Thirty years ago at a trattoria on the isle of Capri, Bill Ward had a lusty homemade red that rocked his world. Ever since this "so that's what wine's all about" moment, he has been seeking similar experiences, always aiming to approach wine with an innocent eye. He's been writing about travel, food and wine for more than a decade and won a James Beard Award in 2004 for a series on Italian regional cuisine. His column, Liquid Assets, runs every Thursday in Taste.
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DiggIt’s (almost) always a lot of fun to spend time with winemakers and winery owners because they (a) usually love what they’re doing, and share that exuberance, and (b) know more about wine than I do, so it’s a great opportunity to learn stuff – especially the wine-geeky stuff.
My time with Michael Meek, subject of today's Liquid Assets, was no exception. Here are some interesting facets of Meek’s winery:
*He's no dilettante. ”I was doing this to have a business, not a hobby. I was looking for 40 to maybe 80 acres.” He bought 135 acres but at this point has only 54 planted with grape vines.
*He found the kind of terrain he was seeking. “The vineyards are southeast-facing slopes, not on the bottom where the heat is baking it.”
*His wines are different from many of those made around him. “Red Mountain wines are very tannic. My wines are a little more feminine, softer.”
*He went with the tried and true. “I wanted to be careful with clones, use something proven, not trendy. I’ve stuck with the proven ones in Washington. They’re all on their own roostsock, so there’s no phylloxera.”
*Like most of eastern Washington, and very much unlike Seattle and environs, it’s quite dry at his vineyards. “We get 8 inches of rain a year. It hasn’t rained for 7 weeks [as of early July] and probably won’t till September. We irrigate, which gives you a lot of flexibility with your canopy.”
*Stuff I didn’t know about grapes: “Grenache is very cold-sensitive; early frost will knock it to the ground. … Syrah grapes sag later in the season, get sponge-like.”
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