Tasting Notes: A Top Performer

A collaboration between actor Kyle MacLachlan and winemaker Eric Dunham is yielding award-worthy wines

Kyle MacLachlan’s life reads like the classic “local boy makes good” tale. But in the case of this Golden Globe–winning actor who grew up in Yakima and attended the University of Washington, “local boy makes good wine” is more like it.

His range as an actor has helped MacLachlan create characters with cult-like status, from the Sherlock Holmes–esque Agent Cooper in David Lynch’s Twin Peaks, to his current role as dentist-cum-kleptomaniac Orson Hodge in Desperate Housewives.

MacLachlan, who was aware of Washington’s growing reputation as a wine-producing state, rediscovered Washington wine when he turned to winemaker Eric Dunham of Dunham Cellars for some special bottles to serve at his wedding in 2004. The two started a friendship, and when the actor decided he’d like to make some wine of his own, he asked Dunham to collaborate. Dunham was all for the idea. Together they produced the first Pursued by Bear red blend in 2005. (The label, a nod to MacLachlan’s theatrical roots, refers to the famous stage direction “exit, pursued by bear,” in Shakespeare’s comedy The Winter’s Tale.)

“After Eric agreed to partner with me,” MacLachlan says, “his next question was what did I want to make?” MacLachlan is a Cabernet lover, so he started there, but experimented with the blend by adding some Merlot to one barrel and some Syrah to another, both from the Lewis Vineyard in Yakima Valley. The wine was blended together early on and aged in new Taransaud French oak barrels for 25 months. He also liked the Syrah enough to plan a release of Syrah for next year, named Baby Bear, in honor of his son’s birth in 2008.

The collaboration went smoothly in part because the two agreed on what they liked. Dunham recommended some of his tried-and-true vineyard sources, and MacLachlan brought the Taransaud barrels on board from a source he had in San Francisco. “The barrels were the wild card, because Eric hadn’t worked with them before, but I’ve got to say the marriage of those particular barrels with juice from Eric’s sources has been exciting.”

Dunham isn’t the only collaborator in MacLachlan’s project; MacLachlan’s two brothers and his father got involved, too. “From the beginning I wanted to include them as much as possible in this winemaking adventure,” he says. “Especially my dad. He’s always been something of a ‘gentleman farmer,’ and my brothers and I grew up growing our food.” His family had apple and pear trees and a vegetable garden, and gained an appreciation for agricultural work picking fruit in the summers, although, he says, “I don’t think we stuck it out more than a few days. It’s backbreaking work.” The less backbreaking but equally demanding art of acting called and took him away from Yakima, until his passion for wine brought him full circle.

When asked how his work as an actor has informed his wine, he responds that both arts demand a special unknown element that makes a character—or a wine—special.

“The scenes and dialogue are already in place for the most part, and the beginning, middle and end are known,” he says of acting. “What’s unknown is whether the piece will have any chemistry. We are trying to create a similar magic mix with the components of fruit, barrel and time.”

SHANNON'S WINE PICKS
December, 2009

2005 Pursued by Bear
Cabernet Sauvignon, Columbia Valley, $65
Deep purple in color, this rich red has big black fruit aromas—black cherry, blackberry, cassis flavors—along with smoke and mocha. Full-bodied with fine tannins and mouthwatering acidity, it has the richness of a Bordeaux blend with a bit of smoke from the Syrah.
Pairs with: A simply grilled bone-in T-bone steak.

2005 Dunham Frenchtown
Vineyard Syrah, $65
This wine is a Walla Walla Valley wine that shows off the elegance and power of Syrah with a silky mouthfeel and good acidity. It has complex aromas of spicy white papper, blackberry and cassis and a bit of tobacco.
Pairs with: Grilled lamb shank.

2006 Dunham Trutina
Columbia Valley, $26
A blend of 49 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 48 percent Merlot and just a tad of Syrah (3 percent), this luscious red is an all-around food wine. Full of juicy black fruit flavors of plum and blackberry, this wine also shows aromas of tobacco and earth.
Pairs with: Grilled steak with blue cheese crumbles.

2006 Dunham Cabernet Sauvignon
Columbia Valley, $45
This is a classic Washington Cabernet, the kind that MacLachlan fell in love with when deciding what kind of wine to make. This deep, rich red has aromas of black cherry and cranberry, earth and baking spices.
Pairs with: Rack of lamb with cherry demi-glace.


More dining and food articles from the December issue of Seattle magazine: