A cult name among wine fans, Andrew Latta grew his brand slowly and organically from 2011 to 2016, when he opened his tasting room and production facility in Seattle’s SoDo neighborhood. Now Latta has opened a new satellite tasting room close to the Woodinville action.
The modern spacious location has hip vibes and sits within a cluster of other wineries within the former Redhook Brewery complex.
Latta says he focuses primarily on single varietal, Rhone-style wines, although he occasionally steps outside those limits to work with other varieties and blends, like his GSM and Cab/Syrah. The extremely small production, chiefly Rhone offerings, are put forward from sustainable vineyard sites after fermentation with native yeast, and aging in mostly neutral French barrique and puncheon oak barrels.
Years of combing the geologically diverse soils of Eastern Washington as winemaker for Charles Smith Wines gave Andrew Latta innermost knowledge of the intricacies of Washington terroir.
“The biggest determining factor behind the wines we create are uncovering unique sites in Eastern Washington that need to be expressed,” Andrew says. “We lease land at all of the vineyard sites we work with throughout the Columbia Valley so that we can control all vineyard management decisions right up to making the call to pick.”
The wines gush with dynamism and articulate a defined sense of place where the grapes are grown. If you’re even slightly geeky about Rhone varietals, this place should be at the top of your list. And be sure to check out the installation art from Washington-based textile artist, Kim Nemeth.
The tasting room is located at 14200 NE 145th St, Woodinville, WA;
(425) 318-6464, visit www.lattawines.com to learn more.
Below are two releases we recently reviewed:
Latta Wines 2019 Cab/Syrah
94 pts.
This single-vineyard red earned a spot on Washington Tasting Room Magazine’s “Best 75 Wines of the Year.” It is a co-fermented blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (75%) and Syrah (25%) from Freewater Rocks Vineyard. Deftly structured, with a lithe and scintillating profile of blackberry, dark cherry and jammy black raspberry draped over savory details of black olive, tar and graphite. The elements fall into a syncopated rhythm on the long, vibrant finish. $60
Latta Wines 2019 “Latta Latta” GSM
93 pts.
This Rhone-varietal red blend is Grenache dominant, with an uplifting structure that packs plenty of verve and freshness, and delivers a neatly-balanced profile of black cherry, blackberry, game and peppercorn threaded with garrigue, violet and lavender on the concentrated finish. Sourced from three vineyards from three different AVAs: Upland, Lawrence and The Rocks District of Milton-Freewater. $40