The following is the most recent newsletter from Soos Creek Wine Cellars:

Soos Creek Newsletter

 

 

October 14, 2009

 

Dear Friends,

 

Many of you recall that we did not have our annual open house last fall due to the construction of a new house and a bigger winemaking facility. This has been a long and sometimes difficult project, but we are finally ready to share our new facility with you at our fall open house. This event will be on Sat., November 21^st from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Once again, we will offer plenty of finger-foods to go with the six wines to be released at the open house. Also, there were several requests to offer the homemade cookies again. So we will be selling those for a small price. “Cash only” on the cookies would be much appreciated! (Thank you!).

 

We believe 2007 was the Vintage-of-the-Decade in Washington State. The small berry size and nearly perfect weather produced wines that are exceptionally dark, concentrated and well balanced. This vintage was very satisfying for your winemaker because he was able to combine 20 years of winemaking experience with nearly perfect grapes to produce wines we are very proud of.

 

Our “Buy 3 Get One Free” offer for our 2006 wines earlier this year was immensely successful. Many of you were very appreciative and kind enough to refer your friends to our wines. Therefore, we are making a similar offer for our 2007 wines (Please see enclosed order form for details.) The discounted prices will only be effective for orders received through the date of our open house. If you order through our website, www.sooscreekwine.com, we will manually reduce the price for the amount of the discount and for the shipping cost if you decide to pick up your order rather than have it shipped.

 

Champoux Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon – The top Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard in Washington State plus the vintage-of-the-decade, what more could you ask for? We love everything about this wine - the beautiful dark color, the complexity of the delicious flavors, the abundant but unobtrusive tannins and the overall classy style. This wine sold out very quickly last year.

 

Ciel du Cheval Vineyard Bordeaux Blend – This is our favorite vintage from this vineyard since 1999. Deciding on the blend was difficult because they all tasted so good. So to best reflect the character of the vineyard and the vintage, we decided to make this wine in a Reserve style (73% Cab, 18% Cab Franc and 9% Merlot). It is dark, dense and decadent. You can enjoy the wine now but it may need some extra time to become more harmonious. It has the distinctive flavors of raspberries, black currants and stony minerals plus gobs of tannin for its structure. You can look forward to drinking this wine over the next 15+ years.

 

Artist Series #7 – 53% Cabernet Franc and 47% Cabernet Sauvignon. The popularity of Cab Franc has skyrocketed this last year and we’re not surprised. The combination of floral aromas, spicy flavors and softly tannic structure are delicious. The black fruit flavors of the Cabernet Sauvignon harmonize beautifully with the red fruit character of the Cab Franc. This year’s artwork is titled “Harvest Hands” and was created by our son, Kevin Larsen, in collaboration with our label designer, Heckler Associates.

 

Palisade – is a new wine and was inspired by a suggestion from a friend to make a wine in the style of the great Merlots produced in the Pomerol region of Bordeaux. It is 97% Merlot and 3% Cabernet Franc. We were fortunate to source additional grapes from the Champoux, Klipsun and Kiona vineyards for this wine. The delicious flavors are definitely from Washington State but the structure is more serious than the typical Merlot. In fact, we think it has adequate tannin to age quite well.

 

Commander Comet is also a new wine and is 100% Syrah to show off the varietal character of this grape that we sourced from the Boushey, Lewis and Riverbend (source of Fielding Hills’ wines) vineyards. It is made in a racy rather than the more common ultra-ripe style and is distinguished by the nice balance of the fruit, tannin, acid and oak. The whimsical name was coined as a term of endearment by Cecile to describe her winemaker husband during the busy fall winemaking season.  It is probably the most versatile wine we produce because the flavors and level of acidity make it pair well with so many foods.

 

Sundance – This vintage is 73% Merlot and 27% Cabernet Sauvignon and offers the same popular combination of delicious fruit and approachable structure. It is made from grapes sourced from the same vineyards as our other wines. The 2006 vintage rated 90 points in The Wine Enthusiast magazine which stated “It’s what the winemaker modestly describes as his ‘leftovers’ but like the best leftovers it tastes great.”

 

The hours of our open house will be 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on November 21st, 2009. Our new home and winery are only 4 ½ miles from our old location. The new address is

24012 172^nd Ave. S.E. Kent, WA

. 98042. Directions from our old house are:

Go south on

140^th Ave. S.E.

and turn left on S.E. 208^th,

Go to the end of S.E. 208^th and turn right on 148^th Ave. S.E.,

Go approximately ½ mile and turn left on

S.E. 224^th St

.

Go approximately 2 miles and turn right on

172^nd Ave. S.E.

After crossing S.E. 240^th, we are the first driveway on the left.

 

We certainly missed your smiling faces last year. We look forward to seeing you next month!

 

To your health,

 

 

Dave & Cecile Larsen

253-631-8775

 

 

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