Wine Situation Final Five (Now With Drunk Dialing!)

The Wine Situation hosts everyone from winemakers to writers to find out what a person’s situation is…with wine. It’s the solo season, as host Ellen Clifford is in quarantine, but listen in with a glass, and nobody is drinking alone! In lieu of guests, at the end of every action packed episode Ellen is phoning a friend with her Final Five questions. This week Ellen talks to Lisa Warr-King Packer, the winemaker at Warr-King Wines which can be found here and you can use the code thewinesituation to get 20% off at checkout—pour a glass and sip along! And listen to the full episode to learn about Lisa’s journey from the tech world to wine! Check out the full episode here THE FINAL FIVE (Ever so slightly edited for length!): QUESTION ONE Ellen: Do you have a favorite or unusual or surprising food/wine pairing? Or any kind of pairing, really… Lisa: Top Hot Doughnuts makes a really tasty salted caramel doughnut, and it actually pairs really nicely with our Roussanne . It’s delicious. QUESTION TWO Ellen: You are definitely the first person who has ever done a doughnut pairing! Next question is what do you like to drink, alcoholic or not, when not wine? Lisa: I’m an Old Fashioned gal. I like a rye whiskey and I have some cardamom bitters, it’s really delicious, and then—I can’t remember those cherries but it comes in that white and blue jar, and just a little bit of orange. I love it. QUESTION THREE Ellen: I’ve seen that before. You are reminding me I’m out of Luxardo cherries and I need to remedy that. Next question is, when the world opens up again, is there a place you’d like to visit? Lisa: I am going to go to northern Italy . We had a trip planned with our wine club members for last spring that was canceled, then we moved it to this fall and it was canceled, so hopefully in 2022 we’ll get up to northern Italy. And I went to Sonoma last spring and didn’t have enough time, so I do really like the wines out of there, Napa too. I’d like to get back and visit that. And Valle Guadalupe , I want to go there and try their wines. QUESTION FOUR Ellen: Well fly down to Los Angeles and let’s take a little road trip! Question number four is do you have other favorite Washington wineries? Lisa: Oh my gosh there’s so many good ones. Fidelitas is one of my favorites, Corliss — I just had a Corliss and it was lovely. You can’t really go wrong here. We grow so many varieties here and, you look at the Cabs, there are Cabs that stand up to Napa Cabs and they’re half the price. QUESTION FIVE Ellen: The last question for the final five is just what’s bringing you joy these days? Lisa: My crew, in 2020, we had everything and anything thrown at us and it was challenging as all hell being a winemaker and to be the owner of a business, but to have everybody be safe and healthy, and everybody come out the other side has been giving me a lot of joy. I’m glad to see how resilient people are. And I hope we are coming together finally. And I feel like there’s going to be brightness. It might not be until the fall, but I think 2022 is going to be like the roaring 20’s, we’ll unite, be happy, all come together…I’m hopeful. And I’m joyful to hope for that. Check out the previous Wine Situation podcast with Rebecca Rose Phillips here .

Paul Hobbs

CrossBarn Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir 2018

Growing up on a working farm in NY, Paul experienced first-hand the influence of terroir on the character of fruit, his father had him taste apples of the same variety grown in different orchards several miles apart from one another. Spent 9 months in 11% new French oak, Ruby with aromas of berry fruits, tea and spice notes. On the palate juicy blackberry, cherry and strawberry with black tea, tar, cinnamon and citrus notes. Fine tannins, medium(+) finish, ending with fruit, spice and earthy character. Made for current consumption, drink now! — 4 years ago

Juan, Daniel P. and 2 others liked this

Corliss Estates

Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2014

Epic wine from Michael Corliss. Beautiful nose with notes of red bell pepper, mocha, and creme de cassis.The palate is brilliantly balanced and smooth, with notes of blackberry compote, leather and hints of star anise. One of my favorite wines, a must have for your cellar. — 5 years ago

Templeton Rye

The Good Stuff Rye Whiskey

Nose is strong and dominated by spicy alcohol with hidden sweet aldehyde and woody note. Taste is following the fragrance of the noses. Spicy and sweet. Very straightforward. Some nice sweet lychee note is very pleasant as I love lychee. Aftertaste is more lychee note. I kind of enjoying her except a bit too spicy. — 7 years ago

Mike, Mike and 1 other liked this

L.A. Cetto

Réserve Privée Valle de Guadalupe Nebbiolo 2015

My first Mexican wine. So exiting!

Deep purple in color with a purplish rim.

Fruity nose of blueberries, sweet cherries, raspberries, light oak, spices, licorice, black pepper, earth, light vegetables and tobacco leaf.

Medium plus in body and smooth, with medium acidity.

Dry on the palate with black currants, black cherries, plums, sweet strawberries, earth, spices, light oak, tobacco, herbs and peppercorn.

Nice spicy finish with round tannins and tangy raspberries.

This is a nice start to my Mexican wine journey.

This 6 years old nebbiolo is drinking very nicely now. Fruit forward with mild complexity and a nice mouthfeel.

Good by itself or with food. A nice sipping wine right out of the bottle, and better with airtime. Tannins come out after an hour of airtime.

A good quality wine that I would like to revisit in 3 years. I paired it with a Cuban sandwich.

Aged in French oak barrels for 14 months.

13.9% alcohol by volume.

90 points.

$23.
— 4 years ago

barak heller, Severn and 27 others liked this
MaJ CappS

MaJ CappS Influencer Badge

So many amazing Mexican wines!
Rhonely Boy

Rhonely Boy

Fantastic to hear, this was the first Baja producer I experienced, Chenin is nice.

Warr-King

Columbia Valley Roussanne

Honeysuckle, and frankincense and myrrh. Sincerely if ever there was a Christmas gift come summer this is it. So supple and toe dipped into “will I be sweet?” But it is not. Dry as a bone spicy and honeyed as sin but RICH. Prepare thyself. — 7 years ago

Eric, Serge and 14 others liked this

Fidélitas

4040 Red Blend 2013

Love my Red Mountain wines. Bold blend, cab franc hints. — 8 years ago

La Stoppa

Triple A Trebbiolo Vino Rosso 2019

Ted
9.2

Had almost a medicinal menthol thing going on. Blows off then some fresh strawberries become more pronounced. Chilled for a bit. Outstanding. Would be a great summer wine — 4 years ago

Jeni
with Jeni
Dawn, Daniel P. and 10 others liked this

Warr-King Wines

Gamache Vineyard Roussanne 2018

Adore the Warre-King! Stone fruit and pumpkin spice and perfection, to be frank. — 4 years ago

Eric, Serge and 11 others liked this
Serge S

Serge S

🥂

Warr-King

Wahluke Slope Merlot 2015

Bright ripe lemon, grapefruit and kumquat on the nose with a smidge of gas. More of that on the tongue with that delightful sharp acid that lingers. Plus some juicy peach. Imagine you are biting into a peach that has been doused in lemon juice and someone throws damp gravel in your face. Except in this fantasy imagine that damp gravel is your jam and totally doesn’t hurt. I dig thus winemaker in Woodinville! — 7 years ago

Paul, Chris and 9 others liked this
Ellen Clifford

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@Trixie thanks so much! Cheers!
Ellen Clifford

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@Paul Treadway Huntington Beacher not yet but that sounds likely...
Paul T HB

Paul T HB

Just emailed you the commercial