Seven Hills dinner with Erik Mcglaughlin at Cafe Maxx

Wine is older than history. Humans didn't invent wine. We discovered it.

PHILIP SELDON, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Wine

There is nothing more exciting than the discovery of a great new wine, well may be discovery of one of the world's established wineries that no one knows about... And that is why I have been traveling to Washington State the last few years to get acquainted not only with the hundreds of new exciting wines that are coming from this one of the leading viticultural regions of the wine world but to reacquaint myself with some of the iconic wines like Seven Hills Winery.

Seven Hills Winery has been around since 1988 and they are considered to be one of the founding wineries of the Walla Walla wine region located in the old Waterhouse Cooper Building in the historic downtown area, they are a must stop if you are visiting the Walla Walla wine region of Washington State. 

We have been there several times and we have done as many dinners with Casey as well as Erik in fact it seems that we have each one of these guys in to do a dinner every year.  That's a Seven Hills Winery dinner every 6 months!!
 Join us as we experience the new releases from this winery along with a special five course tasting menu prepared by Chef Oliver Saucy.  They fee for this tasting is $85 + tax + gratuity, for reservations call 954-782-0606.

Seven Hills Wine Dinner with Erik Mcglaughlin at Cafe Maxx
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
7:30pm

Pass arounds

Apple and crab filo purses
Kaffier lime sea scallops
Poached pear and brie fondue

Seven Hills Winery Old Vine Riesling 2013
Price: $14.50       Sale $12.76          Case $148

2013 was one of the warmer vintages in Northwest winegrowing history. Fortunately, it concluded with a long, mild fall with just enough moisture to give fully ripe berries offering optimal balance and flavor. This wine comes from some of Washington’s oldest, hand farmed Riesling vines. We fermented with Steinberg yeast, after gentle pressing and settling, at very cool temperatures exclusively in stainless steel.

Light straw in color, the nose reveals golden apple, white peach, lime leaf, baking spice, and abundant minerality. The palate has a rich density of ripe citrus, pear, and stone fruit flavors with hints of spice and stoniness. The wine is refreshingly balanced with a hint of residual sugar and bracing natural acidity. The impression is neither sweet not entirely dry, but of a wine in balance. Delicious at release, the wine is deceptively cellar worthy, capable of aging more than ten years from vintage date.

First Course
Florida hog snapper gremolata, apple sausage & bread pudding, tarragon citrus butter, almond green beans

Seven Hills Winery Pinot Gris Oregon 2013
Price: $15.75    Your Price: $13.86

Melrose vineyard in the umpkua Valley but they just use Oregon label. Very fresh style with green apple fruit, wet stone like minerality.with notes of white flowers. Fresh and light on the tongue with a dry finish, short but clean. Finish 25 Very Good

Second course

Berry glazed Wagyu flank steak over sundried cherry and foie gras tarlette with Swiss chard

Seven Hills Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Columbia Valley 2013
Price: $27.00       Sale $23.76          Case $276

Since our first planting in 1980, our central focus at Seven Hills has been growing and making Cabernet Sauvignon that expresses the unique terroir of our region. This wine is drawn from some of the best small, hand farmed vineyards, carefully selected from our favorite sub-AVAs of the Columbia Valley. We believe this wine expresses the unique personality of Cabernet Sauvignon from our region - generous and pleasing, yet well-structured and powerful. After careful vinification in small, open top fermenters, the wine was aged for 18 months in a selection of French, American, Hungarian, and Russian oaks which contribute a broad spectrum of baking spices to the aroma. The wine has generous and supple red cherry, currant, and raspberry fruit character accented with sarsaparilla, vanilla cream, coffee, cinnamon, violets and pie crust notes. The wine is well framed by firm but fine grained tannins, adding nice earthy character and distinctive cabernet “grip”. It is rich and accessible at release, but has the underlying tannin to improve for 4-6 years from vintage date, and is capable of cellaring up to 10 years.
Third course

Duck leg confit, plum and currant chutney, vanilla butter brioche crostini and roasted turnip

Seven Hills Winery Walla Walla Merlot 2013
Price: $33.00       Sale $29.04          Case $337

This wine is drawn from the original Merlot block at Seven Hills Vineyard that I planted with my father in the summer of 1982. This vintage marks the 25th year I have been making Merlot from these same vines.

The wine exhibits a beautiful, dense, ruby color and pungent, enticing aromas of plum chutney, cinnamon, marzipan, mocha, and a hint of iron-ore minerality. The palate is supple and generous with loads of rich red plum, currant, vanilla cream, baking spice, desert herbs, and dusty tannins. The finish is lush and lingering with a lovely balance and well integrated but firm tannins, ripe red fruits, and spice. As with all our reds from the 2012 vintage, it is delicious now and it will cellar well for an additional 5-7 years from release.

Fourth course

Deconstructed coffee & Valrohna dusted lamb chop empanada
mole sauce, grilled chayote & corn and jack cheese

Seven Hills Winery Ciel du Cheval Red Mountain 2012
Price: $42.00    Your Price: $36.96

This wine is our 12th vintage from the famed Ciel du Cheval Vineyard on Red Mountain, one of the oldest and most proven vineyards in the Northwest. Each varietal was picked and vinified separately, though blended very early during the winter succeeding harvest. The wine goes back to barrel for an additional year and half before bottling. We believe that this early assemblage allows for the wine to be less a composed wine of its varietal parts and more a singular representation of place.

