Mise en place: wine, art, and the folks we choose to gather with
A French term for ‘everything in it’s place’, this phrase has resonated in our thoughts as we worked with Steve Brooks, owner of Trust Cellars, to create this wine to commemorate the beginning of our 29th year and to honor those who helped BELLA along the way.
Sarah Wynn (the local artist responsible for our fabulous windows, the mural on the sidewalk in 2020, and our newest stickers and postcards) is the creator of the 12 paintings chosen for our wine labels. Each case of the BELLA Syrah will include 12 different pieces of art. Our goal was to create a wine that captures the essence of BELLA- of beauty, bounty and gratefulness – and to make every bottle even more memorable with beautiful art. The peaches and blue skies (above) is one of the 12 labels.
The wine: near the rocks and from the hills
Most of the grapes for our Syrah come from Francisca’s Vineyard, just a hop and a skip north of the Oregon border and ‘The Rocks’ District. This tiny (7 acre) Walla Walla vineyard was planted in 2001 at 1000 feet elevation near the base of the Blue Mountains. That elevation meant everything in 2022 as it was above the freeze which decimated a lot of Walla Walla vines. This vineyard is both LIVE certified (low impact viticulture) and Salmon Safe, both indicators of the care and dedication to producing high quality fruit without the mechanical and chemical interventions used in large operations. The soil here is ‘periglacial sediment’ meaning mostly sand and silt with a small amount of clay.
There is also Syrah from ‘The Hills’ (as the Rattlesnake Hills AVA would like to be known) belnded into our wine. Portteus vineyard is one of the oldest in the area near Zillah, Washington- the first vines planted in 1981! ‘The Hills’ are well known for the fact that the ridge (yes, Rattlesnake Ridge) protects the vines from the freezing drafts that waft down from Canada. The elevation is also key to that long, slow development that you’ll taste in the glass – this vineyard is known for its undertones of allspice, black pepper and berries as well as the classic smokehouse and dried roses you’ll often see in Rhone Valley Syrah.
Our tasting notes:
Right out of the bottle, this wine tells the story of it’s ‘place’; the terroir, the weather and gentle winemaking. Our BELLA Syrah captures all of what we’ve come to love about Walla Walla Syrah! Huge floral bouquet, heavy on the violets and sweet, ripe marionberries. Classic notes of anise and a touch of warm vanilla on the finish, deep crimson color – intense and completely opaque. As it develops, berry flavors expand with boysenberry notes and weave themselves together with French herbs including sage. It is gorgeous right now, but as we’ve seen with Steve’s wines, this should continue to improve over the next decade (as will BELLA!)
This wine will have it’s debut on our anniversary, May 14th. Please join us at BELLA Main St. Market in Baker City between 4:30-6:30 to taste our BELLA Syrah and meet Sarah Wynn, the artist.