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Columbia Winery, Yakima Valley (Washington) Wyckoff Vineyard Chardonnay
By Mary Ewing-Mulligan
Jan 3, 2006
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Over the years, I have come to understand that David Lake's finest wines need time to develop.  Sometimes, at large tastings, the long-time winemaker of Columbia Winery has brought along an older vintage of one of his wines to pour alongside the current vintage; tasting the older wines, I gained insight into his younger wines.  They are tightly wound, and become more expressive with age.

When I tasted this 2003 Chardonnay, the tightly-wound character of the wine was not at all an impediment to enjoying it; in fact, it was the very reason the wine caught my attention.  So many Chardonnays today are so generous, so flamboyant, and so sweet that the nervosité of this wine was a welcome relief.  Careful tasting shows that this wine has plenty of concentration of fruit character to lend it substance.

David Lake, winemaker for Columbia Winery, is a Master of Wine and was for many years one of the only MWs in North America (before the MW exams were opened to the wine trade internationally in 1988).  As such, he has been a mentor to me and to other MWs.  He is also considered the dean of winemaking in Washington.  He was the first to make Syrah, Cabernet Franc and Pinot Gris wines there--three varieties that are now popular with the state's winemakers.  He was the first to blend Merlot with Cabernet Franc, in 1987, a practice adapted by numerous other wineries, and he was the first to make wines from individual vineyards and designate them accordingly on their labels. 

A soft-spoken man, David Lake makes soft-spoken wines that you could easily overlook, especially at their relatively modest prices.  But you shouldn't.

The Chardonnay vines in the Wyckoff vineyard are 25 years old and are a small-clustered clone with small berries.  That factor, along with the small crop in 2003 (only 2803 cases made), probably explains this wine's robustness and concentration.  In terms of winemaking, the wine is oaky, in a frank and unapologetic way, with the oak giving a firmness to supplement the wine's high acid crispness and yet not muddling the wine's message.  The oak has a clean, toasty flavor in the wine, even a slight note of caramel, that complements the lemon and green apple flavors of the Chardonnay grapes. 

If you drink this wine now, when it's young, serve it only slightly chilled, and in a large glass, to amplify the wine's character.  Hard cheese brings out a slightly creamy texture in the wine that's lovely.  If you decide to age it, I bet that you'll have no regrets when you open a bottle in five years, or even eight.  Patience must have been a mainstay for David Lake in the early days of Washington winemaking, and it serves his wines well.

Outstanding: 90