In the midst of my food coma (induced by Watershed Cafe), we wandered the streets of Leavenworth in search of an establishment serving terroir influenced libations. The local brewery didn’t intrigue me and the idea of sampling hard alcohol was not appealing either. So we settled on finding the winery we had passed earlier in the day offering chocolate and wine pairings. After walking up and down the streets, it seemed to have disappeared, so we meandered down the stairs to Icicle Ridge Winery instead. The room was cute and not quite country-chic…it was more sophisticated than that, with sceneries of railroads and cedar wood furnishings.
We decided to split a tasting of five wines, starting with two whites. The first was a 2014 Riesling, crisp with notes of honeydew and cantaloupe. Not really anything special, but overall a nice wine. The next white wine was made from grapes on their property; which was only four miles away from Leavenworth in the town of Peshastin. The 2015 Blondes Gewurztraminer was named after the owner’s three blonde daughters and featured three cute blonde angels on the bottle. The marketing didn’t really appeal to me and I thought it was a weird wine to sip on considering our current racially charged political climate…but wine is wine, right? The estate wine tasted even more crisp and refreshing than the previous and was heavy with notes of grapefruit and honey. But for once in my life I was excited to move onto the red wines and away from the whites.
A dark beauty was a nice way to describe a wine that I found much too reminiscent of a smokey scotch filled man den. The notes of tobacco overpowered any of the raspberry notes I should have tasted in the 2015 Romanze Red Blend. Overall, I was not a fan of the pepper-y notes and now consider myself biast against dark wines. The next red, was much more delightful considering it was full of many bright characteristics. The grapes used in this 2014 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon came from their own property as well. One sniff left me so satisfied I almost didn’t want to drink it; the wine smelled purely of berries and I couldn’t stop smelling the delicious aroma. When I finally took a sip and let the blood red wine seep over my tongue, I got notes of earthiness and fresh berry. The wine wasn’t very dry either; this was the clear winner in my perspective and a clear demonstration of terroir. Hopefully, I will be able to venture out to that area again and see their vineyards to get a better understanding of how the Cabernet Sauvignon came to be so wonderfully berry filled, aroma and taste wise.
Finally, we ended our tasting with a Sangiovese Port. Heavy in my mouth and oozing with cinnamon and tobacco notes, I was not a fan. Luckily, my partner enjoyed it and finished off the glass. I sleepily thanked our wine steward and headed back to the car ready for the day to come to an end. Terroir opportunities were everywhere in Leavenworth, as long as you know how to look past the tourist traps.