Glass on Glass

They make less than 10,000 cases a year but no fewer than 30 different wines, and that's not where Sineann ends when it comes to making a name for themselves. Though spread thin by many wineries standards the small winery manages to maintain their hands on approach and attention to detail all the way through the wine making process--even to the chosen enclosure.

Situated in the Willamette Valley, Sineann winery has been using Alcoa glass and acrylic closures for many of their wines for about three years and is moving towards using them for every wine. According to Assistant Winemaker Russ Hodgkins the company prefers the glass closures to cork or screw caps because the properties of expansion between the glass closure and the glass wine bottle are more compatible. "Cork and barrels are high risk because they are natural products and have high variables," Hodgkins said.

Alcoa's new stopper features an acrylic o-ring that provides a sterile and airtight seal. Over the seal an aluminum cap disguises the closure as that of an ordinary screw cap. And it is just as easy to remove. Break the seal like a screw cap then pull out the stopper. Easy.

Of the 19 wines we tasted over half featured the new closures. When asked about storing the wine Hodgkins said he wasn't concerned, "people want to drink wine that is approachable. People don't want to wait 20 years anymore." The statistics back him up. Depending on whom you ask somewhere around 80 percent of all wines are drank within 24 hours of there being bought. Not much of a shelf life. This same trend doesn't deter Sineann from putting their all into every bottle of wine.

The winery is as hands on in the vineyards as they are in their own winery. A quick look at their list of wines reads like a veritable who’s who of vineyards and regions around Oregon. There was even a Napa cab to try. Hodkgins says their wines are so good because of how aggressive they are in their pruning practices. With very low yield they pay per acre rather than ton.

We went through and tasted 19 out of the bottle and another six or seven more out of the barrel. Beginning with the whites, all of which are stainless steal fermented, the 2005 Oregon pinot gris was my favorite with the '05 gewürztraminer Celilo close on its heels. When I drank the Celilo I was expecting a gewurtz but what I found was a New Zealand sauvignon bland. From the Columbian Gorge this wine was grassy with light honeysuckle. Its acid it danced on my tongue. The pinot gris was very similar, which reveals my bias. It was light and crisp with lots of citrus notes and just a touch of residual sugar. Normally I am not a fan of r.s., but it works so well to balance out high acid whites that I have to give it a nod.

Of the eleven available Pinot Noirs we tasted all but two. I gave the Maresh (pronounced: marsh) and the Schindler my highest rating noting that the Schindler will do better with some time. The Resonance I found very interesting. Hodgkins found it interesting that it wasn't higher on my list for apparently it is a favorite. The Maresh topped my list for I found it the most pleasant to drink and the most complex. Wonderful smells of fresh bread, earth and espresso blended with a nice round fruity mouth complete with velvety tannins. The '05 Schindler on the other hand was a sensory explosion but I found the pepper to be almost overpowering. Once the wine had aerated yummy red fruit, caramel and vanilla tantalized the senses.

Another favorite was the Hillside Merlot, an ’04 the grapes come from the Columbia Valley and the nose just screams of roasted jabanero and black pepper. On the palate big, dark fruit helps balance out all the spice but a few years resting will do it some good, as it tastes a little green. When you do drink it though pair it with Moroccan cuisine, you won’t be disappointed.

Out of the two zins I preferred the "Z" to the Old Vine. Sourced from Washington's oldest zinfandel vines it just didn't impress like I had hoped it would. After the reds we moved onto the sweeter wines and into fun and unique winemaking territory. On first taste of the CJ Port, a zinfandel port, a red zinfandel port mind you, I thought my taste buds had gone batty from all the drinking. Banana, passion fruit and pink grapefruit leaped out at me. I felt surely I was mistaken, but a little research revealed why such a dark drink could taste so light. Sineann fortifies their young vine zin with eau-de-vie, a colorless brandy distilled from fermented fruit juice. Rarely aged in wood its fresh fruit flavors and aromas are preserved.

Just as unique and just as good is the 2005 Sweet Sydney. This is how Oregon makes icewine. Picked late in the season, when the grapes come in they are around 35 brix. They are then pressed off the skins and the juice is collected and frozen. As it thaws the sugars melt first, but once the juice reaches around 52 brix the process is stopped and fermentation begins.

Sineann Winery not only buys their wine from all over but they rent their space as well. Even without a home of their own the people at Sineann are doing great things and catering to their fans as well. When we showed up, unannounced and just before four o’clock it was raining and they were obviously busy with what appeared to be an underhanded staff, but just the same we were shown into the office/lab where we were free to taste as little or as much as we liked. What could we do but enjoy our surroundings and the wine to be had?