The wine is a deep violet color, transitioning through purple to magenta around the edges. The nose is heavy and brooding, displaying fresh baked cherry pie with hints of musk, pine, and toast. The palate is full and clean, with well delineated fruit, tannin, and acid components. The dusty tannins are substantial, but well integrated and sufficiently balanced with rich flavors of baked cherry, coffee, graham, white pepper, and a hint clay-like earth tone. As with all our reds from the 2012 vintage, it is delicious now and it will cellar well for an additional 5-7 years from release.

2011 Seven Hills Malbec Walla Walla Valley
Price: $25.50

We have been producing Malbec for over a decade now, and were the first to do so in the Walla Walla Valley. We have since come to believe that southern edge of the Walla Walla Valley is one of the rare places in the world where Malbec reaches its full potential, with sufficient heat for ripening, but with cool nights preserving a bit of structure.

After careful vinification in small, open top fermenters, the wine was aged for 16 months in primarily Hungarian oak contributing a unique pungency and firmness that works particularly well with Malbec’s character . The wine is dark and brooding with intense color and warm, sweet fruit. There is an intense concentration of blackberry jam, fig, date, and black cherry fruits complimented by white pepper and desert herbs that linger through an long, persistent finish. This wine should reward cellaring of 3-5 years from vintage date, yet is capable of cellaring for up to 8 years.

Dessert
Dark chocolate pie with macerated fruit and warm chocolate sauce

The dinner is $85 + Tax + Gratuity, for reservations call 954-782-0606.

A bit about Seven Hills Winery:

Washington state is one of the most exciting regions of the country when it comes to high quality wines.  I made my first pilgrimage there for the Washington State Wine Auction in August of 2012 and had such an amazing trip I have already made plans to go back again next year.  The scene here is what I remember the Napa Valley Wine Auction to be like 20 years ago.  All of the states big stars were there and accessible, the food was amazing and our group could actually afford to buy stuff in the live auction!

One of the best line-up of wines that I have tasted from Washington State this year is from Seven Hills Winery.  Established in 1988, Seven Hills Winery is one of Walla Walla Valley's oldest and most respected wineries.  Guided by founder, winemaker and fourth generation farmer, Casey McClellan, Seven Hills Winery crafts an acclaimed portfolio of vineyard-designate and appellation-inspired wines.  Focusing on benchmark Cabernet Sauvignons and Bordeaux-varietal reds from the Red Mountain and Walla Walla Valley AVAs, the wines of Seven Hills have played an important role in establishing the region's reputation for world-class winemaking, and are recognized as some of the finest wines in the Northwest.

Located in the foothills of the Blue Mountains, in the southeastern corner of Washington, Walla Walla Valley is home to Seven Hills winery, and their McClellan Estate Vineyard.  With roots deep in the community, Casey’s longtime relationships with the region's winegrowers ensure Seven Hills access to the best fruit - from the coveted "Old Blocks" of Seven Hills Vineyard to such respected sites as Windrow, Minnick and Double River Ranch.  Benefiting from a unique temperate microclimate, and deeper, silt-based soils, vineyards in this highly regarded appellation are at the heart of their Bordeaux-varietal program, which consistently produces food-friendly wines notable for their complex structure and graceful sophistication.

Since being founded in 2003, McClellan Estate Vineyard has quickly emerged as one of Walla Walla Valley's elite sources for Bordeaux-varietal grapes.  Directly adjacent to Seven Hills Vineyard, which Casey helped to plant in 1982, McClellan Estate has deep silt-loam soils, and is planted to Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot.  As part of the vision that guides McClellan Estate, the vineyard is LIVE and Salmon Safe certified, and also meets the criteria for VINEA sustainable growing.  These estate grapes contribute powerful aromatics, elegant structure, and intense fruit notes to the Pentad blend and Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.

In 1989, Seven Hills began looking for distinctive vineyards in microclimates outside the Walla Walla Valley AVA.  Their exploration brought them to Klipsun Vineyard on the slopes of Red Mountain, and later to the renowned old vines of Ciel du Cheval.  In fact, their commitment to Red Mountain predates its designation as a unique appellation by a dozen years.  With warmer temperatures, southwest facings and shallow soils, the grand cru-caliber vineyards of Red Mountain offer a singularly powerful expression of Washington winegrowing, consistently producing some of the most intense fruit in their portfolio.  Seven Hills has produced an unbroken line of Klipsun Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignons going back to the 1991 vintage.

The Columbia Valley American Viticultural Area is one of the world's greatest geological structures, a gorge formed when a huge ice dam broke and the Missoula Floods carved the river valley in a giant cataclysm of water and ice which covers two states, as a result, the Columbia Valley AVA exists in both Oregon and Washington, and grapes grown in either state can bear the name of the same AVA.

Encompassing nearly half of the state of Washington, the Columbia Valley AVA embodies the depth and diversity of Washington winegrowing, and is widely regarded as the home to North America's greatest Riesling vineyards.   At Seven Hills Winery, they work with approximately 12 top vineyards in five of the AVA's sub-appellations (Yakima Valley, Red Mountain, (Wahluke Slope), Snipes Mountain and Walla Walla Valley), with sites that encompass a range of elevations, microclimates and soils. Working with this expansive palette of fruit, their Columbia Valley wines, both red and white, have earned a reputation for their layered appeal and exceptional value.   True Washington State wines, they offer excellent fruit expression and elegant acid balance.