Robert V. Camuto

Note: For a report on the Seattle leg of the tour visit Francophile and Seattle iconoclast Ronald Holden's blog,www.cornichon.org

I Finished off my trip to Seattle Tuesday with a reading and talk at the classic Elliott Bay Book Company (a real old-fashioned bookstore with a cafe now run by local star chef Tamara Murphy) at noon followed by an evening wine tasting at the sleek Local Vine in Belltown (see photo) at which Chateau Mossé’s old vines Carignan (see below) was the crowd pleasing surprise favorite.

One thing about these Seattlites-- who tend to be unfailingly unpretentious and friendly whether they are in suits or Dr. Seuss attire or sporting Cabbie caps right out of a Frank Capra film-- they do really TASTE wine with open palates and minds. So many dismiss the wines produced in Washington state's growing wine scene as overly rich, woody and sweet as licorice sticks.

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On Monday, fresh off the 10-hour flight from Amsterdam,  headed to 12^th & Olive a wine shop in the hip Capitol Hill neighborhood—the kind of place where old autoshops get converted to bistros with servers who smile and seem to like their jobs.

Owner Steven Brown is a big man with an equally dry wit to match and his shop-- though small-- is a treasure trove of small independent wineries, and quirky wines and varietals from the world over.  Steven poured a stellar selection of wines from Corkscrewed for a group about 20 of his faithful and iconoclastic clients.

From a pair of nutty/ mineral dry whites of Nicolas Joly (including his flagship Coulée de Serrant) in the Loire Valley to a pair of earthy reds from the little known Chateau Mossé in the Cotes de Roussillon to a couple of profound Cote Roties by Jean-Michel Stephan.

Brown, a former wine history instructor, sniffed some of Mossé’s Carignan made from century old vines, and told a young taster—“This is made from 100 year old vines as thick as tree trunks—In Napa they would make coffee tables out of them!”