More About Maison Bleue's Whites

 

As I stated in my review of Maison Bleue's 2009 whites, I believe Jon Martinez has taken "white wine making to a new, higher level." Here, I'll tell you a bit more about this.

 

When I visited Jon in Prosser, I tasted through the wines and was fairly blown away by how impressive the whites were. It is no secret that red wines are Washington's strongest suit, but here I see terrific potential for whites as well, especially from Jon's French Creek Vineyard and Dick Boushey's vineyards.

 

After tasting at the winery, Jon drove me over to the French Creek Vineyard; a ten acre parcel planted with 30-year-old Chardonnay vines. There, I saw a gently sloped hillside with near-perfect southwestern exposure. The gnarled vine cordons were surrounded by by stony, well-drained soils. Interspersed were chunks of granite (one of which I took) that had been strewn there by the Missoula Floods of 15,000 to 13,000 years ago. The site is a true "gem." On the way back, we drove past a nearby vineyard of 35-plus year-old Chenin Blanc vines whose grapes Jon plans to buy to produce a dry white in the manner of a Savennieres from France's Loire Valley.

 

I returned home (after a delicious lunch with Jon at Wine O'Clock) to Walla Walla with samples for re-tasting. I went through them one by one over the course of a couple of days. I checked my notes and scored the wines on the modified U.C. Davis 20 Point System score sheet. (See my blog of March 2, 2010 to see how this system works.) I found three of the four wines to merit 19 or more points on a qualitative basis. The fourth, the "Jaja" received 18.5 points, the highest yet that I have awarded for an under $20 dry white. Their respective levels of complexity were highly impressive as well. The quality-price ratios on these wines are phenomenally high.