In the beginning months of 2001,
Annette Bergevin and Amber Lane co-founded and created Bergevin Lane Vineyards
with Gary Bergevin (Annette’s father). The goal for Amber and Annette was to
“leave the rat race behind” in California and get back to what they each wanted
from life. Annette wanted to be close to her family and long-time friends, and
Amber wanted to take on new challenges and continue her personal path of growth
and education.

The winery officially opened its doors in May 2003; the
winery is a 20,000 square foot “modern industrial” building located in downtown
Walla Walla. Although BLV’s production is 11,000 cases, there is a capacity to
produce over 22,000 cases of wine at the winery. Winemaker Steffan Jorgensen is
originally from Denmark and brings experience in winemaking from France, Chile,
and Sonoma, Ca. All of the day to day winemaking operations and production are
under Steffan’s supervision. This group of “friends” has combined their
respective talents to produce some very high quality wines.

Recently, Amber Lane made a stop in
Las Vegas to show off her wines and what a better place to do it was at Morels
French Steakhouse in The Palazzo Resort and Casino.

Alexandre Brard and Amber Lane

Wine director Alexandre Brard recently
joined Morels and he immediately began to develop plans to create new ways to
introduce guests to boutique wines from around the globe. “Bergevin Lane offers
some amazing, high-scoring wines,” said Brard. “These wines are amazing and we
are pleased to have them come to Morels to introduce their label to our
guests.”

We met with the very charming Amber Lane and she began to take
us through the wines. The first wine that we tried was the BergevinLane 2008
Cabernet Sauvignon Columbia Valley. Amber explained that 2008 was a compelling
and complicated year . Compelling because of the balance the wines were showing
already at this very early stage and complicated because of the somewhat cooler
season. The cooler temperatures made for very intentional and thoughtful picking
decisions and it required them to wait for the fruit to ripen before the frost
took over. All of the fruit ripened later than normal but the longer hang time
accumulated very complex flavors in the grapes. Nice and balanced, higher
acidities and lower alcohol wines are known for their silkiness and elegance.

This lovely Cabernet that is a
blend of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Merlot, 6% Petit Verdot and 3% Malbec to
finish it off. The 2008 vintage was aged 20 months in 87.5% French and 12.5%
American Oak and only had a production of 769 cases. In the glass , deep red to
purple colors show off this medium bodied wine. On the nose , classic notes of
cassis , smoke and black fruit lead into the palate of mineral , blackberries
and nicely balanced tannins for a long elegant finish. We can definitely see why
Wine Advocate gave this nice Cabernet 92 points and we cannot agree
more.

Next up from Amber was the
BergevineLane 2006 Oui Deux Syrah Wahluke Slope. Amber told us that 2006 was a
fabulous year with consistent heat and sun combined with persistent winds that
cooled the vineyards during the day, which made for optimum ripening factors.
These influences combined low nightly temperatures and balanced yields that
provided grapes of great concentrated flavors and very fine-grained ripe
tannins. The 2006 Syrah is an interesting Blend of 95% Syrah with 5% Viognier
that was a surprising touch from the winemaker. The 2006 Oui Deux was aged 14
months in 33% new oak , 75% French and 25% Eastern European Oak and only 218
cases were produced. In the glass , deep dark purple colors show through with a
medium body. On the nose , red and white floral notes flow into surprising
citrus aromas and then dark fruit. On the palate classic spice flavors of white
pepper , blackberries , coco and tobacco give way slowly for a long elegant
finish. Wine Advocate gave the 2006 Oui Deux a well deserved 91 points

Over all , BergevineLane wines that we sampled were solid and
represented the AVAs well. The 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon Columbia Valley was a
stand out for us . The 2006 Oui Deux Syrah was nice and because of the Viognier
eventhough its only 5 % gives it a more feminine touch. If you prefer a lighter
Syrah this one is for you.

It is always nice to visit and sample
wines from small boutique producers because as we have stated in the past , you
can taste the passion and work that went into these wines in every sip.
BergevinLane is no exception to that rule. They are definitely worth enjoying.
For more information on BergevinLane please visit www.bergevinlane.com.