Wine & Dine

Tucked away on a quiet corner a few blocks from bustling downtown Walla Walla is Forgeron Cellars. Winemaker Marie-Eve Gilla is one of the growing number of French-born and trained winemakers who have made Washington state their home. With little fanfare, she has been developing vineyard sources, fine-tuning her winemaking, and making excellent, Euro-styled wines.
Gilla arrived in America in the early 1990s, determined to use her French training to make wine in the New World. She started, as most do, with the grunt work — pushing hoses, washing tanks and cleaning barrels. First at Argyle in Oregon, then at Covey Run, Hogue Cellars and Gordon Brothers, while she methodically worked her way up the ladder, building the expertise and street cred that enabled her to find the financial backing to open Forgeron in 2001.
With typical French dedication to cooler vineyard sites, she has sought out those vineyards that could deliver the fruit she wants to make her wines her way.
“I’m really picky,” admits Gilla, who is married to Long Shadows winemaker Gilles Nicault. “I want things just so. I’m still trying to define what will work year in and year out. It’s about the grapes, the site, the relationship with the grower.”
As an example, she points to chardonnay.
“There’s a lot of chardonnay in the world, but not that much good chardonnay,” she candidly admits. “It’s a cash cow.”
Chardonnay, oddly enough, is one of the wines Forgeron has become identified with, along with — believe it or not — zinfandel.
“You can make wine for yourself, whether people like it or not,” says Gilla, “but you have to also see what people like and want and move to that direction. By staying small you are there for your customers and you have to understand what your customers want. So when we see that the chardonnay is doing very well, we’re increasing the production and focusing on being very consistent with it.”
Consistency has been a growing strength of Forgeron wines. The chardonnays are given a rather lush treatment with generous new oak — Gilla’s one experiment (in 2004) with an unoaked style will not be repeated. The 2006 Forgeron “Columbia Valley” Chardonnay ($25) is the best yet, with the unusual component of 2 percent muscat adding some lovely floral highlights to a wine that is solidly anchored in citrus, pear and peach.

Her efforts with zinfandel are in some ways her most ambitious. Zin is not a grape that has much of a history in Washington. Only recently have small plantings begun to go in, mostly in the Columbia Gorge AVA.
Gilla generously poured a complete vertical, beginning with the 2001 — still drinking beautifully at six years of age. Plum, iron, deep blackberry and black cherry flavors are all there, touched with just a hint of herb.
In fact, all six vintages were excellent, showing some changes as vineyard sources were added and allowing for vintage variation as well. For winemakers with Old World training, vintage variation is not something to be pounded out of the wines. Rather, it is something to be nurtured and cherished.
Washington is blessed with almost sure-fire perfect weather during harvest, but the conditions leading up to it vary widely from year to year, so vintners really have the best of both worlds. Gilla’s red wines showcase the nuances of site and vintage quite gracefully.
The most recent Forgeron zins — 2005 ($30) and 2006 (not yet released) — are generous and loaded with delicious primary fruit flavors of berry, strawberry and pie cherry. Acids and tannins are in perfect balance, and the layering of flavors is delightful. Forgeron’s other red wines seem to benefit from extra bottle age — an expensive step for the winery, but one which Gilla has been willing to take.
Particularly recommended are the Forgeron 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon ($30) and the Forgeron 2003 Syrah ($30). An everyday red blend, Walldeaux Smithie ($16) is also produced. Forgeron wines are distributed by Elliott Bay.

Pick of the week
Boom Boom 2006 Syrah, $15. This moderately priced syrah from Charles Smith Wines offers a boatload of flavor and freshness without sacrificing too much depth and complexity. You’ll find plenty of syrah snap and sizzle; blueberry and boysenberry fruit underscored with layers of carefully managed vanilla, tobacco and silky tannins.

Wine adviser: March 18

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