Insania (2008) taking Pre-Orders
March 26, 2009 by Kevin Scurlock
Geoff Tate of Queensryche has once again collaborated with Three Rivers Winery making a monster of a wine. His 2007 Insania has already sold out, but this year brings a new vintage that will be sure to rock your socks off.
Click here to place your 2008 Insania pre-order today.
As with last years vintage Tate and Three Rivers Winery collaborated efforts have spawned yet another red Bordeaux Blend, with Three Rivers winemaker Holly Turner. Read about his winemaking experience in this insightful article from Wine Spectator Magazine.
If you missed out on the 2007 Insania, you still have a chance to purchase a bottle. Whole Foods Markets has a limited supply remaining and will make them available for sale during two personal appearances by Geoff and Holly. See the schedule to the right for times and places.
Cheers!
Amy Locati
Three Rivers Winery
locati@threeriverswinery.com
Last Remaining Bottles
March 18, 2009 by Kevin Scurlock
Three Rivers is sold out of the first vintage of the Geoff Tate Insania. Whole Foods has the only remaining bottles and will sell them at bottle signing events with Geoff Tate and wine maker Holly Turner. The 2 stores and dates are below:
Redmond Whole Foods Market
17991 Redmond Way
Redmond, WA. 98052
425 881-2600
April 17 2-5:00P.M.
Chandler Whole Foods Market
2955 W. Ray Rd.
Chandler, Arizona. 85224
480 821-9447
May 30 12:00Noon-3:00 PM
Insania Bottle Signing
March 12, 2009 by Kevin Scurlock
The first vintage of Geoff Tate Insania Red is sold out. Only 2 Whole Foods stores have any left. The Whole Foods in Chandler, AZ has a limited Quantity and will have Geoff Tate and Holly Turner in the store to sign bottles the day they offer it for sale. The other store will be announced soon.
Bottle Signing of GT Insania Saturday May 30, 2009 Chandler Whole Foods Store – Phoenix AZ
12pm – 3pm People can get tickets up to 2 hours prior to the event starting to make sure they get a bottle. (Please do not bring anything else to be signed so that everyone gets a chance to have their bottle signed.)
Video from 3 Rivers
March 1, 2009 by Kevin Scurlock
Wine Talk: Geoff Tate
November 5, 2008 by Kevin Scurlock
Queensrÿche’s lead singer brings some rock n’ roll, and a new Bordeaux-style blend, to Washington’s Walla Walla appellation.
By: Tina Benitez
Originally Posted on WineSpectator.com
Geoff Tate, 49, lead vocalist of Queensrÿche, the heavy metal band that earned multiple gold and platinum records albums with hits like “Jet City Woman” and “Silent Lucidity,” is one busy guy. More than 27 years since they first formed in Seattle, winning worldwide headbanger adulation while touring with bands like Iron Maiden, Kiss, Def Leppard and Metallica, the band continues to rock. They’re even putting the finishing touches on a new Queensrÿche album, tentatively titled Bob, which is scheduled for a spring 2009 release. In the midst of creating music, singer Tate is also taking some time to develop his passion for wine.
Like writing hit songs, Tate knows that making great wine is difficult, but that hasn’t stopped him from trying. In partnership with Holly and Andy Turner of Three Rivers Winery in Washington’s Walla Walla appellation, Tate is taking on a new role as a winemaker-in-training, and is set to release 190 cases of a Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec-based blend next February called Insania ($35). Tate took a break from recording to talk to Wine Spectator about the similarities between making wine and making music.
Wine Spectator: How did you first get into wine?
Geoff Tate: It was through traveling. When the band started touring the world [in the early 1980s], we’d partake in whatever cuisine we came across—record company dinners, lunches, different radio stations, different functions. You’re exposed to different wines, so that was my education in wine. My family really didn’t drink wine, growing up … I never had a drink of wine until I was traveling. I was about 21, 22.
WS: What were some of your early wine influences?
