Friday Find, February 17

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. 

Typically, in order to travel through time, you'd need some sort of Egyptian vortex, or at the very least a flux capacitor and a long straight stretch of road.  It's rare that time travel happens these days at all and if it did, it would probably happen in Utah.  As  you are all aware Utah is a very odd place, and many claim that there is a gap in the space time continum there.  In fact, in 1972, four women who were students at Southern Utah University were on their way back to campus (to make curfew) when they ended up in some sort of futuristic alien world where people drove egg shaped three wheelers, and by people, I mean aliens.  My time travel experience was particularly less exciting and anxiety provoking, well, it was a visit home during the holidays, so not that much less but it did not involve aliens, or egg shaped vehicles or Utah for that matter.  It did involve this week's Friday Find however.


The 2009 Planing Mill Red from the good people at Seven Hills Winery shook up my world and understanding of time travel.  Doing a little research on Al Gore's internet I came upon lots of technical notes regarding the blend for the 2008 Planing Mill Red.  I however had the 2009, I looked at the bottle shot again to confirm it and so upon calling the winery and telling them that I was some schmoe who writes a wine blog from Seattle, "Can you give me the technical sheets or the blend on the 09?"  They said it wasn't out yet.  I said, "Well I disagree I drank it" and she again assured me that the only vintage of the Planing Mill in the Seattle area was the 2008.  I said, well, I actually bought this wine in Pittsburgh.  Her response was that only in Pennsylvania could  you have had the 2009.  (There wasn't enough 08 remaining to match the quantities that the Pennsylvania State Liquor Board wanted to order.)


Besides time travel this wine is a great way to get in  on the ground floor of some of the good work being done over at Seven Hills Winery.  I've seen the wine priced from $13 (which I paid in Pittsburgh) to full retail here in Seattle at $17.  The blend for the 08, which you can get your hands on here in the NW is predominantly Cabernet with Syrah, Malbec, Merlot and Cabernet Franc.  The 09 is slightly different and what I got was aromas of smoke and tobacco along with some warms spice notes.  The palate is lots of comfortable red fruit and baking spices.  This wine is comfortable and drinkable right now, or in the future, which you can travel to by simply going to Pennsylvania. The wine is available broadly in grocery and wine retailers throughout the Northwest and I hear even in that big terrible big box store that pushed 1183 through.  

Posted in: 1183 sux,Friday Find,Planing Mill Red,Seven Hills Winery,Washington wine