As we look to 2010, we will have a few new wines to introduce this year. In addition to our Les Collines Syrah, we will unveil our 2008 Patina Vineyard Syrah. Located in the heart of Walla Walla Valley.

We had the honor of sourcing both Cabernet and Merlot from Red Mountain this year. This will be our first time to work with this fruit here at Tertulia. What it will manifest itself as, is yet to be determined. However, Quentin says the fruit is showing well and as he works with it, the fruit will make its destiny known to him. It’s possible we might have a Red mountain label! Stay tuned!

This last fall we released our 2007 Lonesome Springs Grenache for the first time. To say it was a hit, is an understatement.  The first showing was at the Fall Release Weekend. It was also included in the fall wine club shipment. The Grenache was the first look at the new label. We made 25 cases in total of this wine and less than 4 remain.  Do not delay in ordering if you are interested and enjoying this yummy addition to the portfolio.

Our 2008 Ice Wine was another highlight this year. This wine is exotic, alluring and downright delicious.  We are still waiting to see if we will have another Ice Wine this year but so far the weather has not stayed cold enough for long enough. We definitely would welcome another labeling but only Mother Nature can make that decision. 

In the 2009 vintage, we almost doubled our production here at Tertulia Cellars. We are producing about 4500 cases and feel comfortable staying at this level at least for a few years. This will secure amounts of our most desired and top requested labels. This will also allow us to extend more market presence outside of Walla Walla. 

As we told you earlier this fall, we were honored with a placement on Paul Gregutt’s Top 100 Washington Wines and came home with multiple awards at Portland NW Food and Wine Festival. We are excited to share the most recently announced awards we have received from The Wine Enthusiast.

91pts. 2007 Les Collines Syrah Walla Walla $30

In closing…

So today I sit at my desk excited to write this last letter of 2009. I am looking at the fresh 3 inches of snow that fell over night. My window faces the beautiful blue mountains that line the east side of the Walla Walla bowl. The sun is shining from the western sky. There looks to be another front coming in from the east. Maybe more snow is on its way. It is just gorgeous. I for one, am very grateful for this life and look forward to sharing with  you more fun enterprises from Tertulia Cellars in 2010.

To your heart and health, Cheers!

Summer is in full swing here and the Tertulia gang is trucking right along with it. The berries are well on their way now after a cool spring and just as the seasons change so do things in a winery. Many of you may already know that our beloved winemaker Ryan Raber has moved on to another project. Ryan’s passion and attention to detail has been an integral part in the success of Tertulia Cellars. His hard work and talent shows off in our wines and we’ll be enjoying Ryan’s wines at Tertulia Cellars through the 2008 vintage. Ryan is truly one of the greats! We are very grateful for all the passion and love Ryan put into the wines at Tertulia. We wish much success and happiness to Ryan and his family in their new adventure. You will be missed. Cheers Ryan!

With that said, we have two new faces to introduce you to; Our new Winemaker, Quentin Mylet and new Sales and Marketing Director, Stevie Johnson. Check out our Bio's.

Hello Dedicated Tertulia Fans, 

Hope this finds you all well. Today I am quite content. From where I am sitting the sun is shining on the Blue Mountains with not a cloud in the sky. A walk through the vineyard reveals newly formed leaves. The world around me has turned green, and I am happy.

In times like these it’s important to look at the good things in life. For me that means looking for any excuse to celebrate. Just last night as we were finishing up work the thought occurred to us, let’s have a BBQ. So we did, for no other reason than it was nice out. I headed home and grabbed my wife and baby. Soon we were prepping everything at Jordan’s. There was salsa, guacamole, whisky burgers (oh sooo good!), and lots of wine. The usual suspects were there. We laughed and told stories for hours. Later that evening we all left with smiles on our faces, knowing that we will do this many times in the spring and summer.

You don’t need lots of money to have a good time. Just bring a dish, and a bottle of wine. Enjoy the company of your friends and family, your circle of friends, your Tertulia! If you need that perfect wine for the BBQ, you know where to look, and we will be happy to help you pick one out!

Here are notes on the new Rosé, which might I add should go well with many a summer meal.

2008 Columbia Valley Rosé du Mourvèdre
This wine has aromas of crème brulée, strawberry rhubarb, and ruby red grapefruit juice. Nice bright acidity transforms into a creamy mouth feel on the finish.
Price: $16.00


Cheers!