GT: One of the earliest Napa wines that really left an impression on me was the Joseph Phelps winery. Their Insignia is pretty intense stuff. I really liked what they did with the Cabernet Sauvignon. The first time I had their wine was sometime in the ’80s, and I just bought a lot of their stuff. In fact, I bought several cases from the late ’70s. That really turned me on to some of the Napa area wines. We travel a lot in Europe, so I get a chance to sample a lot of wines, and that’s been more of what shaped my tastes, but then discovering Napa later on was shocking to me.
WS: When did you know that you wanted to go into the winemaking business?
GT: I never actually thought about going into the business until the last two years. My wife is from Germany, and her family has a vineyard. We were visiting with them, and they invited us to work in the vineyard, and we both just loved it. It’s really hard work, but it’s really satisfying. A short while later, we met Holly Turner and her husband, Andy, in Walla Walla and started talking with them about making Insania.
WS: What do you like about the Walla Walla region?
GT: Walla Walla has a real earthiness to it. I like French wines, and … there’s this minerality, especially in the Bordeaux area, that somehow Walla Walla has. Maybe it’s the limestone and the rocks there. It’s also very fertile in the valley as well, so you can do a lot of different things to control the type of grape that you want. The intense sunshine that Washington has makes for an intense Malbec, which is one of my favorites.
WS: How involved are you in the winemaking process?
GT: Well, I get to wear a lab coat, and I get to do a lot of tasting. I’m definitely not a winemaker. I’m a disciple. I think we all have our limits to what we can and can’t observe, taste-wise, but I definitely know what I like and what I don’t like. Through our friendship with Holly and Andy, we found that we like and dislike a lot of the same things, so that helps. Like all things, making music, making wine, you make plans. You start with communication, defining what it is you want to do and then the more you talk about it, you find that you’re on a path. We were like, “Let’s make something really insane.”
WS: So is that how you got the name Insania? You wanted to make an insane wine?
GT: We just wanted something that had that spirit of rock n’ roll, that energetic feeling you get when the music is loud, when it’s pumped up—when you feel this intense kind of rush of Insania, I guess [laughs]. I like that in a wine too, when you uncork something and you don’t have any expectations. Maybe you never read about it, and the moment you have it, your mouth just explodes. That’s one of the things Insania has—it has lots of layers to it. Malbec has a lot to do with it, and it’s about 20 percent Petit Verdot. It has this intensity to it. I think with the barreling, that will mellow it down, but it’s going to have a lot of body, a lot of structure.
WS: Would you say winemaking is similar to songwriting?
GT: Yes, it’s pretty much like writing a song. You have your basic structure of a song. You know what you’re going for, but you don’t quite know how you’re going to arrive at it. You kind of mix some chords together, and that inspires a melody and before you know it, you have a song. It’s similar to wine. You blend those ingredients, and you hope that what you get on the first try is pretty incredible. Wine is very subjective, and it’s up for debate and argument and discussion. What makes the Mona Lisa such a valuable painting? If you look at it compared to other paintings, it’s not so special to look at—part of it is the story behind it, the mystery of it, that’s a very seductive thing. It adds value to something. It makes people want to have it, want to own it.
Holiday Barrel Tasting INSANIA
October 30, 2008 by Kevin Scurlock
Join Three Rivers in welcoming Geoff Tate back to the winery for a special barrel sampling of his 2007 INSANIA wine. Geoff will be hanging out in the barrel room pouring samples for $15 per person for two hours only(12:00pm to 2:00pm), on Saturday December 6th only! We will apply the tasting fee towards the purchase of any INSANIA futures which are $35 per bottle. The wine is slated to be released in February 2009 and only 190 cases will be bottled. Make the holidays even brighter with a visit to Three Rivers Winery this year!
Insania Taking Pre-Orders
October 7, 2008 by Kevin Scurlock
Created by Geoff Tate of Queensryche and Three Rivers Winemaker Holly Turner, Insania is a blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Petit Verdot, 15% Merlot and 5% Malbec. This wine will not be bottled and shipped until February 2009 so Insania is only available by advance purchase at this time. Production will be around 200 cases.
