I Betz You Can’t Drink Just One

Washington State is gaining a reputation for making world-class wines and Betz Family Winery is just one of the many wineries here that has made an excellent impression on the wine community. I’m no exception.

I had dinner last night with my previously-mentioned friend that currently lives in China. No, I didn’t go to China last night to have dinner with him; he came here to have dinner with me. Okay, he came here for a business trip, but we did have dinner together last night. We made a deal that whoever arrived at the restaurant first got to order the wine. I arrived at the restaurant first so I had the formidable task of picking the wine, or so I thought. It turned out that the task wasn’t that difficult since the Italian restaurant where we were dining had a very large wine menu, chock-full of mostly Italian wines, and only a handful of Washington wines from which to choose. Since we’re both huge fans of Washington wines, I narrowed it down to two Betz wines, their “La Cote Rousse” and their “La Serenne,” both Syrahs, and asked the server which one she recommended of the two. She suggested the Betz 2004 “La Cote Rousse” Syrah because she’d just tried it recently and she assured me it was really good. I’ve never been steered wrong by any of the servers, and I use that term loosely because they are so much more than that at Serafina, at my favorite restaurant when they’ve recommended a wine, so I took her at her word. She was right on the money.

The Betz “La Cote Rousse” was created by uniting grapes from two Red Mountain vineyards, Scott Williams and Ciel du Cheval and what a perfect union it is! The aromas of this lovely Syrah are a heady sensation, to say the least. The scent of dark fruit waft up and then swirly, swirl and then swirly, swirl some more, and aromas of smoke, bacon fat, and gaminess make their way out of the beautiful juice, partly due to the characteristic of the grape, partly due to time spent in barrel (about 12-13 months), and partly due to plain old fashioned hard work and skill. According to the winemaker’s notes on the Betz Family web site, the 2004 Syrah has more French character than previous vintages. Terrior, anyone?

My friend and I spent many hours lingering over our dinners of lamb and pork, catching up on each other’s lives, while enjoying not one, but two bottles of “La Cote Rousse.” We were both quite happy with the wine choice and it went perfectly with the lamb and pork. I recommend this wonderful expression of one of Washington State’s best dry red wines from one of the best AVAs in eastern WA - Red Mountain.

I “Betz” you can’t drink just one.


The Stats:

What: Dry red – Syrah
Producer: Betz Family Winery
Vintage: 2004
Varietal: Syrah 100%
Alcohol by volume: unknown
Location: Red Mountain AVA, Eastern WA
Cost: $45.00 (double that if you’re purchasing at a romantic, Italian restaurant in Seattle)