Flying Dreams Winery

Unedited

Love the name but I must confess that I thought it had to do with the phenomenon of “flying winemakers.” These winemakers go where the harvest is. In North America, our harvest is September to November whereas in South America it is the opposite during March through May. A good example is Ashley Trout of Flying Trout wines working in Argentina during their crush and Walla Walla during its crush. Flying winemakers rack up many frequent flyer miles stomping grapes.

Alas, however, I discovered the Leroy Radford of Flying Dreams Winery named his winery in reference to taking a leap of faith or “leap and find your wings on the way down” requiring major intestinal fortitude rather than competence speaking Spanish.

Speaking of Spanish, it’s noteworthy that Leroy has a predilection for grape varieties of Spanish origin including tempranillo, granacha and monastrell (aka granache and mourvèdre respectively in France). His just released 2011 Tempranillo relies on grapes from Stone Tree Vineyard, Hedges and Stillwater Creek to create a wine with raspberry and tobacco flavors, soft tannins and lingering finish. Suggestion: try a side-by-side with Oregon’s Abacela Vineyard & Winery’s tempranillo…same grape variety but different terroirs.

Also noteworthy during my visit was the sauvignon blanc which I have been drinking a lot lately. Nicely crisp with lots of pear on the palate this wine really highlighted the Washington’s version of sauvignon blanc. Note: I say “Washington’s version” not as a negative but rather how it is so different from the grassy tart-like sauvignon blanc of New Zealand. I felt that Flying Dreams version of sauvignon blanc would pair with all things summer especially a nice green salad with grilled chicken and gorgonzola cheese. At 19 bones a bottle, I wrote the following entry in my notebook, “Get before they run out!”