Ryan Raber
Tertulia Cellars
Winemaker

Hello my fellow oenophiles,

We are gearing up for another great year at Tertulia Cellars. With winter finally past us we are occasionally looking towards that bright orb in the sky. Growing up on the wet side of the state, I sometimes forget how much nicer the weather is in Walla Walla. This past week and a half has brought more sunlight and warmer temperatures. Everyone has been whispering about when we will have bud break in the vineyards. We are already out there in full force getting ready for the 2009 vintage. Our Whistling Hills Estate Vineyard has been pruned, and we are expecting our first crop this year. Planting of our vineyard on the rocks should be well underway by the first of April. A special thanks to Ryan Driver our Vineyard Manager for accomplishing so much over the winter and early spring.

We have been hopping along in the winery as well. In late January we bottled our third vintage of Les Collines Syrah. Last week we bottled the Lonesome Spring Ranch Viognier and our 2008 Rosé Du Mourvèdre. In an ongoing effort, we have managed to keep our Viognier and Rose low in alcohol with nice, crisp acidity. I can honestly say this is our best vintage of Viognier, I know I said that last year, but the wines keep getting better. In late spring we plan on bottling the 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sobra, and Carmenère. These wines will all have seen 18-19 months in French oak barrels. I am very pleased with the concentration and balance of the 2007 vintage. I can't wait to share some of these wines with you.

The 2006 vintage continues to develop in bottle. So far the Cabernet Sauvignon, Sobra and Malbec are the ones I look at as a long term investment. These wines will grow and mature over the next 10 years. The Pepper Bridge Merlot, Les Collines Syrah, and Les Collines Tempranillo are tasting great now and will age well for the next 3-5 years.

We have some exciting events lined up for this spring, and we hope to see you all there. See below for a list of upcoming events!

Cheers,
Ryan Raber
Tertulia Cellars
Winemaker

Optimism is the word I feel appropriate to describe the New Year. A few weeks ago I had dinner over at one of my friend’s; he passed out some buttons printed with the word optimism. It made me reflect on how much I have to be thankful for and what I have to look forward to over this next year.

On a personal note this last year my wife and I saw the arrival of our daughter Sofia. She has grown so much these last six months. Maybe I am biased but I think she is the cutest baby in the world. Every day I am amazed at the new things she discovers; it is exciting to see the world through her eyes, and I look forward to seeing her grow.

Professionally I've been excited with the completion of our new production facility. I have a full harvest under my belt in the new place and the wines are turning out better than I could have hoped for, which is saying something! We had a lot of fun events this past year, saw a lot of friends of the winery and made many new ones. Our wines have received many accolades, and also praise from the most important people (you, our customers), who buy up many of the wines before they ever get reviewed. With that said, I foresee another great year. We have some amazing wines lined up for 2009 and more great events where I anticipate seeing many of you.

A few things I am excited about for these next few months would be our two new releases in February and our second annual paella dinner! Last year we released our first Tempranillo which recently made it into Paul Gregutt’s Top 100 Best Washington Wines. I am delighted to say that the second Tempranillo resembles our first but with a more rounded mouthfeel. Limited quantities were produced – only about 70 cases. Another release I am thrilled about is our first ever Malbec. I can’t tell you how many people stop by the tasting room asking if we do a Malbec. I reply we have two vintages in bottle but our wine club gets the first crack at it. We only made 49 cases in 2006. It spent 20 months in barrel and ten months in bottle before its release date. The Malbec has the classic bright fruit and white pepper nose indicative of Malbec. It is certainly a palate-pleaser!

Our kick off for these two wines will be the Paella Dinner held February 7th out at our winery. We have enough room in my paella pans to cook for 28 people. I also have a new Paella burner which I am totally psyched about using! See below for more info! Club Members can also pick up wines that day, and we will have apps from 4:00pm - 5:30pm with dinner starting at 6:00pm.

Happy New Year!
May this be your best year yet and each one to follow better than the last!

Cheers,

Ryan Raber
Tertulia Cellars
Winemaker

We are brought the last of our fruit in today! The first few weeks of harvest are usually the most difficult. Remembering how to use equipment you haven't touched in ten months. Working out the logistics and figuring out the new harvest. This was all compounded for us with breaking in a new facility and equipment. Everything is now running smoothly like a well oiled machine. We have over half our fruit in and will bring the rest in the next few weeks. Everything looks great so far. Word on the street was that we would have a late harvest but that has not been the case. I was out in the vineyards early and was amazed how quickly we caught up. Three weeks of awesome weather can do that. I think in some cases we have been a bit early like we were last year. Again the grapes have been wonderfully balanced coming into the winery. Washington is truly a remarkable place to grow grapes. Year after year we have great vintages.

