Caterina releases wines for spring tasting

Monica Meglasson, the winemaker at Caterina Winery at 905 N. Washington St., has been keeping the corks in her bottles for too long.

Local wine consumers haven’t been seeing much of Meglasson’s wines in recent years. She has released only a handful of white wines and a red made from sangiovese grapes.

A number of Caterina wines, including the 2001 vintage of merlot and cabernet, have been sitting in barrels and bottles for years, waiting for the right time to be released.

The time has come.

Starting Friday, she will be pouring and selling a 2004 sauvignon blanc wine from the Seven Hills Vineyard in the Walla Walla area, which she calls “Imposter,” and a 2003 blend of cabernet and merlot from the Sundance Vineyard near Mattawa, which she calls “Sundance.”

The release is being timed to coincide with the Spring Barrel Tasting event at Spokane-area wineries this Friday through Sunday.

In the next several weeks, Meglasson will be putting out four other wines – her Seven Hills Vineyard and Willard Vineyard cabernets and merlots. They will be available at the winery, Mizuna restaurant and Vino wine shop.

“I’m excited to release these new wines. I really like them,” said Meglasson, who took over winemaking at Caterina in 2000. Former winemaker Mike Scott left and established Lone Canary Winery.

Part of the delay in making the releases came from getting a new label approved.

Imposter, which shows classic flavors of green apple, pear and straw, is the only one of Meglasson’s upcoming releases that will be available in grocery stores.

Her 2001 Seven Hills cabernet shows flavors of dark cherry, sweet tobacco and hint of dusty Walla Walla soil on the finish, a taste that is a characteristic of wines from the Walla Walla Valley.

“I think it has the best finish of any cabernet I’ve had,” said Gordon Olson, a Spokane wine enthusiast. “She’s got some great wines here.”

Unlike some other winemakers in Spokane, Meglasson uses only a small amount of new oak. She prefers the more natural fruit flavors that come from aging primarily in used barrels in what’s called neutral French oak. As a result, the wine can remain in the barrels longer, and in that process, loses some of its volume through evaporation through pores in the wood. The result is greater intensity in the wine.

“I think it gets a little more concentration, a little more elegant tasting,” she said. Also, the wine has the potential to age up to 20 years from its vintage date, she said.

Her wines are crushed and fermented at Washington Hills Cellars near Sunnyside to Meglasson’s specifications and then brought to Caterina for barrel aging.

Caterina, which is located in the historic Broadview Dairy building, doubles as a weekend music venue featuring mainly local artists. The winery sells its wines to guests on site.

Winery hours are from noon to 5 p.m. daily. During Friday and Saturday shows and during special events, the winery remains open until midnight. Meglasson said she may also go to a 7 p.m. closing on Sundays and weekdays this summer.