2003 Pont 21 - A Wine From Tacoma? ( 9. February 2009, 12:14 by Derek Young) ~ Mmmm... Yummy
We found something on Friday afternoon that was truly unexpected – a good Tacoma wine. As many of you know, we do like our wine and have been known to travel the roads of Washington looking for good wine. Now, we have something local to support … and drink. So local that we can walk to the winery.
On Friday afternoon we found ourselves sitting beside the purple-stained barrels of Coates Winery on North 21st Street with Philip Coates. The winery is in the basement of the small commercial building just west of the 21st Street Bridge.
We opened the 2003 Pont 21 to try it out. This is the winery’s first release and limited to just 100 cases. 76% cabernet sauvignon blended with merlot, cabernet franc, and syrah. The grapes all come from the Yakima Valley. I’m not going to review the wine. That’s not my gig. However, I will say that, for my taste, it was exactly what I like. Priced at $20 per bottle, it’s a great first wine for Tacoma.
PLUS, the label was designed and hand letter-pressed by Lance Kagey of Beautiful Angle fame. It’s absolutely perfect.
Coates is still getting everything set up for regular customers. But, if you’re interested in getting to the front of the line, talking some wine, and/or supporting a new Tacoma business, email Philip at philipcoates@comcast.net.
Kris from South Sound Eats reviewed the wine last week. More info at SouthSoundEats
Commenting Is Closed
Comments are allowed for two weeks from the posted date. If you want to make a comment or reopen this discussion, please contact us with your request. Thank you for visiting.
This wine has real potential in a number of ways and is an urban leader. I believe the same place who got its own change to the zoning code.
We will see what Mr. Streetcar thinks of it, being that he makes his own wine.
I’m glad the licensing finally worked out in that spot – what a neat thing for the 3 Bridges district!
3 | Posted by Kari | Feb 9, 02:40 PM
Welcome to 3 Bridges Phil! I can’t wait to try the wine!
Tacoma is lucky to have someone as persistent as Coates. Others would have thrown in the towel at the city’s long convoluted drawn-out process – a process that makes it easier to build surface parking lots and strip malls than to open great neighborhood businesses.
Just an FYI…Lance Kagey did the wine labels—seperate from BA. He did such a beautiful job that I want all the kudos to go to him!!
5 | Posted by Deb Llewellyn | Feb 9, 05:43 PM
We imported a few of Pont 21’s first release to Santa Cruz, California to pour at a winemaker’s dinner. Wow were those “Oenies” impressed with Philip Coates oenological know how! Congratulations, Philip and good luck to Pont 21!
6 | Posted by Jim Wheeler | Feb 10, 10:20 AM
I emailed this out today to them:
Dear Mr. Coates
Congratulations on your local winemaking and the zoning change you obtained.
When and where can I obtain a couple of bottles of your wine?
I look forward to your response.
Erik Bjornson
They may have a blogospheric flash mob run on their wine. Drink local!
Wine ordering update:
Erik Thank you for your email.If you let me know a time that works for you I can meet you at the winery in North Tacoma.
We have decided to offer our 2003 release at $17 per bottle with a 10% discount for a case purchase. The release will only be 50 cases and all will have the hand printed “Beautiful Angle” labels. Thank you again for your interest and support, it has been a long road.Kindest Regards. Philip Coates
Better get yours now!
Erik B should have his own reality show. The video could be interspersed with cell phone pics.
11 | Posted by jamie from thriceallamerican | Feb 11, 08:50 AM
——> Idea!
Wine is popular, it seems. The Great State of WA is known for it’s quality wines… which also seems to result in a few big wineries and a buncha small & medium ones.
Why don’t we do our own spin on it? What if Tacoma had a lot of tiny basement wineries like this? We already have microbreweries, why not make the city known for it’s (future) plethora of micorwineries?
13 | Posted by Thorax O'Tool | Feb 11, 11:50 AM
The NEW 2009 Tacoma-Pierce County Visitor Guide covers a wine + brew section [p. 31]. Check it out: http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/tacoma/vg09
Coates Winery is 1 of 8 on the “Wineries to Watch” list.
14 | Posted by reenerb | Feb 11, 07:08 PM
Thorax, check out this old Exit 133 thread:
http://www.exit133.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=593
15 | Posted by Squid | Feb 12, 02:49 PM
I really enjoyed my tasting and meeting Philip. I wish the winery great success! I love the wine as well as the hand-applied labels.
16 | Posted by MattonGrant | Feb 12, 04:31 PM
I got a bottle back a couple of days ago.
I’m no coinisseur, but it was quite good
18 | Posted by ZOMG | Feb 12, 09:22 PM
Commenting is closed for this article.
Exit133 is about Tacoma. It's about Politics, Civic Involvement, Urban Development, the Arts, and the many interests of our readers.
Do you want to see your message in this space? Become an Exit133 Advertiser!
A special THANK YOU to our Supporters like Amocat Cellars for making Exit133 possible. Thank you.
