lewis - kind of wacky, but ultimately enjoyable - so it was no big surprise he’s a hit in France.)

His latest mission is getting Americans to understand the very French notion of terroir (English translation: the soil).

“The French don’t talk about tasting the fruit, or tasting the oak, but how the wine reflects the land that it comes from,” Grahm said.

However, he added: “I’m a champion of lost causes, and this is like chasing something ephemeral.”

What he admires about Washington terroir is the bright, expressive acidity in the riesling he buys. “The state has got a lot of things going for it, especially the long growing season,” Grahm said.

Speaking of the sunshine state, one of the most bizarre sights of the week was when I spotted Miss California - wearing an evening gown and sporting a tiara, no less - strolling around.

Finally, back with the Washington contingent, I got a big kick out of listening to the random thoughts of Hogue Cellars owner Gary Hogue, the very antithesis of a wine snob.

“The trouble I have in France is getting anyone to make me a decent martini,” he said.