At Yoke's Fresh Market in Ponderay near Sandpoint there is a sense of pride in being the top regional wine-selling store. Admittedly, it is only my part-time job, but the wines carried are stellar. One of those is the Nicholas Cole GraEagle.
This wine has a special story.
In December, Nicholas Cole Cellars founder/owner Mike Neuffer sent out a brief message explaining that due to pressing family issues, he would be "placing an indefinite hiatus on winemaking and future vintages of Nicholas Cole and GraEagle wines."
Neuffer moved to Walla Walla a decade ago to pursue a winemaking dream. He planted a vineyard, partnered with Michael Corliss, and began making wines in 2004. "It's something I always wanted to do," Neuffer explained when we first met a few years ago. "It just basically was following my passion, my dreams. The first time I walked through the vineyards . . . and I'm popping these grapes and they're not quite ripe but they're sweet and delicious and the air smells fresh and clean and I'm thinking I'm going to get paid for doing this and I'm feeling terribly guilty!"
Consistenly scoring high ratings since the vineyard's wine debut in 2003, the recession hit the winemaker hard, in spite of opening a new tasting room. Still, with such stellar scores, their wines seemed destined to be around for a while. With such high ratings, what could possibly have affected Winemaker Mike Neuffer enough to make him shut down operations? In December 2010 his final post on the winery's website carried this message:
"On August 9th, 2010, after a seven year battle with cancer, my children's mother Susan Neuffer, quietly lost the fight and passed away. Nicholas and Michele's lives were changed forever and I began the inevitable reevaluation of my priorities and responsibilities to my children, my future and the future of Nicholas Cole Cellars. I immediately moved to the Seattle area to take care of my kids. After much reflection and soul-searching, I decided to make the move permanent and try my best to fill the void left in the wake of cancer's unfair and cruel joke on Susan and her loved ones.
In choosing to refocus my energies on raising my children, I am placing an indefinite hiatus on winemaking and future vintages of Nicholas Cole & GraEagle wines. I will miss walking the vineyard, sampling grapes, the excitement of harvest, long exhausting days of crush and even the tedium of barrel management and bottling. Most of all, I will miss the great friends, loyal customers and the many fantastic people I have met and worked with in an industry I truly love. Thank you for all of your support."
GraEagle is a great wine. I don't know him personally, but Nick Cole must be a great dad. We were selling his Bordeaux blend pretty consistently for $39.68 every day. Finding out the winery was closing, we bought the last 40 cases available in our area.
Our price now? $18.68
While his previous vintages were getting scores of 91, 94, and 95, the 2006 vintage has a great pedigree:
Nicholas Cole GraEagle 2006 - Rated 90 points in the Wine Spectator and 89 points in the Wine Enthusiast. Nicholas Cole Cellars is the winery, and the grapes in this Bordeaux blend are essentially all estate, except for a little Canoe Ridge Merlot. This is substantial, herbal, with plenty of juicy red fruit and a leafy, earthy sub-text. Dark, exotic, tangy and still youthfully sharp, this needs breathing time to soften up and open out.
Nicholas Cole GraEagle Bordeaux Blend at Yoke's
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