For years I have admired this amazing Washington venture between Marty Taucher and Chris Peterson. Now spanning more than a decade, Avennia has been producing great wines that embody poise, terroir and good richness. Clearly one of the state’s great winemakers, Chris Peterson was formerly DeLille Cellars winemaker for many years prior to starting Avennia. I recently had the chance to meet up with him at a local release party and catch up. He was tasked with creating wines that have a beginning, middle and an end from the very difficult 2020 vintage. Chris has quite frankly knocked these wines out of the park. These are clean wines that you can buy with confidence.
Don’t miss out on the 2020 Avennia ‘Valery’ Red Wine (OB, 95) which is dense and chewy, showing amazing flavor range. Learn more about these special wines at avennia.com Here are my reviews of the two new Avennia wines.
2020 Avennia ‘Valery’ Red Wine- A beautiful blend of 88% Merlot with the remainder Cabernet Franc, this offers ripe dark currants with red florals on the nose with coffee grounds, scorched earth and shades of sagebrush on the nose. The palate is soft, seamless and very clean with no rough edges. Layers of red and dark fruits parade with milk chocolate, garrigue, red bell pepper and black currant jelly. This is seriously good considering the challenges of the vintage. Drink 2023-2030- 95
2020 Avennia ‘Senstina’ Red Wine- The 2020 ‘Sestina’ combines mostly Cabernet Sauvignon (77%) with the remainder Merlot, and Cabernet Franc. The palate is soft and refined with silky tannins that frame a beautiful core of black cherry compote, mocha, tar and black licorice. Very polished wth good length, this is beautiful wine that will cellar well for another eight years. No reason to wait on this beauty. Drink 2023-2030- 94