Morgan Lee, Two Vintners

When it comes to aging wine, most enophiles think about Cabernet Sauvignon, Nebbiolo, and other highly esteemed red grape varieties. Two Vintners winemaker and partner Morgan Lee thinks more attention should be paid to aging white wines, not just around the world but right here in Washington.

“The most memorable wines that I have had in my life have been aged white wines,” Lee says. “If you invest in that a little bit, the payoff is just incredible.”

“I had nobody to ask”

Lee’s history with white winemaking has a story. He started Woodinville’s Two Vintners in 2007. Within a few years, he decided that he needed a white wine to offer his wine club members and restaurant partners. But what variety to make?

“I thought, ‘I need to do something that nobody is doing, and I’ve got to do it well,’” Lee says.

Thinking through varieties, Lee quickly discarded Chardonnay given the crowded market. Riesling also seemed well-covered.

The idea of making a Grenache Blanc came while Lee was running. He had tried Grenache Blanc from Washington’s McCrea Cellars. (McCrea Cellars and winemaker Doug McCrea pioneered numerous Rhone varieties in Washington, partnering with Boushey and Ciel du Cheval vineyards.) Two Vintners was already heavily focused on Rhône varieties and worked with Boushey fruit, where the variety was available.

In 2010, Lee started making a varietal Grenache Blanc using fruit from Boushey Vineyard. He blended it with a small percentage of Roussanne from Olsen Vineyard and has ever since. With almost no one in the state working with the variety at the time, Lee was largely on his own in terms of picking decisions, fermentation, and aging.

“I had nobody to ask, so I just figured it out,” he says.

“Grenache Blanc probably put me on the map”

Boushey Vineyard Grenache Blanc, courtesy Two Vintners

Over the years at Two Vintners and Covington Cellars, where Lee also serves as winemaker and partner, Lee has made a variety of white wines. Still, it’s the Two Vintners Grenache Blanc that changed things for the winery.

“If I look back at 17 years, I would say Grenache Blanc probably put me on the map more than any other thing I did,” Lee says. “It gained me access to restaurants I was looking to get into. It gave me critical writeups because it was this completely different thing.”

Lee says that what makes Washington such an exceptional place for red wines – and for making wines that age – applies to white wines as well. The Columbia Valley has large differences between daytime high temperatures and nighttime lows, referred to as a diurnal shift. The warm days provide ripe fruit flavors while cool nights preserve natural acidity.

“[Washington white wine grapes] maintain a really high level of acidity if you’re diligent,” Lee says. “There’s this really fine line, especially in Rhône varieties.”

Lee picks his Grenache Blanc in two passes, with the first providing more acidity and the second more flavor. Initially, Lee fermented and aged the wine in stainless steel. Now it is done in barrel.

“Back then, we didn’t have the money to spend on new French oak barrels for white wine,” Lee explains.

“‘I want to be able to do that’”

Lee was inspired to age his own white wines by tasting an older bottle of Chaleur Blanc from DeLille Cellars, a Woodinville producer. The wine was approximately eight years past vintage.

“It was incredible, and I thought, ‘I want to be able to do that,” Lee says. Lee had also had older white wines from McCrea Cellars.

Lee’s mention of McCrea in particular resonated with me. I recently tried a 1997 McCrea Chardonnay that owner Bob Neel had given me. While Neel said that the wine was shining, I was somewhat skeptical. A 26-year old Washington Chardonnay?

When I opened it, the wine proved me wrong. It was completely mesmerizing.

It begged the question, had I too been selling Washington white wines short in terms of their aging potential? Certainly, I’ve had older bottles of the DeLille Chaleur Blanc, Chateau Ste. Michelle & Dr. Loosen Eroica Riesling, L’Ecole No. 41 Semillon, and others that have been outstanding. Still, my general recommendation has been to drink most Washington whites in the first few years after release. Should I reconsider that?

Lee’s aged white wines

This summer, Two Vintners conducted a tasting of aged, white wines for the winery’s customers. Lee and I subsequently had a private tasting where we tasted an assortment of his aged whites.

We started with a 2010 Covington Cellars Sauvignon Blanc-Semillon blend. It was texturally rich and compelling, showing age but one would never guess that the wine was 14 years old. There was still plenty of time ahead of it as well.

Next was a 2014 Two Vintners Roussanne. It was also sensational, rounded and rich, with notes of lemon curd and lees. The aging certainly added aromatic and flavor complexities.

We then turned our attention to three Two Vintners Grenache Blancs from the 2013, 2014, and 2015 vintages. Notably, these were all hot years for Washington – not necessarily what one would associate with ideal conditions for producing ageable white wines. I actually thought that each of these wines showed even better than they had on release.

We finished with a 2012 and 2014 Two Vintners O.G. Gewurztraminer, an orange wine. The 2012 was positively singing from the mountaintops. It was one of the most thrilling Washington white wines I’ve ever had (though truly an orange wine).

“[Washington] can make whites wines that age”

Overall, my tasting of these and other aged white wines convinced me that I should cellar more Washington whites. Of course, in doing so, variety and winemaker intent need to be considered. So does palate preference. As with red wines, some people enjoy the development and nuances of aged whites. For others, youthful vibrancy is more to their taste.

Lee, meanwhile, knows he’s tilting at windmills extolling the potential for aged white wines from Washington. However, that’s his style.

“My personality is, I really like making wines to change people’s minds about what Washington wine should be or what wine in general should be,” Lee says.

The battle to get consumers to age their white wines is surely uphill. Still, Lee believes that the logic of doing so is unassailable.

“It does stand to reason, if we make world-class wine in Washington State, we can make wines that age, and we can make whites wines that age,” Lee says. “But nobody ages Washington white wines except for geeks like me that are making them.”

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