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O'Shea Scarborough Wines |
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O'Shea Scarborough Winery Wednesdays at Avalon are nuts. Winemakers and wine reps swarm around our tasting bar and it's hard to get anything done before four o'clock in the afternoon. At the end of most Wednesdays, you think about all the wines you've tasted - and so often, they clang together. Picture a high school band where each player has a different piece of sheet music... Yesterday, Wednesday, something cut through the noise and clutter, a prodigy whose craft is far above the others. The wines are from O'Shea Scarborough, from the awesome 2007 Washington vintage. We are jazzed about the new releases from O'Shea Scarborough. They're unique, compelling, and flat-out delicious. The ultra-small case productions will make these disappear.
O'Shea Scarborough Winery's innovative style stretches the limits of Washington wine. Darryn O'Shea and Travis Scarborough mix Washington's hot climate fruit with a northern European style, and the wines are receiving very positive reviews. WINO magazine describes the O'Shea Scarborough whites as "putting their acid profiles upfront". Their whites "come out swinging razor-sharp jabs" and their reds have "tooth-and-nail acid". Expecting the big, plush Purchasing small amounts of fruit has its advantages and O'Shea Scarborough has landed grapes from Dineen, Wallula, Champoux, Klipsun, and Lewis vineyards for their wines. Travis and Darryn met when Darryn sold for wine Seattle wholesalers, representing Washington wineries like Matthews and Dunham. He met Travis at his job at Seattle restaurant Cassis, sold him wine, formed a friendship, and so O'Shea Scarborough was born. They caught the winemaking bug hanging out with the winemakers Darryn represented, and made an initial vintage in 2004. Matt Loso at Matthews gave them a barrel, they were given some grapes, and they crushed their first wines with their feet. What a beginning! Today O'Shea Scarborough is based in a business park south of Seattle, and the winery still echoes the style of their original garage location. A storage-style space of cement and metal beams is tucked between a row of similar warehouse spaces. Travis and Darryn made white and red wines in 2006 and 2007 with fruit from some of Washington's hot vineyards - Horse Heaven, Klipsun, and Champoux among them. There's Riesling, Semillon, Chardonnay whites, a killer Ice wine,, and Merlot, Syrah and Cabernet reds. With the help of friends and their connections in the Washington/Woodinville wine industry, they've produced a lineup of remarkable wines. For the future, O'Shea Scarborough's plan is to increase production to over 1500 cases, placing them squarely in the competitive world of almost 100 small Washington wineries located within 150 miles of Seattle. Their current releases have that "something extra" separating them from the norm. Their distinct balance of fruit, tannins and acid, with emphasis on the acidity too often missing from Washington's hot weather fruit, has attracted attention from wine collectors. Darryn and Travis are passionate about wine, inspired by the style of innovative German winemakers, whose wines always show a refreshing finish full of minerals and crisp acidity. If they can keep and grow their individual style , we'll be hearing a lot more about O'Shea and Scarborough. From the winery: O’Shea Scarborough is a collaboration between Darryn O’Shea and Travis Scarborough. These two up-and-coming stars, which people’s only complaint is that they do not make more wine—as they only produce around 700 cases of wine. Darryn, a Washington native, was an assistant winemaker in a small Washington Winery (OS Winery), and Travis, a Napa Valley native, who was an assistant winemaker at a small winery in the Napa Valley (Viader Vineyards), met in 2002 and started to experiment on their own with small lots of Washington syrah. In 2005 O’Shea Scarborough was formed, just 20 minutes south of Seattle. They were able to work with a number of fantastic vineyard sources. Their goal quickly became apparent in tasting the wines: the wines represent Washington’s great vineyards with a focus on balance, finesse, and concentration, and stay clear of over-extraction and overly oaked wines. The results speak for themselves as the wine represents the terrior of the vineyards, with slightly lower alcohol levels, but yet never losing concentration. If you have not had these wines, you will not be disappointed, nor will you give up your wallet to try some of the most fascinating wines coming from Washington right now. The Wines
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