THE YEAR IN WINE - Washington Tasting Room Magazine

TasTing
Room
wa s h i ng T o n
winter 2014 / 2015
®
the magazine for
people who love
wine tasting
the year
in wine
A peek at the 2014 harvest
& review of what’s trending
Horse Heaven Hills AVA
touring chelan’s vin du lac
top 10 Wineries for a Wedding
easy sparkling cocktails
$6.95 US
Winter 2014/15
Display until Feb. 28, 2015
Win! SaliSh lodge
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inside: 30 featured Wines • movers, shakers & Winemakers
Tasting
Room
winery
Bistro on the Vineyard
Winemaker Larry Lehmbecker brings a lawyer’s logic
and an artist’s passion to Chelan’s Vin du Lac
Clockwise, from top left
Bistro fare includes fresh,
local and seasonal ingredients
such as portabello mushroom
burgers; estate Riesling
grapes; the bistro adjacent
to the wine tasting bar offers
indoor and outdoor seating;
owner Larry Lehmbecker;
apple and cherry orchards
on the property; Michaela’s
Vineyard is planted to
Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc,
Pinot Gris, Chardonnay,
Pinot Noir, Syrah, Merlot and
Cabernet Sauvignon.
f
writer & PHOTOGRAPHER
ROM the sloping vineyard that curves
around the hills on the north side of Lake
Chelan to the bistro and tasting room
surrounded by apple and cherry orchards,
Vin du Lac embodies Larry Lehmbecker’s
vision of how to blend his two great passions:
wine and food.
“We are Washington winery No. 325,” he
states proudly, “and from the first day, I wanted
our focus to elegantly illustrate the food-wine
partnership.”
On a nearly equal path with the winery
development came the bistro—which evolved
from the deli counter established in the winery’s
first year. Panini sandwiches were an early
favorite and an easy segue into French food,
bistro style, that soon followed.
The tasting room offers a rustic interior offset
Richard Duval
by the tranquil terrace and deck surrounded by
full orchards on one side and the ever-expanding
vineyard on the other. Covered with a natural
tarp of greenery, the outdoor wine bar offers cool
shade and shelter from Chelan’s notoriously fierce
summer sun.
Courtroom To Crush Pad
Lehmbecker is no newcomer to the wine
world. Growing up near Renton, Wash. with
parents who were aficionados, he recalls, “We
always had good wine and my parents always
took the time to explain why it was good. My
uncle had a winery in Spokane, which gave us a
strong connection to the wine industry. I knew
early on I wanted to be a part of it.”
After graduating from the University of
Washington in ’83, he attended law school in
W a s h i n g t o n T a s t i n g R o o M . c o m 47
Tasting
Room
winery
Chelan is a great place for natural wine makin�.
We’re the coolest of Eastern Washington AVAs...
Everything we need to produce first-class wines is here.
— Larry Lehmbecker, Vin du Lac
Vin du Lac's
casual outdoor
vine-covered
tasting bar
Vin du Lac produces wine under
four different labels:
LEHM, wines crafted from Lake
Chelan AVA grapes
Barrel Select, small production
wines made with grapes sourced
outside the AVA
Fresh Whites, value wines for
everyday drinking
Red Café, value-driven bistro wines
Taste
Vin du Lac Winery & Bistro
105 Hwy 150 Chelan
Winter hours: Oct-April, Thur-Sun
Wine tasting & bistro: Noon-8pm
Dinner: Fri-Sat 5-8pm
(Sundays open until 5pm)
www.vindulac.com
Stay
Campbell’s Resort
www.campbellsresort.com
Lakeside Lodge & Suites
www.lakesidelodgeandsuites.com
San Francisco. In between classes,
Lehmbecker made many trips north
to Napa Valley to taste and to learn.
“Napa had a huge influence on me.
I found myself drawn to the wineries
that offered easy accessibility without
compromising the quality of the wines.”
He later moved back to the Seattle
area and established a personal
injury law practice, but the vision of
winemaking lingered and a visit to
Chelan in early 2000 pushed his dream
forward.
Lehmbecker fell in love with the
lake and the community. And when he
chanced upon the orchard property for
sale, he knew he’d found his place. He
fell in with Chelan wine pioneer Steve
Kludt, who was already busy converting
apple orchards to commercial vineyards.
Lehmbecker was equally convinced
that Chelan’s combination of soil and
weather patterns—strongly influenced
by the lake—would make for quality
Vitus vinifera.
By spring of ‘02, he and a few
volunteers were producing the first
batch of wine. “We did the entire
pressing and blending in the orchard
sheds that first year,” he recalls. He
slowly cleared a portion of the orchard
and began planting his own estate
vineyard.
Vineyard Focused
Lehmbecker admits that in the
early years, the winemaking was
“formulaic.” A voracious reader, he
consumed everything he could find
on winemaking, grape growing and
weather patterns, including materials
from the UC Davis enology program.
He came to believe in the importance
of understanding what was happening
in the vineyard first; a lesson he notes
was key in shaping his winemaking
48 W a s h i n g t o n T a s t i n g R o o m . c o m
philosophy that “great wines are born
in the vineyard.”
“Today I’m focused on getting it
right in the vineyard first,” he notes.
“We’re always moving to a simpler
keep-it-clean vineyard approach that
directly influences the wines.”
