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Rasa Vineyards

Award winning wine from Washington State

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Bordeaux Blends

Bordeaux Blends

Tilting At Windmills

In January 2014, Billo, our Assistant Winemaker Mark Hoffmeister, and I were finalizing blends for the upcoming bottling of our 2012 vintage. I was barrel sampling Grenache.

Usually when I barrel sample Grenache, I’m thinking of how it will marry with our Syrah. Sometimes, if the quality is high, I’m thinking of bottling it as a varietal wine under our primus inter pares label. I’m never thinking of Cabernet. Well, at least not until that day.

As I tasted a barrel sample of XL Vineyard Grenache, I was thinking this would be great with Cabernet Sauvignon. I told Billo. He agreed. We dropped what we were doing and spent the next two hours trying various blends. We settled on a beautiful blend of 60% Grenache, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 10% Syrah. The grapes came from XL, Upland, Kiona, and Monette’s vineyards. The wine received 95 points from Jeb Dunnuck of Wine Advocate and sold out within 3 months of its release. It was a good reminder to always be open to change; to always be open to opportunities you didn’t foresee.

We made the wine again in 2014 and 2015 with similar results. The wine has become one of our favorites.

Priorat is a wine region in northeastern Spain. It is one of our favorite wine regions. This region makes wines with blends similar to the one we created. In fact, as we were putting the blend together, we were thinking we should pay homage to Priorat in some way. So, we called the wine Tilting at Windmills – a reference to Don Quixote. The label is one of our favorites – it’s covered with 16th century Spanish conquistador helmets. And yes, we know that La Mancha is not in Priorat.

For Winemaker notes, technical details, and reviews, please click on the following vintages:

2012

2014

2015

 

Bordeaux Blends

Bordeaux Blends

QED Axiom of Choice Cabernet Franc

Clos Rougeard, from the Loire Valley, makes reference point Cabernet Franc. It’s simply out of this world. The Cabernet Franc is not like the Cabernet Franc from St. Emilion in Bordeaux, where it’s blended with Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. There, it has more weight and drinks more like a Cabernet Sauvignon. In Chinon, in the Loire Valley, the Cabernet Franc is lighter, more savory, and more floral. Admittedly, Cabernet Franc from Chinon can be too thin and denuded of its fruit. But in the hands of certain winemakers and viticulturists, the wine can be a quintessential expression of Cabernet Franc. This is what Clos Rougeard does. It’s from where we draw our inspiration.

The bulk of our Cabernet Franc comes from Weinbau Vineyard located within the Wahluke Slope AVA. It’s a great site for Cabernet Franc. Because the heat accumulation at Weinbau is closer to Bordeaux than Chinon (average Growing Degree Days for Weinbau is about 3000, for Bordeaux it is around 2600, and for Chinon it is around 2000), our Cabernet Franc tends to be more like Bordeaux in structure. But, we try to coax out of it the savory complexity and the floral characteristics that are the hallmarks of Cabernet Franc (much like great Chinon). And we do a damn good job. It’s no wonder that its one of our best sellers.

For Winemaker notes, technical details, and reviews, please click on the following vintages:

2012

2013

2014

2015

Bordeaux Blends

Bordeaux Blends

Plus One

In 2012 we released our first 100% Cabernet Sauvignon – from the 2009 vintage. The fruit comes from Kiona Vineyards. Kiona Vineyards, planted in 1975, was the first vineyard planted on Red Mountain. It was planted with Cabernet Sauvignon, Riesling, and Chardonnay. Vast majority of the Cabernet from this planting goes to Kiona Vineyards. We are one of two other wineries that get fruit from this block. Call us lucky. We also get Cab from another block planted in 1992. I used to tell people that our wine is a blend of new and old vines – 1975 and 1992. When Scott Williams, owner of Kiona Vineyards, heard me say this, he told me to stop referring to the 1992 planting as young vines – they are old by WA standards. I’ve since stopped.

Red Mountain is one of the most tannic AVAs in the country. The trick to making world-class wines from here is proper tannin management. I love what we do with this wine. It’s a pure expression of Cabernet from Red Mountain.

When it came time to bottling, we had to come up with a name. When Billo and I fell in love with wine it was Cabernet that we fell in love with – Napa and Left Bank Bordeaux. As wine lovers, Cabernet will always have a special place in our hearts. It is intertwined with our wine journey. Our love for Cabernet propelled our journey forward. When coming up with a name for this wine, I wanted to evoke this sentiment – I wanted to show just how special Cabernet is to us.

