05/18/07 Collina Bella

Welcome to Vine to Wine this is your host Linda Moran. I received a bottle of wine as a Christmas gift and I recently opened it to share with an old friend. Today I want to tell you about a Tuscan style of wine from of all places Yakima Valley in Washington state! I love Italian wine. I love it because most of the time they focus on giving us a glimpse of the place where the wine is from, I mean the place and the earth. I recently opened a bottle of wine from a Yakima Valley winery with a back label expressing the sentiment that here was a wine that truly expressed its roots so to speak. The grape grower and winemakers states and I quote "This tractable land gives what's needed to bring out those special characteristics and then it is up to me to make the wine my own." And boy did he ever do an outstanding job of making a wine and if this is his own I need to get to know him better. The wine is 84 percent Sangiovese and 16 percent Cabernet Sauvignon. It is truly of the earth and shows full bright fruit. It is gracefully knit and layered and smoothly structured. Its' tannins provide a base for just the right amount of acidity - it was truly balanced. Upon the first sips my friend and I looked up at each other and he simply said "Thank you so much for sharing this with me". The wine was a 2002 Collina Bella made by Dave Minnick at Willow Crest winery and it is truly a "Super Yakima" wine. Cheers to you Dave Minnick, and keep up the good work and thank you for joining me on today's Vine to Wine.