After 12 years, his pioneering
efforts are paying dividends. His
flagship Riesling (particularly his 2011
vintage) and Pinot Noir show the big
European-style flavors that complement
food perfectly. Both wines reflect
the strengths—as well as highlight
the potential—of the Lake Chelan
appellation that was established as the
state’s 11th American Viticultural Area
(AVA) in 2009.
His vineyard boasts seven acres
of more than a dozen varietals with
Pinot Noir, Riesling, Chardonnay,
Pinot Gris and Viognier leading the
way. And Lehmbecker has only just
begun to mine the potential of these
high lakeside hills. Pressed on Chelan’s
future, he systematically lists its
advantages with the logic and precision
of a legal mind.
“Chelan is a great place for natural
wine making. We’re the coolest
of Eastern Washington AVAs; our
soils have amazing acidity that can
produce high acid white wine grapes;
the vineyards require very low
intervention,” he states, concluding,
“Everything we need to produce firstclass wines is here.”
Everyone’s Favorite Backyard
Vin du Lac wines are made with
70 percent of Chelan fruit by design,
Lehmbecker proudly notes, and he’s
aiming for 100 percent within the
next five years. He plans to reduce
more of the orchard and expand the
estate vineyard plantings; Pinot Noir
is high on his list. He and his Chelan
winemaking colleagues are also
relentlessly exploring available land to
plant more sourcing vineyards, such
as high-elevation sites between 1,400
to 1,800 feet they feel would produce
quality sparkling wines. He notes
that neighbor Karma Winery, already
known for their sparkling wines, has set
the groundwork for success in this area.
As the winery operation expanded,
Lehmbecker found that his day-today involvement with winemaking
was harder to schedule so he sought
a head winemaker with the skills and
experience to produce the wines he
envisioned. About the same time,
winemaker Marc Leahy was casting
about for the right opportunity to
return to his Washington roots. Leahy
worked at Gorman and EFESTE as well
as spent considerable time in California,
Spain, Portugal and France, earning
a master’s degree in viticulture and
enology along the way. He joined Vin
du Lac in January 2014.
“Larry’s passion for wanting to
make great wine in Chelan from
Chelan grapes drew me in from the
start,” Leahy says, enamored with
the opportunity he sees in helping
take Chelan to the next level of wine
production. “There is so much room
for us to explore the terroir here. Larry
has assembled a strong team and we’re
all focused on crafting world class wines
from Chelan.” Like Lehmbecker,
he sees Pinot Noir as a rising star of
the AVA and he’s keen to explore the
quality potential of other Burgundian
varietals like Chardonnay, Pinot Gris
and Gamay Noir.
Also new to the team, executive chef
Joseph Nagy drives the bistro’s mostly
light fare, all designed to complement
Vin du Lac’s setting and wine offerings.
Nagy divides his time between the
bistro and running the popular Maki
Sushi in downtown Chelan.
“A friend once referred to Vin du Lac
as ‘everyone’s favorite backyard,’ and
that’s the best description of what I’m
about with the winery,” Lehmbecker
notes with no small measure of
satisfaction. “There’s simply no better
place for me than Chelan.”
Tasting
Room
PICKS
Try these current releases:
Lehmbecker 2011 Michaela’s
Vineyard Pinot Noir
Elegant on its own, this estate grown
Pinot is an equally strong contender
with a variety of dishes. Nose: Deep
earthy aromatics of red fruit, juniper
berry, rose water, brown sugar, rice
cracker and hint of cherrywood bark.
Taste: Silky, deft and well structured
with balanced acidity and firm tannins.
Light on the palate, this Pinot is built
around seamless flavors of cherry,
raspberry and currants with a touch of
white pepper spice on the finish. $45
—J.V.
Vin du Lac 2013
Barrel Select Chardonnay
This full-bodied Chardonnay shows
exceptional balance with a smooth
palate, refreshing fruit and a gentle kiss
of oak that knits it all together. Nose:
Refrained citrus, blanched almond and
white bread toast points. Taste: Suave
and debonair with a sleek, silky frame
and lightly creamy texture. The flavors
are concentrated with earth and stone,
exuding toned-down fruit of apple,
melon, lychee, crystalized lemon and
lime zest with flinty spice notes on the
finish. $25 —A.V.
Vin du Lac 2009
Barrel Select Syrah
Their best barrels of Syrah, sourced
50/50 from Sagemoor and Upland
Vineyards. Nose: Blackberry and
black plum with lavender, vanilla
bean, spice and tobacco leaf. Taste:
Elegant, showing restrained power
and intensity. Hints of smoke, game
and eucalyptus are backed by
concentrated black plum, blackberry,
black raspberry, truffle shavings, cigar
box and vanilla. Finely grained tannins
push through the finish. $40 —J.V.
LEHM 2011 Lake Chelan Riesling
Sourced from three Lake Chelan
vineyards, this crisp white makes a
perfect accompaniment to many Pacific
Northwest seafood dishes, especially
shellfish. Nose: Clean minerally
aromatics laced with pear, citrus,
lemongrass and honeysuckle. Taste:
Zesty and well cut with a savory herbal
front followed by elegant green apple,
lemon, pear and crushed pebbles. The
racy acidity keeps it lively through the
mid-palate and finishes pure, clean and
dry. $20 —A.V.
W a s h i n g t o n T a s t i n g R o o M . c o m 49