The 3rd winery we visited on our Wine Yakima Spring Barrel Tasting Weekend. What a gem of a winery. If you read my review of Gilbert Cellars, then you will understand the following. Since this was Sunday, our 2nd day partaking in the this event, we remembered to bring our own wine glasses. We need'nt have bothered. They had PLENTY of wine tasting glasses and told us as much. But we brought those glasses so we used them.
There were two women behind the tasting bar (I believe the blonde haired one was the wife/co-owner of the winery). She set the tone before we walked in. There was a fierce wind blowing outside and as my wife opened the door with a bit of effort, hair blown about by the breeze, the blonde haired woman said "Well, blow on in here!" We knew immediately we were among friends. These women were open and welcoming and smiling and pairing cheeses with their wines. The place is beautiful and the wines were great.
We started off by following Jim, owner and winemaker, to his barrel aging room for a sample of his 2016 Cabernet, fresh from a French oak barrel, siphoned out of the barrel with a wine thief and squeezed out into our waiting glasses. Being a brand new wine it was fruit forward and delicious. He told us about adding tartaric acid crystals to the must before fermentation occurs lowers the pH of the wine. The crystals simply fall out of the wine and are removed from the wine during the ensuing cold stabilization process. But enough enologic science for today. He also talked about using new and older French oak barrels to impart different flavors to the wine during the aging process, and the use of neutral French oak barrels that don't impart any additional flavors to the wine during that period of the aging process. I love talking to winemakers for all that free and fascinating wine education.
Then it was back to the tasting room. The nice blonde haired lady took charge of the wine tasting and cheese pairing. She knew her stuff. Of the wines we tasted, my lovely wife and I fell in love with Jim's 2012 Barrel Springs Malbec. Forget the Argentinian Malbecs if you prefer fruit forward but still complex wines. It was by far our favorite. We also bought a wedge of the Beehive Cheese Co. Apple Walnut Smoked Cheese, the cheese they were pairing with one of the white wines.
At Barrel Springs Winery they truly know the meaning of hospitality and we had a wonderful time. One of the ladies (with brown hair and taller than the one I think was Jim's wife) after ringing up our sale asked if I wanted a box. Now that's customer service. We only bought two bottles (the other was Jim's very nice 2015 Chardonnay) but, this being the barrel tasting weekend, she knew we'd be visiting other wineries and buying more bottles of wine. This is a winery we will visit again. read more