Amongst the ever growing list of wineries in Woodinville, Washington, the Woodhouse Estate Winery is producing a large variety of well crafted wines from grapes grown throughout the Washington State wine country. Woodhouse was started in 2004 by husband and wife team, Bijal and Sinead Shah. Their wines are marketed under various labels including Kennedy Shah, Hudson Shah, Dussek and Maghee. We purchased a few of these wines to enjoy during the holiday season and found them to be solid wines that reflect the excellence in Washington wines at reasonable price points. The 2008 Hudson Shah Malbec shows that the Malbec grape has a place amongst the Merlot, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon in the Columbia Valley. This wine has a dark purple/red color and is nearly opaque. There are pleasant aromas of ripe black cherries, violets, black pepper and some toasty oak. This is a medium bodied wine, fruit-forward, with cherry, blackberry, coffee, baking spice and some creamy vanilla. There is a nice level of acidity that keeps it fresh and the delightful mouth feel is filled with abundant smooth tannins. This wine retails for $16, but can be found in the Seattle area for a few dollars less. This wine is delicious on it’s own and will pair well with any hearty meal including a hefty Lasagna or a grilled Rib eye Steak.
The 2009 Evodia is a young red wine made from 100% Garnacha grapes from Spain’s promising wine growing region of Calatayud. This region is distinguished by its prevalence of high elevation vineyards planted with the Garnacha grape in dry, slatey soil. This wine, made from old vines, is imported by Eric Solomon and represents another nice value wine from an up-coming Spanish DO. In the glass this wine has a dark ruby color with nice clarity. There are expressive aromas of fresh raspberry, blackberry leafs and minerals. This is a medium bodied wine that is quite fruit-forward with red cherry, raspberry and strawberry complimented by wet stone and white pepper. There are smooth tannins and racy acidity that complete the profile. 
This wine is tank-aged without the use of oak and is easy to enjoy with any casual dinner. We enjoyed this Spanish Garnacha with Pulled Pork Sandwiches with my homemade Mustard BBQ Sauce. This wine can be found at Pete’s Wine shop, in Bellevue, for about $11.