Now taking pre-orders at ThreeRiversWinery.com
** Photo courtesy of One Mind Creations
Downtime Not An Option
September 19, 2008 by Kevin Scurlock
Anxiously engaged: Downtime not an option for Queensryche frontman Geoff Tate
By Doug Fox of Daily Herald (Salt Lake City)
As if Geoff Tate wasn’t already busy enough. The Queensryche lead singer is in the middle of putting the finishing touches on the band’s latest studio concept record, for starters. Additionally, he’s in the process of mixing and dubbing a new solo album that will be released later next year. He’s also gearing up to shoot a role in an MTV-produced movie in October.
On top of all that, Tate and his wife are launching their own brand of wine — called “Insania.” It’s actually the wine project that led Tate to form a side band that will perform a limited number of dates on a mini-tour that kicks off tonight at the Depot in Salt Lake City.
There is a promotional barrel tasting for the wine on Saturday in Walla Walla, Wash., and Tate’s wife suggested he also do a show there.
“That sounded like a fun idea,” said Tate in a recent phone interview from his home in Seattle, “so I just called everybody that I’ve been hanging out with lately. ‘Hey, you want to get together and play some songs?’ And it kind of turned into a show.”
Tate ended up putting together an eight-piece band that includes a few familiar faces — notably Queensryche drummer Scott Rockenfield, vocalist Pamela Moore (who sang the role of Sister Mary in Queensryche’s “Operation: mindcrime” production), and former Third Eye Blind bassist Jason Slater. Rounding out the band are vocalist Jason Ames (an Italian pop star), keyboardist Ben Anderson, and guitarists Parker Lundgren and Joe Mulkern.
“It will be really fun,” Tate said of tonight’s Salt Lake appearance — the opening date on the four-show promo tour. “One thing that is kind of neat about this show is although I’m doing a lot of my solo material, I’m also doing a lot of Queensryche stuff. What we’re doing is, we’re doing kind of re-arrangements on some of the familiar songs, and then we’re also playing songs that Queensryche doesn’t normally play live. Kind of giving our Queensryche fans something special, you know.”
Any band that has churned out as many hits as Queensryche — which reached its commercial peak in the 1990s with songs such as “Silent Lucidity,” “Jet City Woman,” “Another Rainy Night,” “Empire” and “Anybody Listening?” — faces the same dilemma in concert. Namely, feeling locked into a certain number of songs that fans expect them to play.
“It’s more like demand that you play,” Tate said with a laugh, noting that it’s been a lot of fun working up some of the band’s deeper album cuts in rehearsals for this tour. “It’s actually very satisfying because they’re songs I’ve always wanted to perform live, but never had the chance to — and the same with Scott. This is really a treat for us as well.”
As for the stage show, Tate said fans should expect “an elegantly casual presentation,” and not the elaborate visual productions that Queensryche is known for.
“We just kind of all got together and started jamming out stuff and working on some of the songs from my upcoming album and also playing some of the solo stuff,” Tate said. “And then we said, ‘Hey, let’s throw some Queensryche stuff in there and see what that’s like.’ And it was really fun to play these different versions, you know, different people’s interpretations of the songs, which I always like. In fact, when I hear cover bands do our stuff, I love hearing that — other people’s versions of it, because it’s very difficult, apparently, from what I’ve been told, to cover Queensryche.”
After this short run of solo dates, which ends Sunday in Spokane, Wash., Tate will simply pick up one of his many other irons in the fire — completing the next Queensryche album, currently titled “Bob.”
“Bob?”
“Yeah, ‘Bob.’ It all started years ago when we recorded our first demo on a cassette tape that belonged to this guy named Bob,” Tate said. “And he’d written his name in, like, really dark pen, and he wrote it, actually, on the case that the cassette was in, so it never came off. So after that, we always put each demo in that same case, and we called it “Bob.” And it became this weird tradition that every album is called “Bob” until we actually have a title.”
