Friday Find October 21

Each Friday we highlight a wine from the Northwest that we think is a real "find." By find we might mean that it's a steal, as all of these wines we'll feature weekly are under $20. We might also mean "Hey, you really need to go find this" and it might be a wine that we feel not enough people know about. In any case, with the weekend pending we're hoping to help you "find" a wine to kickoff the weekend right. We'll tell you a little bit about the wine and try to help you track it down here in the Northwest.

This wine is ridiculous.  I'm serious.  I paid $8.99 for this wine.  The BookMark WA1 NV, or Non-Vintage is Bookwalter's first of this particular wine.  They're selling it for $15 both on-line and in their tasting rooms in both Woodinville and Richland but it can be had for a song during the month of October.  While this is the first rendition of the BookMark, thus the 1, Bookwalter has long been producing some of the best value wine in the free world in their Subplot or formerly Lot wines.  This year's release is the Subplot 25 at $20 retail but you'll often find this wine at the $13-17 price point.  The wines are similarly made, multiple varietals and multiple vintages are selected to produce incredibly drinkable wines at similarly ridiculous low prices.  In fact, I would rate the Bookwalter Subplot wines as probably the most reliable, bang for your buck value wines in the Northwest.  However, with the release of the BookMark, they may have just kicked their own ass.

This under $10 wine contains lots from the 2005 vintage for pete's sake, it's a blend of mostly Syrah, Merlot and Cabernet and  other varietals comprising 11% of the wine.  It's mostly 2008 and in descending order, 09, 10 and 05 through 07.  This is a sweetheart deal.  It's the kinda deal you typically have to know someone to get.  The wine is like sneaking into a party you have no business being at.  You're getting to experience something you really have no business experiencing.  The wine unloads on you aromatically and it's all that barrel age, you'll get toasty chocolate notes and mocha that you probably don't deserve for $9. The wine is rounded and full bodied and it continues to bring you mocha and a smokiness that makes one think they may need to break out that smoking jacket.  But who are you kidding? Only rich people have those, you paid $9 for this remember.  I picked this up at Esquin, but have also seen offers through Full Pull and would imagine it's at a few other "in the know" wine shops throughout the Northwest.

Posted in: Bookmark,Friday Find,J Bookwalter,Washington wine