A few things besides harvest that I am excited about are our upcoming releases. Both the Cab and the Carmenère are my favorite wines we produced in 2006. I know, I know all the wines are like my children but these two have shown the greatest potential. The 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon from the Horse Heaven Hills, 84% Cabernet Sauvignon and 16% Merlot aged in 100% new French Oak barrels for 19 Months. This wine is also unfined and unfiltered. Elegance defines this wine with complex aromatics of dark cherries, currant, mint, vanilla and spice. The mouth-feel has fine grain tannins and a wonderful mid palate. This wine is definitely age-worthy! Not to be outdone, Cab's close cousin, our Carmenère is a big wine. Definitely the fullest bodied wine we produced in 2006. Originally Carmenère was called Grande Vidure in Bordeaux but a little over 100 years ago it was thought to have gone extinct, when a pest nearly wiped out all the grapes in Europe. Recently it was rediscovered in Chile where it was mixed up with Merlot. Now it has found its way to Washington State, and I think the best site for it to grow, up on Phinny Hill overlooking Champoux Vineyard. Our 2006 Phinny Hill Vineyard Horse Heaven Hills Carmenère is 90% Carmenère, 5% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 5% Merlot. Aged for 19 months in 50% new and 50% used French oak barrels. Unfined and unfiltered. Rich and full in the mouth with soft lush tannins. On the nose you'll find tanned leather, mole spices and smoke.

Come join Tertulia Cellars the first full weekend in November for the release of these two special wines. Dick Beightol, my good friend and the grower for Phinny Hill we be present signing the bottles with me. We will also be conducting tours of our newly broken in facility.

Ryan Raber
Tertulia Cellars
Winemaker

Harvest is only weeks away. I can hardly wait to use all my new toys in the cellar. This will be our first year in the new production facility. We have 16 stainless steel temperature controlled tanks, a new destmer, sorting table and my favorite our new press. Our press is a thing of beauty, though it was quite a daunting task getting it into our cellar. So difficult in fact that I forced my friend out of bed to come down and help me. After an hour of scratching our heads, we brought in a special forklift with a boom so we could lift if off the trailer it came on. Now it sits in its shinning glory waiting its first pressing, most likely with Roussanne or Viognier grapes.

Speaking of grapes things are looking good in the vineyards. Bud break was delayed this year due to the unusually cool spring. Looks like we are close to caught up, at least enough that I can sleep at night, (lie, my new born daughter won’t let me sleep). Some exciting things going on in our vineyards this year, we will be getting a new source of Syrah from here in the Valley, still secret squirrel vineyard name to come soon. In other news our estate vineyard looks wonderful and we excepting our first year of production from the vines next year. The new plantings include 2 acres of Tempranillo. I know how much you all loved the Tempranillo, so we will be making more!

Earlier this year we released our first Tempranillo. A total of 62 cases were made, which flew out the door. We just bottled the second vintage of about 73 cases. Release is set for next February to be joined by our first 50 cases of Malbec! I get so excited about our specialty wines! Not to be out done however, the 2006 Sobra and 2006 Pepper Bridge Merlot are ready to be released.

Cheers!
Ryan Raber
Winemaker

Its a girl!!!

After months of anticipation my wife and I have our first child. Her name is Sofia Guida Raber. She was born June 17th 2008 at 10:35 am. She is 7 lbs. 10 oz, and 20 inches long. Dark hair like my wife and big feet like me. She took to feeding like a barracuda. We brought her home the next day. She rules our little happy home with her cries of hunger. Mom is recovering well, already back to her pre pregnancy weight. She takes care of little Sofia while I take care of her, making sure Mom is well rested and fed. We couldn't be happier than we are now.

Meanwhile things are progressing at the winery. Our new facility is finished.

We bottled and labeled the rest of the 2006 wines down in the cellar. I have opened a few bottles and they are bouncing back quickly from what we call bottle shock. Imagine being forced through a hose into a bottle and corked, you might be in shock too! A little more time in bottle and the 2006 Sobra will be ready for its August release. The composition on the Sobra is 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Merlot, 15% Malbec and 7% Petit Verdot. Also the 2006 Pepper Bridge Merlot is picking up a wonderful bouquet. Cherries and mints on the nose, 95% Merlot 5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 100 % French oak! Limited quantities on both these wines!

