09/11/07 Lake Chelan Pt. 2

Welcome to Vine to Wine this is your host Linda Moran. Last week I spent a few days, touring and tasting, on the shores of Lake Chelan. Today we continue our series about this burgeoning wine country. As I mentioned yesterday, Lake Chelan is a very deep lake and is 55 miles long, created by glaciers and fed by mountain snow. As you might imagine a lake that big creates a rather interesting microclimate. The hot sunny summer days and cooler nights are perfect for grape growing. It was the winters with their heavy blanket of snow that made me wonder how this wine country could be possible. However, I was informed, unlike much of Washington wine country, which experiences a frightening killer freeze every six or seven years, the Lake Chelan area freezes like that an average of every seventeen years. As I also mentioned yesterday the white wines were very impressive and many of the reds were equally as good. Although some of the wineries have not yet harvested their own fruit and are still sourcing grapes from outside the region. What I noticed were Gewurztraminer, Chardonnay, Sangiovese and Syrah grown in the area were very good. The un-oaked Chardonnay from Benson Vineyards Estate Winery and Balsamroot Winery were stellar keep an eye out for them. The Gewurztraminer from Tsillan Cellars Winery was to die for and speaking of Tsillan Cellars Winery he Bellisima Rossa was an outstanding example just how promising this new wine region is. The wine is definitely drinking well now but do not hesitate to buy a few extra bottles to hang onto for another day. Join me tomorrow as we continue this series about the Lake Chelan wine region and thank you for joining me on today's Vine to Wine.