J Bookwalter Winery, Notebook Red, Colombia Valley, Washington 2023

Now a vintage wine - and we have the 2023.  A great value. 

Overview of the Wine
The story of J. Bookwalter Winery is a story of family heritage, deep roots and a centuries-old commitment to the land. Ten generations of the Bookwalter family have been involved in American agriculture. But it was Jerry Bookwalter, generation nine and father of current company president John Bookwalter, who led the family into viticulture. After graduating from UC-Davis in 1963, Jerry spent 13 years farming in California’s San Joaquin Valley before moving his family in 1976 to the Tri-Cities in Washington State.

Once there, he firmly stamped the Bookwalter name on the state’s nascent wine industry. From 1976 through 1982, Jerry helped manage the plantings of three iconic vineyards – Sagemoor, Bacchus and Dionysus.

Winemaker
Cameron Parry

Grape / Blend
62% Merlot, 21% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Syrah, 4% Malbec, 1% Cab Franc, 1% Petit Verdot

Origin
Colombia Valley, Oregon

Winemaker's Tasting Notes
2023 was a gorgeous vintage for Washington. It provided relative consistency, and balance throughout the year. With a later than usual bud break in late April, it was shaping out to be a cooler vintage similar to 2022. But temperatures kicked up in spring to close the gap and created a relatively advanced bloom in some of our vineyards at the end of May. We saw verasion kick in on around mid-July. Steady temps through Sept-Oct retained phenolic balance throughout the harvesting period.

90 Points - Wine Enthusiast (NV Variety)
There's a lovely sense of purity to the blue fruit aromas of this wine, which are accented by notes of herb, whole green pepper, coffee and cherry. The palate delivering more of the same, with a coffee note linger on the finish. There's a whole lot of quality and value to be had.

Highly Recommended - Ian Blackburn Wine Buyer  
Don't buy this thinking its a $100 dollar wine that we are selling for less than $15 ... buy it because its a really good producer and these are the "leftovers" - nicely blended and guess what - there probably is a $100+ bottle or two blended into this baby to make it sing.  I have carried this for several iterations... the wine is SOLID and for a daily drinker - it doesn't get much better than this.  90 Points - Absolutely... Maybe 91.5!!!

Product size: 750ml