The inaugural Sip of Snoqualmie, benefitting Encompass, was held last Saturday at the Snoqualmie Casino in Snoqualmie, Washington (about 26 miles east of Seattle). Encompass is a non-profit organization whose mission is to nurture children, enrich families, and inspire community in the Snoqualmie Valley. Thirty-two Washington wineries were on hand pouring their wines during this […]

Our last day in South African wine country was a last minute add-on trip to the Durbanville district, an area very close to Cape Town. The area was beautiful, but the overall quality of the wines was not great. And, unfortunately, the few excellent wines that we did find are not available in the United […]

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is resveratrol. Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine: Resveratrol is the phenolic compound produced by grapevines (and other plants such as peanut and eucalyptus trees), particularly in response to microbial attack or artificial agents such as ultraviolet radiation. It is one of a number […]

If you’ve never tasted Malbec, you are really missing out. Malbec’s ties go back to Bordeaux, France, where it was originally one of the five varieties used in red Bordeaux blends along with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot. Today it is only used sparingly in Bordeaux but has really come into its […]

Stellenbosch is by far the most prominent wine region in South Africa, so I wanted to go back and visit several of the wineries on my list that I had to skip when I was ill on our first visit to Stellenbosch several weeks ago. Our first stop was at de Trafford Winery. It was […]

These are exciting times for the Washington wine industry. On February 20th, Snipes Mountain was officially established as Washington’s 10th AVA (American Viticultural Area). Washington State recently licensed its 600th winery, with the total now at 602. And as I’ve said numerous times before, Washington wines are perfectly positioned to thrive in our current economy. […]

On our next South African wine adventure, we headed out to Franschhoek to visit wineries that we were unable to visit earlier in our trip when I was ill. Franschhoek, a village settled more than 300 years ago by the French Huguenots, is a picturesque town full of art and antique shops and galleries, coffee […]

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is bouquet. Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine: Bouquet is the oft-ridiculed tasting term for the smell of a wine, particularly that of a mature or maturing wine. …. It is used loosely by many wine tasters to describe any pleasant wine smell or […]

March is Washington Wine Month. Wanting to get a head start on celebrating the fabulous wines that Washington State produces, we decided to feature Washington Cabernet Sauvignon in our wine tasting dinner last Friday night. And what a tasting it was! We enjoyed six outstanding Cabs which all paired perfectly with Mom’s dinner of tomato […]

When we awakened for this day in the winelands and opened our drapes to the deck, smoke from the mountains was quite thick. The view was just a haze. We later learned that here had been six fires which we thought was significant until we learned that there were 95 fires one day the previous […]