When Washington Tasting Room Magazine initially reported on Jim and Andrea Dahlman’s winery venture [Fall 2021 issue], their first commercial wines had been released but they did not yet have a tasting room. Though still a small-size winery at 800 cases annual production (and growing), their dream has materialized into a cozy neighborhood-style wine bar in Tacoma’s historic Stadium District serving not only tasting flights, but brews and snack foods.
“While we are technically a winery tasting room, the look and feel is more like a wine bar,” says Andrea Dahlman. “We offer comfortable seating, one by a fireplace, that hopefully make guests feel they are in an extension of our home. We want it to be a place where people in the neighborhood can meet friends and hang out. In the warmer months we have seating outside.”
Choosing Andrea’s hometown of Tacoma as the site for their tasting room was a natural for the couple. “Andrea was born and raised in Tacoma, and her mom and extended family still live there,” says Jim. “Additionally, our oldest daughter and her family had just moved there. It was also important to us to be part of a community, where we could build relationships with the people and surrounding businesses.” The location is within a five-minute drive from other Tacoma tasting rooms, including Browne Family Vineyards.
With an emphasis on solid, approachable reds, they also produce a few white wines such as their Roussanne. During the harvest of 2022, Jim and Andrea moved some of their production into Trothe Winery’s brand new state-of-the-art winemaking facility in the Horse Heaven Hills AVA. “We are excited about this new partnership as it will expand our winemaking knowledge with the experienced team there from the vineyard through the winery,” says Andrea. They are located at 113 N Tacoma Ave, Tacoma or you can find them on the web at www.dahlmancellars.com.
The wines continue to impress us with a winning combination of appealing fruit and well-crafted structure.
Below are 3 releases we recently reviewed:
Dahlman Cellars 2020 Red Bench
93 pts.
The backbone of this flagship red blend is comprised of old vine Cabernet Sauvignon from French Creek Vineyard. Needs a good decant to reveal the rich colonnade of black currant, blackberry, blue plum and cola flavors bolstered by minerally-driven texture and spice. Finishes with opulent concentration and firm tannins that bestow a powerful yet finessed character. $45 Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc
Dahlman Cellars Stadium Red (NV)
91 pts.
Balanced, with rich and bold dark cherry flanked by a unison of cigar box, violet, vanilla and spice. There’s good equilibrium running throughout the elements that results in a smooth and satisfying finish. $25 Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec
Dahlman Cellars 2021 Roussanne
91 pts.
Made with grapes from Sugarloaf Vineyard, this was fermented in a concrete egg, coaxing fruit flavors of pear, peach and apricot underpinned by chamomile, beeswax and Meyer lemon. Smoothly textured, finishing with a dry, mineral edge. $22