Need help

[stevebody]

Mooch,

I'm a little puzzled by the fact that almost every wine suggested as a replacement for the (outrageously) pricey Col Solare, a wine produced from Columbia Valley grapes, was from California. The Sorella is a WA wine but not much like the Col Solare; is, IMHO, a whole lot better.

There is no shortage whatever of WA Bordeaux blends, ranging from the outstanding Snoqualmie Cab-Merlot at $7.99 to the limp, uninspired Solesce from Brian Carter at FIFTY-EIGHT F%#*@%* DOLLARS, from a winemaker whose sole claim to fame is that he was the vintner at Washington Hills, one of the most flaccid wineries in this state. In between, you have the fine Hedges Three Vineyards, a steal at $17.99; the Walla Walla Vintners Table Red at $26; the Andrew Will Cuvee Lucia Table Red at $26; the excellent L'Ecole No. 41 Schoolhouse Red(about $18) and Apogee (about $36); the Waterbrook Melange ($10)and Meritage (30-ish); the DeLille D2 ($33); the very fine DiStefano Meritage ($15); the good-ish Three Rivers Table Red (about $16); the Betz Table Red at about $28; and an obscure, excellent Oregon wine made from WA grapes, the Cuneo Red Wine. Mike Dunham of Dunham Cellars is releasing his own little table red soon, to be called Three Legged Red, after his dog.

There is a real difference between WA and CA wines, usually with CA being better overall but WA is gaining yearly and the wines, many times, express terroir better than the CA wines. The Col Solare is very much about terroir. All the wines I mentioned are from good to spectacular (Walla Walla Vintners, L'Ecole, DeLille, and Andrew Will, especially) and all are less than half that $80 price tag.



[This message has been edited by stevebody (edited 05-13-2003).]