Echolands is M.S./M.W. Doug Frost’s new Walla Walla venture, which includes a vast new vineyard property in the Mill Creek section of the valley. While that and other properties take shape, he’s purchasing fruit from some very impressive sites, like the Riviere-Galets Vineyard in the Rocks of Milton Freewater. This grenache starts off smoky and lean, with red cherry and sour cherry scents, and a whiff of precipitate minerals that hints at the wine’s energy. And it is just that, vibrant, lifted, full of movement, the palate giving off a kind of “essence of Rocks,” exotic and a touch funky even as the wine is notably lighter and brighter than most Rocks bottlings, with a bright tension that’s anomalous and welcome.
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Echolands 2018 Walla Walla Valley Rivière-Galets Vineyard Grenache
$38
Every week, our editors highlight a wine that intrigued them in our blind panel tastings, expanding on their tasting note in this space. These are entirely editorial choices; there are no paid placements. Subscribers can also access the original tasting note by searching here.
Patrick J. Comiskey covers US wines for Wine & Spirits magazine, focusing on the Pacific Northwest, California’s Central Coast and New York’s Finger Lakes.
This story appears in the print issue of February 2020.
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