When thinking about this, I started to think about my daughter, who was 10 years old at the time. Whenever I’d say “I love you” to her, she always replied “Plus One.” It comes from a game we used to play when she was younger:

Pinto: I love you

Karly: I love you plus 1000

Pinto: I love you 1000 plus one

Karly: I love you plus 10,000

Pinto: I love you 10,000 plus one

…

Karly: I love you plus infinity

Pinto: I love you infinity plus one

I thought about this. I thought about our wine journey. I thought about Cabernet Sauvignon. And I thought Plus One is a perfect name for this wine.

Plus One is one of our most popular wines. It’s a crowd favorite. If you haven’t tried it, you should. You’ll fall in love – plus one.

For Winemaker notes, technical details, and reviews, please click on the following vintages:

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

Bordeaux Blends

Bordeaux Blends

Living in the Limelight

In Bordeaux, winemakers are allowed to use up to six red grape varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, Malbec, and Carmenère. Carmenère is rarely used in Bordeaux. The major actors are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc. Petit Verdot and Malbec are cast in supporting roles. Petit Verdot provides acid and color to Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot-dominated wines. This is why we initially decided to work with Petit Verdot. Our intention was to use it as a supporting actor in our blend called “in Order to form a more perfect Union” (and we do use some of it for that purpose).

We decided to get our Petit Verdot from Dionysus Vineyard’s Block 13b. Block 13b is situated on a 10-15% slope at an elevation of about 800ft. The soil is Sagehill very fine sandy loam. It’s a perfect area to grow Petit Verdot. In fact, it’s so good, that we were compelled to highlight the grape. So we created a wine where the Petit Verdot is the main actor with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc in supporting roles.

We decided to call the wine “Living in the Limelight” because Petit Verdot is now the star. The name comes from a line in one of our favorite songs from one of our favorite rock bands. The band is Rush and the song is Limelight.

For Winemaker notes, technical details, and reviews, please click on the following vintages:

2009

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

Bordeaux Blends

Bordeaux Blends

in Order to form a more perfect Union

In 2009, we made our first in Order to form a more perfect Union. It was the third wine in three years that received a perfect rating from Rand Sealey (Review of Washington Wines). The wine is always a blend of 3-4 different varieties (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot) and multiple vineyards (such as Dionysus, Bacchus, Weinbau, XL, Kiona, DuBrul, Wallula Gap, and Firethorn). Consistently, it ranks among our best wines.

Our father came to the United States in 1969. Our mother came in 1972. We followed in 1974 (ages 7 and 5). They made sacrifices in order to establish a life here. Our family story of sacrifice and hard work is special because it is uniquely ours. What makes it extraordinary is that our story is merely commonplace in the short history of the United States.

The wine, in Order to form a more perfect Union, honors our parents and the sacrifices they made and it honors the promise that is the United States.

For Winemaker notes, technical details, and reviews, please click on the following vintages:

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

Bordeaux Blends

Bordeaux Blends

For The Love Of The Game

In 2014, we got access to just a little bit (1.5 tons) of Cabernet Sauvignon from Wallula Gap Vineyard. It’s from Block 15, planted to Clone 8 (FYI, almost all Cabernet planted in Washington before 2000 will be Clone 8). This is great Cabernet and we are thrilled to be working with it. The first vintage was released on May 5, 2017 and it is a beauty.

Billo and I were 6 and 8 years old respectively when we came to this country. Through baseball, we assimilated quickly to our new lives. We were good at baseball and played at every opportunity. For me, baseball is linked inextricably to the hopes, promises, and ideals that the United States holds for so many people. My senior year in college, I played my last competitive game. Twenty-nine years later, I can still feel the calluses on my hands – a constant reminder of a glorious youth spent on the diamond, playing a game I love, in a country I love.

For Winemaker notes, technical details, and reviews, please click on the following vintages:

2014

2015

Bordeaux Blends

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Bordeaux Blends

Tilting At Windmills

QED Axiom of Choice Cabernet Franc

Plus One

Living in the Limelight

in Order to form a more perfect Union

For The Love Of The Game

Fianchetto

En Passant

Creative Impulse

Rhone Blends

Doctrina Perpetua

Occam’s Razor

primus inter pares

Principia

QED Convergence

Veritas Sequitur

Vox Populi

Whites

Dream Deferred Chardonnay

The Composer

The Lyricist

The Maestro

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