Cheers,

Ryan Raber

Winemaker/New Daddy

Tertulia Cellars

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Burr, what a chilly start to spring! We had snow all over the state a few days before April. I have confidence that Mother Nature will bless us with sun and warm weather in the near future. The weather, however, has not slowed us down here at the winery.

Ryan Driver, our new vineyard manager has made leaps and bounds in our estate vineyard. He has planted our cover crop and put the trellis system in for our newest block. Just to the South of our building we are planting Cabernet Sauvignon which will complement the Merlot we planted last year.

Christina and I have been on the road these past few months pouring our wines across the state. It was nice seeing many of you and I look forward to seeing many more of you this Spring Release weekend.

Speaking of Spring Release Weekend, we are releasing of our 2006 Walla Walla Valley, Les Collines Vineyard Syrah (only about 250 cases were produced of this delicious wine). Using just 17% new oak helped highlight the finesse of the Les Collines Syrah. When I was preparing the tasting notes on this wine I was impressed with how complex it turned out. The first whiff of this wine brings on aromatics of blue berry preserves and black berries, followed by scents of violets, rosemary and sage. The nose finishes with smoked game. On the pallet, balanced acidity gives way to velvety tannins and a smooth finish.

We are pre-releasing the 2007 Viognier to our wine club just before Spring Release Weekend (only 197 cases were produced of this treat). We will officially release it to the world sometime this summer. I have to admit that the 2007 Viognier is our best yet. On the nose, it delivers a bouquet of lavender, mandarin zest, pears and stone fruits. On the pallet it transforms from a balanced acidity to a well integrated minerality.

Every once in a while an opportunity to make a little different style of wine comes along that is impossible to pass up. This last harvest we got one ton of Mouvèdre grapes in. This is often blended in with the red wines of the Rhône region of France but it also makes for a great rosé. With that one ton of grapes, we produced 49 cases of our Rosé du Mouvèdre. It is pink in color with aromas of white pepper, fresh strawberries licorice and cranberries. A nice biting acidity transforms into a creamy mouth feel on the finish. This will be a must with the hot days yet to come and great to take on a picnic. I like it with roast beef sandwiches!

Our new production facility is nearly finished. We are expecting to move in the middle of the month. The cat walks are already in place and the tanks are in.  I can hardly wait to move into my new playground! Mountain States Construction Company has done a great job, many thanks to them! With the new facility we will continue to grow the quality of our wines. Below is a picture of the back side of the new facility.

Look for me in the next few months at the Wine Highway in Woodinville, May 24^th and 25^th and at Jazz in the Valley in Ellensburg July 26^th.

Cheers,

Ryan Raber

Tertulia Cellars

Winemaker

New Spring Releases!

Available May 1, 2008

2006 Les Collines Walla Walla Valley Syrah

Price: $30.00

Club Price: $27.00

Club Quarterly Case Price: $24.00/bottle

Tasting Notes

The first whiff of this wine brings on aromatics of blue berry preserves and black berries, followed by scents of violets, rosemary and sage. The nose finishes with smoked game. On the pallet, balanced acidity gives way to velvety tannins and a smooth finish.

2007 Rosé du Mourvèdre

Price: $16.00

Club Price: $14.40

Tasting Notes

This wine has aromas of white pepper, fresh strawberries licorice and cranberries. Nice biting acidity transforms into a creamy mouth feel on the finish.

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Ok, it has been a full month and I have yet to get pictures of our very first Wine Club dinner on the site!  I know, it's unforgivable...Here are some pictures of our first Paella Dinner! I will let the pictures speak for themselves...needless to say it was fun and yummy and sure to be a yearly event with the release of the Tempranillo. 

Cheers!

Christina 

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Ahhh it is good to be back!

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I recently attended the Northwest Food and Wine Festival in Portland, Oregon, and I must say it was quite a fun time! 

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I am dubbing this vintage “the year of the Bee”.

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Harvest has begun with a vengeance.

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Happy Birthday Ryan!!! 

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June was tremendously busy here at Tertulia Cellars.

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Hello Everyone,

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Our Furniture has finally arrived,

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In the Tasting Room...

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We have had such a busy winter here in Walla Walla we barely noticed the telltale signs that spring has finally sprung.

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