Frontman dabbles in Insania
September 15, 2008 by Kevin Scurlock
By David Burger of the Salt Lake Tribune
Geoff Tate, the talented frontman of the multiplatinum progressive metal band Queensryche, will perform at The Depot Sept. 18 with an eight-piece band of virtuosos backing him.
But enough about music. Let’s talk about the wine.
Tate’s touring to promote Insania, a Bordeaux-style wine he developed at Three Rivers Winery in Walla Walla, Wash.
“I’m a wine collector but not a wino,” Tate said in an interview from his home state of Washington. “I’ve tried it in so many countries that I’ve come to appreciate it.”
Several years ago, Tate met Holly Turner, a winemaker at Three Rivers Winery. They struck up a friendship, and eventually Geoff Tate in concert at The Depot. Turner offered the singer the opportunity to try his hand at crafting a wine blend.
“He had been thinking of making his own wine,” Turner said from the vineyard, harvesting grapes as she talked on a cell phone. “There’s no reason not to do it.”
Tate had loved the Bordeaux wines he sipped while on Queensryche tours in France, so he worked with Turner to make a Bordeaux-style wine blend of four grapes – Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petit Verdot – cultivated in Washington state.
After trial and error, Tate said, he found a flavor that “expresses how I feel about wine,” which he said was a great dark fruit, with a nice, long finish. “When you taste it, you’ll know why it’s called Insania,” Turner said.
Futures of Geoff Tate’s Insania Red Wine are available at $35 per bottle by contacting the winery at 509-526-WINE. Wine will be bottled and shipped in February.
It will still be in the bottling process when Tate comes to perform at The Depot, so the wine won’t be available, but speaking of music, his one-of-kind, soulful voice will be.
He’s bringing an eight-piece band that includes the drummer of Queensryche and a member of the 1990s rock band Third Eye Blind. Together, the musicians will perform much of Tate’s 2002 solo album, as well as some Queensryche material the group has never performed live before.
But even with the winemaking and solo tour, Tate still has time for Queensryche. Right before he arrives in Salt Lake City, Tate and Queensryche are schedule to record their next album during the day, with Tate rehearsing his solo band at night.
And, if the mood strikes him, he’ll stop and sip a glass of wine.
David Burger writes about popular music. Contact him at dburger@sltrib.com or 801-257-8620.
Geoff Tate’s “Insania”
September 14, 2008 by Kevin Scurlock
ROCK SINGER GEOFF TATE COLLABORATES WITH 3 RIVERS WINERY IN CREATION OF NEW SIGNATURE BLEND CALLED INSANIA
Queensryche front man Geoff Tate has teamed up with Walla Walla, Washington-based 3 Rivers Winery (www.threeriverswinery.com) to create a new red wine signature blend called Geoff Tate “Insania.”
“Insania” — a Latin word meaning insanity, irrationality, madness, folly — will likely be unveiled in the fall and initially available to the general public by next year.
Tate — who has been deeply involved in the development of this special blend with 3 Rivers Winery — states, “I’ve come to realize that creating wine is similar to creating music and that I love both… The creation of ‘Insania’ is something I’m insanely passionate about… We hope people will enjoy this truly unique blend.”
Winemaker Holly Turner of 3 Rivers Winery is equally excited about the new offering. “Geoff Tate simply rocks and so does his love of wine,” says Turner. “We share this passion for wine and have put together a powerful blend that represents Geoff. We feel so fortunate to be working with such a well-respected artist that is also a friend.”
Just recently, 3 Rivers Winery has received numerous accolades including a 90 point rating for their 2005 Merlot from Wine Spectator and two spots on the Wine & Spirits list of the 2007 Year’s Best Syrah.
In addition, the Wine Advocate recognized five 3 Rivers wines with 90+ scores!
Geoff Tate and 3 Rivers Winery hope to launch “Insania” at a concert event slated for September 20, 2008 at the winery.
With mutual respect for the artistry of wine and music, the bond between Tate and Three Rivers was instantaneous.
“Here’s to fine wine and Rock and Roll,” comments Tate. “Cheers!”
