Heat Wave in the Walla Walla Valley

As of this writing, there have been eleven conssecutive days with temperature highs of 90 degrees or more. The past few days have been around 100, with a high of 107 on Sunday, July 13th. More triple digit days are forecast for the rest of the week. Relative humidity has been around a desert-like 8 percent.

This is not good news for the grape vines which were just starting to catch up after a cool spring. Skin protection has not built up to the point that grapes can easily survive sunburn. Sunburnt grapes result in wines with bitterness, raisiny character and other off flavors. As Jeff Popick stated in his weekly "the weathervine" column in the Union-Bulletin, "Hydration and protection were the twin orders of the week for all living things." Stay tuned.

L'Ecole No. 41 Receives Decanter Magazine Award

Recently, L'Ecole No. 41 received the U.K. based Decanter Magazine World Wine Award for the "Best Red Bordeaux Blend over 15 Pounds." fior its 2011 Ferguson Vineyard Estate Red. Congratulations to Marty Clubb and the L'Ecole team for this honour, which helps put Washington and Walla Walla Valley wines on the map. This wine was reviewed in the May issue of the Review of Washington Wines (19+/20 points) and a report on the Ferguson Vineyard was posted in the May 28 Review Blog.

Charles Smith Buys Wines of Substance

When Tero Estates purchased the Waters Winery last year, the new owners passed on aquiring Wines of Substance, which was a value product developed by Jamie Brown of Waters and Greg Harrington of Gramercy, leaving the brand in limbo. It was announced this week that Substance has been purchased by Charles Smith.

Wines of Substance has been a cleverly packaged product with periodic table of elements-like abreviations, such as Mb for Malbec and Ch for Chardonnay. They were well made wines, mostly retailing for less than $20 a bottle. Some received "Best Buy" ratings in the Review of Washington Wines. Hopefully, the revival of the Substance brand will add more Best Buys to the wine market. The white on black labeling should complement the black on white labeling of the Charles Smith line.

Changes at the Rudin/Trout Household

Two big news items comes from Brian Rudin and Ashley Trout. At the begining of June, Brian started work for Duckhorn Vineyards of the Napa Valley as winemaker for that winery's Red Mountain project, which is a major out of state investment in Washington State. He departs from Cadaretta, where he saw the 2011 vintage from start to finish (see the January and August issues for reviews). Ashley has returned to work at Tero Estates/Flying Trout, after a year-long hiatus. This will ensure continuity for the winery's Flying Trout line (see the April issue for reviews of the 2011's). Somehow, Ashley and Brian will find time to raise daughter, Alice and son, Raleigh.