Serret from Serretabella Images joined me recently at a weekday wine tasting at Fidelitas’ Hollywood District tasting room here in Woodinville. Besides being eager to taste their Red Mountain wines, she was excited to photograph their stunning, modern tasting room space.
She took a lot of time to carefully photograph the beautiful atmosphere for you to enjoy here on our blog until you can get down there to experience it in person too!
We feel so grateful to have met and spent time with the wine steward, Therese. She was knowledgeable, friendly, approachable, and we thoroughly enjoyed learning from her. She was very gracious about letting us pop in without an appointment and photograph her as well as the space!
The tasting fee here is $15, waived with a bottle purchase. We’d already eaten lunch, but filed away for future reference that Fidelitas offers a $15 cheese plate, featuring cheese, charcuterie, olives, almonds, fig jam and crackers.
Therese gave us background on the winemaker, Charlie Hoppes. He worked at Boeing for years, making garage wine on the side in his spare time. He was then encouraged by his family to get a viticulture degree at UC Davis. He worked at Chateau Ste. Michelle until 1999.
His nickname is “The Wine Boss.” He enjoys mentoring winemakers.
The Optu Red is the first wine he made, a signature wine they’re known for at Fidelitas.
Charlie Hoppes is not only the owner and the winemaker at Fidelitas; he also is the winemaker at Ded Reckoning and Hamilton Cellars, among others. He recently put out his 30th vintage!
You can read a bio of him at HeraldNet, an interview with him at Great Northwest Wine, and watch a video of him speaking at Table Talk Northwest.
To ensure quality and consistency, Fidelitas purposely caps their releases at 7000 cases or less. Hoppes specializes in modern wine craftsmanship. He tries new methods, but still stays true to old world craftsmanship as well.
Fidelitas Wines creates exclusively Bordeaux varietals from the Red Mountain AVA here in Washington State..Their grapes are grown at Quintessence Vineyards.
We love the elegant, modern, contemporary and simple bottle and logo design.
Recently, they are becoming known for Malbecs. I’m definitely noticing more and more Washington Malbecs popping up on tasting menus in Woodinville.
I really wish my Malbec-loving friend Valerie had been able to join us today to try this one here at Fidelitas!
The Red Mountain Malbec “Phantom” wine bottle label is an elegant black.
We began our tasting with the 2016 Red Mountain Optu White wine (short for Optimal), a Bordeaux Blanc made with 62% Sauvignon Blanc and 38% Semillon. I was very excited to try a Bordeaux Blanc, as it’s been a while. I was not disappointed! I purchased a bottle to take home for my next party.
Our second tasting was the 2015 Red Mountain Malbec, which I also purchased to serve at an upcoming fete.
Next, we tasted the 2014 Red Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon, a 93 point wine sourced from Quintessence Vineyards.
We were able to compare it to our fourth tasting, the 2014 Quintessence Cabernet Sauvignon, which w proclaimed utterly delicious.
I wanted to not forget to mention that the tasting room is not dog friendly inside, but likely in better weather, dogs might be welcomed on the small outdoor patio.
Fidelitas’s Woodinville tasting room is available as an event space you can rent. You’d bring your own caterer, or Therese can recommend one of their preferred ones to you. The capacity is a cozy 35. I’m tempted to hire out the space for an after hours Eastside Social Club wine tasting meetup!
Their wine wall is truly impressive – you truly have to visit the tasting room just to experience it!
A map of the Red Mountain AVA is proudly displayed.
You might find it intriguing that one of their current releases is a 2013 Klipsun Vineyard Late Harvest Semillon.
We are hoping to go back to Fidelitas’s Woodinville tasting room again soon to visit with Therese, restock our greedily-finished bottles and taste their new releases, a 2015 Optu Red Mountain and their 2015 Red Mountain Optu Merlot (which was their most recent club release, on February 9.)
-Carrie
RESOURCES:
Wine Boss Charlie Hoppes on Facebook
Wine Boss Charlies Hoppes on Twitter
Serretabella Images Photography
