Burnt Bridge Cellars 2014 Blend X Red Wine, Walla Walla Valley, $40
Les Collines Vineyard, managed by the McKibben family, has become the breadbasket for a growing number of wineries in the Walla Walla Valley and beyond. Burnt Bridge Cellars in downtown Vancouver, Wash., makes it a focus of its program, including its whimsically named Blend X. Merlot (50%) leads Ben Stuart’s blend, which follows with Cabernet Sauvignon (25%), Cabernet Franc (12.5%) and Syrah (12.5%). There’s hedonism from start to finish, beginning with aromas of vanilla, cocoa powder and toasted oak among cherry and blueberry. The fluid is beautifully balanced as black currant, cherry and blackberry stream through sublime tannins, capped by blueberry, licorice and roasted coffee. For the second straight vintage, Blend X has merited our top rating, and fortunately, production was bumped by more than 30 percent from the 2013 bottling.
Rating: Outstanding!
Production: 195 cases
Alcohol: 15.7%
Burnt Bridge Cellars listed at 15.7% alcohol. You guys palate orientation is showing. Of course maybe there the only one listing actual alcohols. The overly jammy black fruit dominated wines do a disservice to the wines WA could create. This big sappy wines show little to no complexity beyond black fruit. At least step outside your comfort zone and include some wines made in a more elegant refined character. You can certainly qualify that they are a atypical style for most NW consumers might have experienced but at least we can expose people to stylistic differences and maybe change the many people I encounter who dismiss NW red wines because they are so rich and jammy.
Greetings, Jeffrey.
We evaluate every wine blind and enjoy a wide variety of them. In this case, the use of the word “hedonism” is a reference to the voluptuous alcohol of the Blend X. We don’t hide that. And yet, we found this wine balanced to our palates. It’s tasty juice.
Others made by Burnt Bridge Cellars are presented in a similar style, and we’ve enjoyed those, too. True, they might not be as versatile of a food wine as others, but after all, wine is an alcoholic beverage. And we are not the only critics in the U.S. to enjoy a red wine offered in this style.
As you pointed out, there are many styles of wine produced in the Pacific Northwest, and we enjoy sharing our reviews of those wines. Along the way, we publish the listed ABV for each one. As you note, I suspect some wineries are more honest about that stat than others.
In closing, thank you for taking the time to leave a comment and for helping to champion Pacific Northwest wines.
Eric I do appreciate you taking the time, as well, to reply. I will try to acquire the burnt bridge and make my own evaluation only because I am curious as to how you balance 15.7% alcohol. Acid additions must be required.
thanks again.