Producers of the Columbia Gorge appellation should consider themselves lucky—they straddle both states of Oregon and Washington, get their pick of fruit from either side and reap the benefits of warm, sunny days and cool, river-breezed nights on the water-sculpted hillsides. Memaloose Wines, owned and operated by the McCormick family, is one such case. Christened as Memaloose after a Columbia Gorge island deemed scared by the Chinook tribe, the McCormicks farm all five of their estate vineyards—two in Mosier, Ore., and three in Washington, while the winery and tasting room sit on the Lyle, Wash., side of the river valley. From The Annex Vineyard on the Mosier margin comes the Estate Trevitt’s White—a spring floral bouquet of white flowers and jasmine, with round stone fruits of peach, white apricot and ripe pear. The palate is round but crisp and clean, promoting what wide-mouth varieties of the Rhone Valley can do with Columbia Gorge acidity.
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