This past weekend I attended a world-class dinner and tasting of Bryant Family wines, hosted by Carrie and Todd Alexander at Atelier Freewater, their new fancy tasting room in Milton-Freewater. The space is very modern and has plenty of room for parties and a large kitchen. The dinner was put on by Eight Row, a Michelin-star worthy restaurant in Green Lake, Seattle.

We had champagne to start and celebrate the ten years that Todd Alexander has been making wine in Washington State. He has taken the Washington wine scene by storm by his captivating wines by Force Majeure, WeatherEye and others.

Champagne was complimented by a beautiful and spicy crudo, as well as steak tartare bites. The first course was a beet salad which paired with the first Bryant Family bottling.

There were several food highlights. The duck was magically cooked and was soft and beautifully textured. The steak dish was also world-class and was well-seasoned, with a beautiful presentation of the celery root puree. That dish had so much beautiful flavor.
Todd and Carrie had graciously purchased two mags — the 2012 and 2013 Bryant Family Cabernets. These wines were each 100 point bottlings.

Service and dining experience were extraordinarily good as the cadence of the evening was beautiful. Tasting through the beautiful wines, I was enamored by the 2012 (OB, 100) was plush, soft and refined, with serious purity in its red and dark fruit quality. The florals on the wine were extraordinary. A totally different animal was the 2013 Bryant Family (OB, 100) which was more dense, heady and loaded with intense black and blue fruits, with scorched earthy tones, tons of graphite and espresso grounds. What a wine!

I look back so fondly on this dinner that was spent with friends — truly an epic occasion to celebrate the talents of one of our region’s top winemakers. Cheers to another 10 Todd and Carrie and thank you for your incredible contributions in Washington and Oregon wine.