Three of Cups

Call it Kismet, but the partner and I had the good fortune to be at exactly the right little tucked away corner of the Artisan Hill District during the brief four hours of each week that Three of Cups is open for tasting. As for you, though, don’t wait around for the invisible hand of fate to guide you to this little storefront; head on over yourself and sample their wares.
Speaking of Kismet, it was the mystical bent of this winery that convinced us to stick our head in the door. Three of Cups is a reference to the Tarot deck and all of their wines have sexy, francophone names that riff on different cards. Add to that an incredibly simple yet elegant logo, and we found ourselves unable to look away. Once we got inside, we discovered that the wines were as easy on the palate as the aesthetic was on the eyes.
For starters, they make a bone dry Riesling with great acidity and nice flavors. Quite a few places in Washington say they make dry Riesling, but these guys, along with a few others, really mean it. That was the only white on offer (though there are rumors of an upcoming Sauv Blanc), so it’s on to the four reds. They make a southern Rhone blend (Grenache, Mourvèdre and Syrah), an idiosyncratic red blend, a Cab Sauv and, wait for it, a Petite Sirah. Here’s the lowdown:
The Rhone blend (La Justice) is their most ready to drink and accessible wine, and it’s very good. Well balanced and smooth on the palate, you can pop a bottle right now and enjoy it with something French and meaty. At the other end of the spectrum their curious red blend (Le Chariot — Cab Sauv, Syrah and Petite Sirah) was the hardest for me to get my palate around; I had a hard time grooving on how the grapes played together. The two single-​varietal reds (full disclosure: the Cab Sauv has 25% Syrah, making it just a hair’s breath away from being a legal blend) were the most intriguing. This is a young winery and this is their first vintage, so the wines tasted young; they were big and tannic, but they were also well structured and balanced. I have a feeling they’ll turn into something pretty interesting, especially the Petite Sirah, but only time will tell for sure. Meanwhile, if you pick some of them up, you may want to sit on them a bit.
Bottom line: Fittingly for a winery built around a fortune-​telling theme, the deck seems stacked in their favor. You should definitely head on down and make your own prediction, though.