Christophe Hedges is the son of Tom and Anne-Marie Hedges and Director of National Sales and Marketing of the Hedges Family Estate on Red Mountain. I first met him at one of the Taste Washington Seminars, "What's the Points(s): Rating Washington Wines." At it, he made a passionate case for making terroir-driven wines for consumers, rather than for ratings. He is also an advocate of the scoreREVuTion movement, with aims to eliminate wine scores without lessening the importance of wine writers. I again met Christophe at the winery on my visit to Red Mountain on April 29.

When I arrived, I found Christophe cutting rock tiles for the exterior facade of a new kitchen expansion to the Hedges Chateau. We then went into the tasting room and he pulled out some bottles. As we tasted, we discussed wine writing and winemaking style. The approach (as taken by winemaker Pete Hedges, Christophe's uncle) is to keep alcohol and ph levels moderate so the character can come out. Doing so promotes the production of terroir-driven wines, rather than ones made for numbers. He does agree that wine writers should play an important role in consumer education. I pointed out that many consumers seek guidance in wine selection through ratings, but we completely agreed that wines should not be made just for ratings. I stated that ratings should be guidelines and must only be used in conjunction with descriptions of a wine's flavor and profile. In line with this, I pointed out what I called the "tyranny of the 100 point system," whereby the focus becomes numerical rather than qualitative.

As a representation of the Hedges style, we discussed the "House of Independent Producers," a Christophe Hedges project showcasing single vinifera varieties. The "HIP" 2010 Dionysus Vineyard Chardonnay is made in a "Chablis" style, crisp, yet well balanced, with a refreshing edge to it. Christophe's aim is to make "timeless, not fad-driven wines." For an example of the importance of terroir, we sampled a Syrah from the "Descendants Liegois Dupont," a tribute to Anne-Marie Hedges' grandfather, Marcel Dupont, a Chevaliers du Tastevin member and a lover of good food and fine wine. With the 2009 "DLD" Syrah, the emphasis is on the AVA: RED MOUNTAIN (Tom Hedges played a major role in obtaining American Viticultural Area status for it) and the vineyard, "Les Gosses." Syrah appears only on the back label, although it is 100% varietal. A young wine, it had considerable tannin structure, but a lot of fruit and depth lurked underneath. See the July issue of the the Review of Washington Wines for the complete reviews of the above wines, and other Hedges wines.

In winding up our conversation, Christophe talked a bit about how Europe has had four centuries of wine history, while Washington state had just decades. Great strides have been made, but it will be for the generations to come to fully realize the great potential of Washington wines. I added my recollections of Tom and Anne-Marie at the time the launched their first Cabernet-Merlot blend in 1987. We also spoke of "French Connections." We then bade our farewells and looked forward to meeting again soon.