Pacific Northwest wine experts and reviewers Michele Francisco and Matt Talbot produce Winerabble, an online resource covering all things wine with an unpretentious and educational approach. Both have backgrounds in wine buying, marketing, tasting, reviewing and judging — and are endlessly curious about regional wines and the people who produce them.
Michele was one of the very first people to sample our Helios Estate Seyval Blanc, back when it was just in it’s 6-gallon carboy test batch form! So when she asked to review the 2021 Helios, we were eager to see what she thought. Here’s what she and Matt wrote:
Relatively common in parts of the Midwest and the state of New York, Seyval blanc (pronounced sayvahl-blanc) is a hybrid grape with one French parent and the other American. Dave and Sara Specter, owners of Bells Up Winery, once called Ohio home and were familiar with the grape. After moving west to Oregon’s Willamette Valley, the couple decided to expand their vineyard plantings and included the varietal.
While Seyval blanc can be easy to find elsewhere, Bells Up became just the second winery in the state to grow Seyval blanc, and the first in the Valley! In fact, due to increased demand, they’ve expanded their plantings of the grape in order to make more.
Pick some up today, before it sells out!
The pair also described Helios’ color as “fresh cream” and once again gave it the multi-sensory treatment with their bouquet/palate descriptors that include visual icons!
Winerabble’s multi-sensory, icon-based descriptors of aromas and flavors of each wine they review. All images courtesy of Winerabble.com
On both the nose and palate they detected pineapple, lemongrass, lemon zest, and pineapple guava. They also noted good acidity and a spicy ginger finish.
They even suggested three food pairings: Chickpea croquettes; Buttery crab casseroles; and Chicken Caesar salad. Yum!
